Available for pre-ordering here
Teacher's Guide available here
Trees don’t grow on sandbars . . . but a boy from India grew a forest.
What can one person do in the face of global environmental degradation? Jadav Payeng has proven that each and every one of us can make a difference. As a boy, he began planting trees on a sandbank in the state of Assam. Nobody believed that he would succeed in doing so. But since 1979, a forest the size of Central Park has emerged, offering a home to countless animals and plants. It was not until 2007 that a photographer accidentally discovered the forest and made Payeng known to the world beyond India.
Showing what one person with limited resources can do to restore the environment, the story celebrates Payeng’s vision and determination. The richly colorful illustrations vary from an expressive overhead view of the forceful river to a smaller picture showing the precisely delineated leaves of various trees. An interesting picture book for conservation-minded kids.
Carolyn Phelan, Booklist
An inspiring true story of an environmental activist whose important work began as a teen and spanned a lifetime. The illustrations make excellent use of color: vibrant shades of green accompany the many burgeoning forest scenes, but there are also visual surprises in a red dawn sky or orange flames that erupt from a blue-black night scene. Varied page layouts aid in the progression of the action, from Jadav’s painstaking efforts to sow the seeds to an individual plant’s growth. 
Julie Hakim Azzam, The Horn Book
Some illustrations from the book

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