Review by Booklist Review
Children will find Earth Day, Arbor Day, or any day brightened by the story of Jadav Payeng, who has for decades battled deforestation on the Indian island of Majuli. When Payeng was a boy, Majuli was washed away bit by bit during each monsoon, as trees that could hold soil in place were felled. In 1979, at 14, Payeng planted 20 saplings to try to help. Today his forest covers 1,400 acres--or, as Matheson (I Love to Sing, 2014) explains, "1,000 football fields"--and the island, beautifully depicted in Widdowson's lush, jewel-toned gouache, felt-tip pen, and colored-pencil cartoons, is much healthier. This accessible work unobtrusively incorporates multiple ideas about the environment--that faunal diversity is important, that helping one part of an ecosystem helps the rest, that setbacks to an environmental plan are surmountable, and more. Readers will enjoy spotting the animals listed in a closing spread in the rest of the book. They can also benefit from the large-print glossary that defines words including barren and reforestation. The further reading section lists only books about India, none on environmental topics, but this lack is more than made up for by the rest of the work. A must for picture-book collections.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
After the Brahmaputra River flooded and heavy monsoons devastated the river island of Majuli ("the forests were washed away, leaving only sand"), 14-year-old Jadav Payeng began planting trees to keep the island from "being slowly washed away." For the next 40 years, Payeng continued planting trees--knowing "he would need many different trees and plants to make a strong and healthy forest"--traveling by foot, boat, and bike to tend them. As the forest grew, birds, plants, and animals returned: "Cows and deer, monkeys and elephants, rabbits, tigers, and even a few rare one-horned rhinos." Bright, stylized illustrations of the Indian forest's smiling inhabitants support the simple text. Supplemental pages identify animals, offer information about the forest, and include a glossary; while sales of the book support a tree-planting nonprofit, it is unclear whether any profits will directly support Payeng's ongoing efforts. Ages 5--8. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4--After witnessing many seasons of monsoon-provoked erosion, 14-year-old Jadav Payeng began reforesting an island in India's Brahmaputra River. Widdowson draws her subject as youthful but eventually bearded, unlike the illustrations in Sophia Gholz's The Boy Who Grew a Forest. In contrast to Gholz, Matheson uses present tense (and Payeng's name) to create a sense of immediacy and intimacy. One double-page spread shows how much effort it takes Payeng to reach the forest and plant new trees after a day's farm work. The text is always positive about his impressive accomplishments. One brief mention (rain sometimes left him "fearing his forest would not survive") acknowledges his emotional investment. The page-filling, cartoon-style illustrations are bright and legible for group read-aloud sessions, while the book's age range is stretched by abundant supplementary material: a glossary, animal and tree identification, environmental statistics, and a further reading list. VERDICT Matheson's crystalline text and Widdowson's vivid colors and forms will attract a very young audience. A wide readership will find this book informative as well as inspirational.--Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly of St. George's School, Newport, RI
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This picture-book biography of Jadav Payeng, hailed as "the forest man of India," details his effort to single-handedly reforest his river island home.In the opening pages of the book, 14-year-old Payeng is distraught by the destruction that deforestation and erosion are causing in his community, an island on the mighty Brahmaputra River in northeastern India. Every day after taking care of his chores, he plants trees on a sandbar laid bare by erosion. For over 35 years he does this, planting first bamboo trees and then other species. Today, Molai Forest is a lush woodland that is no longer desolate: It is home to elephants, rhinoceroses, deer, wild boars, vultures, and tigers. Widdowson's simple, brightly colored art unfolds as the text does, showcasing stark, eroded shorelines and stranded animals in the opening pages, then verdant coastal forests and smiling animals at the book's close. Additional backmatter details Payeng's continued commitment to the revitalization of this fragile ecosystem along with further biographical information, such as his receiving one of India's highest civilian awards, the Padma Shri. This is the second such picture book about Payeng, following The Boy Who Grew a Forest, by Sophia Gholz and illustrated by Kayla Harren (2019). Payeng is a member of the Mishing, a marginalized tribal community in India; as climate change greatly affects Indigenous and vulnerable communities, this coverage is both welcome and necessary.An excellent, child-friendly introduction to a global issue. (fast facts, glossary, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
