This juvenile nonfiction picture book shares the story of a man who became a village leader in India and enacted a plan to restore the environment and improve social perceptions of girls by planting 111 trees every time a girl was born in their village. This book covers his backstory, the situations that led to his advocacy, and the effects of the tree-planting program. However, it moves very quickly, skipping past obvious logistical questions, and doesn't cover the operation in as much detail as I would have preferred.

The best part of this book is the photographically illustrated author's note in the back. It explains the program in significantly more detail, answering some of the questions that the main narrative leaves unaddressed, and it also provides additional information about gender inequality and the concept of eco-feminism. I particularly appreciate that in addition to listing more commonly recognized issues, this section also acknowledges the girls who "didn't have the chance to be born at all" because of sex-selective abortion. The author shies away from the language of abortion and refers to parents choosing "not to go ahead with the pregnancy," but I am impressed that she covered this issue at all.

This book is best suited for middle grade readers and older. Even though it is written in a picture book format, it deals with the heavy topics of gender inequity, the death of a parent, the death of a daughter, child marriage, and, in the afterword, sex-selective abortion. I would not choose to share this book with a very young child, but it is a great resource for older children and adults, presenting an interesting, little-known story about one man's creative method for social and environmental renewal.

A true story about the magical transformation of an ancient village in India through echo-feminism. It was an interesting story. I enjoyed the vibrant illustrations and the concept of echo-feminism.

This is one book that intrigued me by the title alone due to the fact that I had never heard of a village that celebrated the birth of daughters with tree planting and having been into Guinness as well as Ripley you would have thought to have come upon it at least once.

The story starts off by exploring the life of an Indian boy whose experiences with his mother's troubles touched him especially after the day she dies. From there it goes into a brief telling of him growing up, having his light bulb moment and how the circumstances of his life influenced him to change not only the world around him but to also touch a village.

This story's telling was bland and lackluster to me while I ended up I believe with even more questions since it would mention something briefly before merrily skipping onto the next part. Fortunately there is a nicely heavy portion in the back that gets to know Sundar more, to explain the changes a bit more in detail and to explain what those changes meant to the town. Eco-feminism is what this movement was called and it is the first time that I have heard of such.

If I were to get the book for my own collection it would only be sadly for the latter section with its more informative approach and also its photographs and not for the story.

***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review***

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this book! Sundar Paliwal worked at a marble mining company near his village and saw the devastation this process caused on the surrounding land. He lost his mother at a young age and after losing his daughter he decided that he could make a difference for the women of the village and the land.

I love that Sundar chose to convince (it was hard work) honour the birth of every girl with the planting of 111 trees. Not only did this make the villagers celebrate the birth of a daughter but it brought back vegetation to the land.

This book was great and shows us that one person can make a difference.

Wow, '111 Trees' is an amazing book! This children's book tackles complex and difficult issues, like death and gender inequality, but present them simply with a focus on how our individual actions can improve the lives of those around us. I was enthralled by the compassionate way this story is told with the emphasis of ecology and equality in this small Indian village. I absolutely adored this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing this ARC.

The story is short and to the point. It's about Piplantri, a small village in India where the former village head, Sundar Paliwal, decided to plant 111 trees every time a girl child was born. This led to a turn-around in economy, social mentality, gender equality for children, and access to education for all children in the village.

The first part of the book is designed in a traditional children's book way: illustrations and a story appropriate for children. The last few pages are basically the same story, but without illustrations. Not sure why the choice for this approach. However, the book is worth the read. The example Sandur gave to his community and to all those who learnt of his idea is worthy of praise.

A book for both boys and girls, 111 Trees teaches children about the importance of gender equality, eco-feminism, and cultural awareness.

This is an inspiring story about how an individual's actions can bring about great, positive change. The loss of Shyam Sundar Paliwal's mother when he was a young boy and then later, his daughter when he is a father, inspires him to take action against the significant hardship caused by a local marble plant. Paliwal takes action by stating that..

