One Million Trees

The real-life story of a family who planted 1,000,000 trees—yes, it’s true!—to fight deforestation in British Columbia. When Kristen Balouch was 10 years old, her parents made a surprising announcement: their whole family was going on a trip to plant trees! Kristen, her sisters, and her mom and dad—and their pet, Wonder Dog!—flew from their California home to a logging site in British Columbia. There, they joined a crew working to replant the trees that had been cut down. In One Million Trees, Kristen reflects on the forty days they spent living in a tent, covered in mud and bug bites, working hard every day to plant a new forest. Young readers will learn a little French, practice some math skills, and learn all about how to plant a tree the right way! The kid-friendly, engaging text is paired with bold illustrations, full of fun details and bright colors. The story ends with a modern-day look at what Kristen's family helped accomplish: a stand of huge trees growing on what used to be an empty, muddy patch of bare stumps. An author's note shares more information on deforestation, sustainable logging practices, and the irreplaceable environmental benefit of old growth forests. . . . Plus, the amazing things even a small group of people can do when they work together. A fun story with an important environmental message, One Million Trees is bound to inspire kids to get their hands dirty to make our planet healthy! A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

“Trees are living symbols of peace and hope.” –Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai changed the way the world thinks about nature, ecology, freedom, and democracy, inspiring radical efforts that continue to this day.This simply told story begins with Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai’s childhood at the foot of Mount Kenya where, as the oldest child in her family, her responsibility was to stay home and help her mother. When the chance to go to school presented itself, she seized it with both hands. She traveled to the US to study, where she saw that even in the land of the free, black people were not welcome. Returning home, Wangari was determined to help her people and her country. She recognized that deforestation and urbanization was at the root of her country’s troubles. Her courage and confidence carried her through adversity to found a movement for peace, reconciliation, and healing. Aurélia Fronty’s beautiful illustrations show readers the color and diversity of Wangari’s Africa—the green trees and the flowering trees full of birds, monkeys, and other animals; the roots that dig deep into the earth; and the people who work and live on the land.

The real-life story of a family who planted 1,000,000 trees—yes, it’s true!—to fight deforestation in British Columbia. When Kristen Balouch was 10 years old, her parents made a surprising announcement: their whole family was going on a trip to plant trees! Kristen, her sisters, and her mom and dad—and their pet, Wonder Dog!—flew from their California home to a logging site in British Columbia. There, they joined a crew working to replant the trees that had been cut down. In One Million Trees, Kristen reflects on the forty days they spent living in a tent, covered in mud and bug bites, working hard every day to plant a new forest. Young readers will learn a little French, practice some math skills, and learn all about how to plant a tree the right way! The kid-friendly, engaging text is paired with bold illustrations, full of fun details and bright colors. The story ends with a modern-day look at what Kristen's family helped accomplish: a stand of huge trees growing on what used to be an empty, muddy patch of bare stumps. An author's note shares more information on deforestation, sustainable logging practices, and the irreplaceable environmental benefit of old growth forests. . . . Plus, the amazing things even a small group of people can do when they work together. A fun story with an important environmental message, One Million Trees is bound to inspire kids to get their hands dirty to make our planet healthy! A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

A boy grows up to make positive change in his community. After suffering much heartache, Sundar decides change must come to his small Indian village. He believes girls should be valued as much as boys and that land should not be needlessly destroyed. Sundar’s plan? To celebrate the birth of every girl with the planting of 111 trees. Though many villagers resist at first, Sundar slowly gains their support, and today, over a quarter of a million trees grow in his village. A once barren, deforested landscape has become a fertile, prosperous one where girls can thrive. Sure to plant seeds of hope in children. Improving the world is within everyone’s reach.

Six Million Trees is an extraordinary memoir of what it's like to work as a tree planter, replanting the clear-cut forests of northern Ontario, Manitoba and the Maritimes. In equal parts bleak yet funny, and always brutally realistic, Six Million Trees follows the author and her companions as they battle blackflies, blizzards, and broken bones, through isolation, desperation, solidarity and healing. Derkowski first became a tree planter because of the money, but returned to the bush again and again because of something else she found -- a sense of meaning beyond the cookie-cutter conformity of modern life.

Charlotte Gill spent twenty years working as a tree planter in Canadian forests. In this book, she examines the environmental impact of logging and celebrates the value of forests from a perspective of some one whose work caught them between environmentalists and loggers.

Short-listed for the 2012 Speaker’s Book Award Edmund Zavitz (1875–1968) rescued Ontario from the ravages of increasingly more powerful floods, erosion, and deadly fires. Wastelands were talking over many hectares of once-flourishing farmlands and towns. Sites like the Oak Ridges Moraine were well on their way to becoming a dust bowl and all because of extensive deforestation. Zavitz held the positions of chief forester of Ontario, deputy minister of forests, and director of reforestation. His first pilot reforestation project was in 1905, and since then Zavitz has educated the public and politicians about the need to protect Ontario forests. By the mid-1940s, conservation authorities, provincial nurseries, forestry stations, and bylaws protecting trees were in place. Land was being restored. Just a month before his death, the one billionth tree was planted by Premier John Robarts. Some two billion more would follow. As a result of Zavitz’s work, the Niagara Escarpment, once a wasteland, is now a UNESCO World Biosphere. Recognition of the ongoing need to plant trees to protect our future continues as the legacy of Edmund Zavitz.

Forest for the Trees is a stunning documentary project that looks at the lives of the tree planters of British Columbia and the stunning landscape in which they work.