111 Trees: How one village celebrates the birth of every girl by Rina Singh, illustrated by Marianne Ferrer

  Kids Can Press has a series called Citizen Kid, which uses a blend of informational fiction and nonfiction to introduce kids to global thinking and people who are making changes for the better around the world. 

This latest book tells the story of a small village in a desert state in India. A little boy, Sundar, walks with his mother through the desert to fetch water every day and is devastated when she dies. Years pass, and he has his own family. He teaches them to value life and respect the earth. But when he tries to convince the local marble mines to plant trees to rebuild the devastated landscape, he is rebuffed. Undiscouraged, he runs for sarpanch, the village head, and wins the election. His plans for improving life for everyone, including girls, are made even more personal when his own eldest daughter dies.

As he is planting trees in memory of her, he has the idea of planting trees to celebrate the birth of daughters and through that practice to change the village traditions of celebrating only boys' births. It takes many years and much discussion and argument, but slowly the villagers begin to try his ideas and eventually they agree to plant 111 trees for the birth of every girl. As they plant and tend the trees, they learn new skills and the environment improves. Girls being to attend school and water is more plentiful. The village has become a thriving, growing, and fruitful place for all the families that live there.

Back matter tells the true story behind the fictional story, of Sundar and his village of Piplantri, how he came up with the idea of 111 trees, a simple explanation of gender inequality, and other facts and concepts from the story. A final note lists organizations that support eco-feminism.

The story is told in a dense, small font which doesn't make it ideal for a read-aloud and it lacks sufficient sources to be truly considered nonfiction, however this is a good addition to the Citizen Kid line and does a great job of fulfilling its purpose - to get kids to think globally and offer new ideas and thoughts of how people around the world participate in their community. We've used Citizen Kid as the basis for family book clubs in the summer and this one would be a great discussion starter on gender inequality, reclaiming damaged land, and community efforts. The pictures are pleasant and attractive and the story simply told but with language that makes an impact.

Verdict: This may not be for every library, but it's a good addition to our library since we have a collection of similar titles and they are used by our families and teachers for various projects.

ISBN: 9781525301209; Published 2020 by Kids Can Press; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Purchased for the library