The Green Maowusu - by Xuefei Duan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A powerful lesson in the rewards of nurturing nature together. (Picture book. 5-9) - Kirkus Reviews

Baori lives in a village in the Maowusu Desert. Very little grows there, and so young people often move away. When Baori hears that the land wasn't always this dry and that there used to be lots of trees and plants, she wants to do something: she wants to make the desert smaller and the green land bigger. She convinces her neighbors to work together . . .

An inspiring story based on true events about persevering and living in nature. For children ages 5 years and up.

Review Quotes

A remarkably tenacious girl inspires and incites her fellow villagers to turn their desert home into a fertile oasis.

Baori lives in a tent village in northwestern China's Maowusu Desert (the word means "bad water" in Mongolian). Difficult conditions--sandstorms, extreme temperatures, drought--force the other villagers to move as "the dry desert grows bigger and bigger, and the green meadows get smaller and smaller." Long ago, the elders tell Baori, their land had been beautiful, "but because of the war and forests being cut down, the land got dry. Many people fled." Baori intends to stay and "make the desert smaller and the green land bigger." Sadly, the seedlings she plants blow away, sheep eat up the young plants, and sandstorms subsume new trees. But a single tree still standing offers enough hope to keep trying, especially when "everyone helps." Baori and her community continue their efforts through the years: "Baori grows older and older, while the desert...gets younger and younger and greener and greener." Golds, browns, and verdant greens dominate Duan's palette, with spreads that bleed beyond the edges, mirroring the desert's vastness; characters are garbed in flowing Mongolian traditional dress and headwear. Originally published in Belgium and the Netherlands and translated from Dutch, this is a radiant glimpse at environmental history--Maowusu is real, its transformation successfully ongoing--into a heartwarming, heroic tale of unwavering persistence. One girl, one tree, one village changed their world.

A powerful lesson in the rewards of nurturing nature together. (Picture book. 5-9) - Kirkus Reviews