A beautifully illustrated book suitable for all ages.

Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

Wangari grew up in the shadow of Mount Kenya listening to the stories about the people and land around her. Though the trees towered over her, she had loved them for as long as she could remember. So strong, so beautiful, how the trees made her smile. Wangari planted trees one by one to refresh her spirit. When the women came to her for help with their families, she told them to do the same. Soon the countryside was filled with trees. Kenya was strong once more. Wangari had changed her country, tree by tree. Donna Jo Napoli tells a story inspired by the life of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai that will touch the hearts and spirits of all who read it. Kadir Nelson’s stunning collage illustrations honour the spirit of a land and of the woman who saved it.


I placed this book in the Life Unit because of the tree symbol. If we take care to nurture life, we can get beautifully robust trees. 

Also suitable for the Peace Unit

The Roses in my Carpets by Rukhsana Khan

For a young refugee living with loss and terror-filled memories, time is measured by the next bucket of water, the next portion of bread, and the next call to prayer. Here, where everything – walls, floor, courtyard – is mud, a boy’s heart can still long for freedom, independence, and safety. And here, where life is terribly fragile, the strength to endure grows out of need. But the strength to dream comes from within.

Mud City by Deborah Ellis

Fourteen-year-old Shauzia dreams of seeing the ocean and eventually making a new life in France, but it is hard to reconcile that dream with the terrible conditions of the Afghan refugee camp where she lives. Making things worse is the camp’s leader, Mrs. Weera, whose demands on Shauzia make her need to escape all the more urgent. Her decision to leave necessitates Shauzia dress like a boy, as her friend Parvana did, to earn money to buy passage out. But her journey becomes a struggle to survive as she's forced to beg and pick through garbage, eventually landing in jail. An apparent rescue by a well-meaning American family gives her hope again, but will it last? And where will she end up? Mud City is the final book in the acclaimed trilogy that includes The Breadwinner (a best-seller) and Parvana's Journey. It paints a devastating portrait of life in refugee camps, where so many children around the world are trapped, some for their whole lives. But it also tells movingly of these kids' resourcefulness and strength, which help them survive these unimaginable circumstances.

I am a Taxi by Deborah Ellis

I am a Taxi is set in Bolivia and is a novel highlighting the strains that the cocaine production and trade and the US “War on Drugs” has placed on the Bolivians. For 12-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditions Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught up in the middle of the government’s war on drugs. Diego’s adjusted to his new life. His parents are locked up, but he can come and go: to school, to the market to sell his mother’s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a “taxi”, running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situations make him vulnerable to his friend Mando’s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation. As his situation becomes more and more dangerous, he knows he must take a terrible risk if he ever wants to see his family again. 

Tree of Life by Rochelle Strauss

Tree of Life is a dazzlingly illustrated and child-friendly introduction to biodiversity – the incredible variety of life on Earth – and shows how living things are classified, or organized, into five branches. This book also reminds us that every species is important to the Tree of Life. A problem with just one branch, one twig or one leaf may affect the whole tree.