"Every girl born in the village will be welcomed with the planting of 111 trees."

As trees are planted, food becomes more abundant, and engineers help bring back water to the village for the trees and the people.
The illustrations add a beautiful rich layer to the story, which will appeal to readers. This is a wonderful inspirational true story of eco-feminism, that is a great addition to classrooms grades 4-6.

Childrens Non-fiction. This story is set in a small village of India that is being ravaged environmentally by the local marble plant. This has caused poverty and malnutrition, which disproportionately affects girls. One young man loses his mother at a young age. After he marries and has children, he loses one of his daughters. These two events have given him a heart for women in his village. He decides to run for office, and when he wins he declares that 111 trees should be planted to celebrate the birth of every girl. Boys already had celebrations at their births, but some families actually mourned the birth of a girl as they saw it as a burden on the family. But as the trees are planted, the food becomes more abundant, and engineers help bring back water for the trees and the people. A wonderful inspirational true story of eco-feminism, this story seems most appropriate for older elementary students. It touches on several topics which may be best approached as a class. This could be used to raise awareness of gender inequality and/or ecology, and also how both contribute to poverty.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read a digital ARC.

Beautiful message, beautifully written! I will definitely be buying this for our library. Our students will love it and it also supports the sustainable development goals as part of our curriculum. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story!

Such an inspiring story .Being from the same part of the world I can see the importance of this book.
This book is about feminist but not a feminine.A man with vision who could identify the injustice between genders andd how it was effecting women.
This book is about a environmentalist who wanted to do something for his mother earth.
This book tells you that just one person can bring revolution.Just stick to your vision.

Five stars for this wonderful TRUE story of how one man brought great change to his village in India by changing cultural norms and starting a new tradition of planting 111 trees for each girl born in the village. I learned the term "eco-feminism" through this marvelous nonfiction rendering. Gorgeous illustrations complement this rich story.

Wow. This book is a small miracle, and it could change the planet!

After the heartbreaking loss of his mother in childhood, and then his young daughter in adulthood, Sundar had a revelation in his grief. three lines, 111, for three things: "water, daughter, trees", became his mantra of action.

"Every girl born in the village will be welcomed with the planting of 111 trees."

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE THIS IS EVERYWHERE. Just *what* would this world become, where the feminine is honored, where girls are honored, where forests are created and honored, where Mother Earth herself, that great body that births every one on the planet male and female, imagine She is honored so - What beauty would beget what peace and abundance?

This book is a must read. What a story! The big-hearted may weep reading this short children's book! This book should be in every kindergarten classroom, every daycare, every pediatrician office, every holiday stocking. It is an absolute must read. How can we expand on this glorious action to heal?

I am so honored to read this story, and I am wondering how to be part of this change, and may this incredible way of honoring life spread the world over.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Kids Can Press for an advanced copy for review. Thank you to Rina Singh for beautiful prose and Marianne Ferrer for glorious illustration, colorful and perfect. And most of all, thank you to Sundar Paliwal for becoming that one man who stands up for what is right, who stands up for the feminine and for Nature, who becomes the change himself.

This text was very appropriate for elementary-aged students who are studying global issues such as gender equality and life on land. The illustrations and the text support one another and the biographical details are engaging and relevant. This text would be a great example of ways in which people can take action and make changes to the world by starting small and making others aware of specific problems and possible solutions. As an elementary librarian who teaches my students about the U.N. Global Goals, this text would definitely be on my list to share with students as they can model their call to action solutions to global issues on the action shared in this text. The back matter was very informative and provided additional content relevant to the story.

This is a lovely short book about a village in India where a marble quarry had devastated the land but provided employment. The local customs valued girls over boys for generations, and families were often hungry and thirsty.

One boy grew up here and when he in turn had a family he treated his daughter the same as his son, but when she died, in her honour he decided to plant many trees. He stood for local election and asked every villager to back him by planting 111 trees to celebrate the birth of girls and sending girls to school.

