Reviews

With the Right to Fight: Planting Peace by Anika Christopher

angiew23's review

5.0

This beautiful picture book biography tells the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muri Maathai. As the story explains, Wangari grew up in Kenya and learned to love and live off the land, after winning a scholarship to study in North America, she returns home years later to see that plantations had taken over her homeland. Wanting to support her family and home country she begins to plant trees and shows readers that change can start with something as small as a little seed. The story ends with a short timeline of Wangari's life. The pictures in this book are beautiful, especially those that come together in almost a collage-like format, for example, near the end of the story there is a picture of an outline of the continent of Africa and it is filled with a variety of different flowers. These kind of pictures are throughout the story and are really beautiful to look at. There is also a really beautiful illustration around the quote "always respect the land" which I think draws readers attention to this important message about caring for our planet. As a grade 3 teacher I could definitely see this book in my classroom library. I think it would be an excellent introduction to lessons on plants, poverty in African countries due to over farming the land for commercial agriculture, as well as earth day and demonstrating how to make change. I would recommend this book to teachers, librarians and families of children in the 5-11 age range. Picture book story biographies are great because they allow readers at a variety of levels to access the pictures and/or the story and can inspire the reader to dig deeper about the concepts or people described, if they choose, and I feel this book is a perfect example of that. I so appreciate Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

maria_hossain's review

5.0

I wasn't aware of the name Wangarĩ Muta Maathai but now I am thanks to this brilliant, gorgeous book. If you aren't aware of who she is, she's a Kenyan environment activist who's the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an indigenous, grassroots organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. This book tells us, in stunning illustrations, Ms. Maathai's childhood and what inspired her to pursue higher education and later motivated her to actively work to battle the climate change across Kenya. In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her works.

(Side note: I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but her name is Wangarĩ Muta Maathai, but the book says her full name is Wangari Muri Maathai. If the publishers got her name wrong, they need to fix this.)

Thank you, NetGalley and Mascot Books, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

librarypatronus's review

4.0

Thanks to Netgalley and Mascot books for the ARC of this!

This was a beautifully illustrated, easy to follow biography of Wangari Maathai. We love to include biographies into our homeschooling, and this one had the added bonus of explaining the importance of plants and trees to our land. I love that it highlighted such an important figure in a way that was accessible to my 5 and 8 year old. I recommend it to any kids who want to learn about Wangari Maathai.

lelliereads's review

4.0

Planting Peace/ The Right to Fight is a children's book story of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was one of the first students selected out of Kenya to study in the US in the 50s and continued her education all the way up to PHD where she gained a doctorate in zoology/vet and was one of the first women in Kenya to receive a PHD and appointed to teach at higher education. Her story is great, and you don't hear a lot about her, so I'm happy to see this book to inspire young children to follow in her footsteps!

Thank you to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

sarasreadingnook's review

5.0

What a beautifully illustrated nonfiction book!

The book beautifully illustrates the story of Wangari Muri Maathai from childhood to adulthood, where we go from Kenya to the USA, then back back again. Themes include the importance of nature, education, resourcefulness, imagination, community, ingenuity, and female empowerment.

I’m such a fan of the art style and the composition of the book. It flows, reads, and illustrates the story’s beautifully.

I think that this book should be read in as many classrooms as possible! I wish I learned Wangari Muri Maathai’s story and her amazing Novel Peace Prize achievement much earlier. This is an inspirational and informative book perfect for young readers (and adults, too!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

mistressviolet's review

hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

This is beautiful story about environmental protection and following one's dreams, despite social expectations. These are both powerful lessons that all children should be taught. 

Beautiful, moving, and incredibly informative. Even as an adult, I found this to be a tear-jerker. This book should be required reading for grade school students. So many fantastic lessons could be designed around this. 

bladelikesbooks's review

hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

This is a children’s nonfiction illustrated book about Wangari Muri Maa’thai and the founding of the Green Belt Movement. 

This is such a beautiful and important book. It discusses themes of respecting nature, social movements, hunger, women’s rights, education, activism and societal expectations of women. Wangari’s story inspires hope and strength which I think is so important to teach children. The writing in this book flows so well and the illustrations are so beautiful. It promotes change, womens rights, activism, education and respecting the earth. This book is an absolute staple for all school and public libraries!

I previously had no knowledge of Wangari Muri Maa’thai or the Green Belt Movement so this was a lovely introduction to this for me and I will be researching further! 

TWs/CWs: Misogyny; Oppression; Deforestation; Drought; Food poverty

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny

recollections's review

adventurous inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

needed this optimist sweet little book to forget about the climate crisis