Mama Miti

Mama Miti
Written by Donna Jo Napoli and Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
 Publisher:Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
January, 2010
Grade Level:K-3
Themes: Love and Multi-cultural

Summary: Wangari listened to the stories of how creatures suffered, plants wilted and people fought. Men held ceremonies under the Mugumo, a sacred fig tree. The tree helped them to find peace during a tough time in Kenya. Wanagari knew she could do something for the people of Kenya. Women came to Wangari for help with problems such as little food, if they couldn't find firewood, their cows were sick or their goats were starving. She gave each woman a seed. The women were instructed to plant the seed and a tree would grow to help them with their problems. Wangari knew what tree would help with each of the women's problems. The trees brought peace to the women's lives, but also helped with the deforestation in Kenya.

Reflection: This is a great multi-cultural book! This book is based on a tree story. Wangari Muta Maathai was the first African American woman to win the Noble Peace Prize. She started the Green Belt Movement to combat the deforestation in Kenya. This landed her in prison. In 1976, she came up with the idea of planting trees for peace to Kenya citizens. 30 million trees were planted in Kenya. In the back of the book the author will find more information about her life. Kadir Nelson is the illustrator, he is a Caldecott Honor Winner. His illustrations are so life-like. They are beautiful. I highly recommend this book. It is very touching!

Pre-Reading: Talk about the different problems in Kenya especially deforestation

Post-Reading: What problem would you like to fix? What seed would you plant to help this problem? It does not need to be a real seed. You can make one up. The children can answer these questions in their journal. They need to be creative and draw a picture.


About the Author:

Dona Joe Napoli lives with her husband and children. She is an award winning author of children's books. A number of her books have been selected as ALA Best Books. She is head of the Linguistics Department at Swathmore College.