To me some of the outcomes seem so obvious - plant fruit trees equals fruit - that we wonder why nobody much was doing it. Interestingly the women also planted aloe vera to repel insects, and started to be able to make products to sell. Hydrologists were asked to recommend how to store water for irrigation and drinking. Really, it didn't take that much to get started; it just took someone who thought differently and more in harmony with nature. The lessons are good for young readers and this would be useful in a class discussion: ask what do you think would happen? at various stages. You could also ask why the quarry owners didn't encourage and sponsor their staff to do this in the first place.

At the end of the colourful drawings we get the short factual story and a few words about eco-feminism. This is a great way to introduce young readers to new and bigger concepts.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

This is such an important book because of the story. I wish there were more Sundars in the world, as he saw how important women are, in addition to the environment. The illustrations are really amazing and fits perfectly to the story as well.

So I would highly recommend this book.

This is a story about a determined family man in India who wants to honour children and the environment in his small village. Sundar lives in a village that follows very traditional ways of living. One that stands out in particular is that the birth of a boy is rejoiced, while the birth of a girl is met with silence. After losing his mother at a young age, and finding comfort in trees, Sundar grows up to be the leader of his village. Then, he faces another devastating loss. As a result, he puts a plan in motion to honour the girls of his village, while attempting to rebuild the natural landscape, ruined by factories. Sundar has a plan to plan 111 trees every time a girl is born. What happens next is truly amazing.

I absolutely loved this story! I could not believe it was true, if only there were more Sundar's in the world. The illustrations were amazing, great backstory. If anything, I wish it had been longer. As an educator, I appreciate the information at the back (more information about Sundar, the environment, the project, etc.). I do feel the way it is worded and the concepts may not work for a very young group, but grade 2 upwards I think this would be a great read-aloud. As an educator you could do many things with this book, projects, investigate, geography, etc. An amazing story!

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief </spoiler>

There is a village in India where each time a girl is born, 111 trees are planted. And this is the story of how that happened.

This is a beautiful story, it would be if it were fiction, but it's even more so since this is based on events that happened. Shyam Sundar Paliwal saw both how badly the ruthless mining of marmor hurt the landscape, and how badly women were treated in his society. He found a way to combat both by planting 111 trees to celebrate a girl's birth, which, to that day, had not been celebrated traditionally. Of course, people were skeptic, but the results spoke for themselves.

The illustrations are colourful and you see that the author knows about Indian art with the colours and pattern chosen. It's beautiful, both in message and presentation, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sundar Paliwal is one incredibly resilient individual. He endured great loss and hardship, and rather than allowing it to destroy his spirit, he found inspiration for changing the culture and environment of his village. His story is truly one worth knowing and this book accomplishes that beautifully.

Like the other titles in the Citizen Kid series of books, this reveals the greatness of an unrecognized role model that is making a positive change in the world by taking local measures that will improve the lives of others. Paliwal seems like such kind, selfless person, and his actions seem so inarguably beneficial that I'm left to wonder how his story isn't more well known.

I will definitely be adding this book to my school's collection when it goes into print this fall. Truly inspiring and appreciated.

I found 11 Trees to be a strong and inspiring story, based on an actual person and his belief in the value of all people, male and female. The illustrations, especially of the people and the natural world, are lovely and a good support to the narrative. I can see the value in this story being read to children of all ages and races, hopefully offering a bit of hope and encouragement that one person can, and should, do what they can to make the world a better place for all of us.

I appreciate this book more as an adult reading it to myself. But I feel it will be a bit difficult to read it out aloud to a kid. As it is intended to be a children's picture book, I feel like the writing is a bit too mature for the target age group and I genuinely feel like it's not going to work out well as a read aloud.

The book handles some important heavier issues on the Indian patriarchal society, women empowerment, tye celebration of the girl child, local village politics and making a big change for the future generations against all odds.

I feel that this book is better suited for the middle grade age group rather than the kids younger than this age group.
However, I still feel like the writing could have been much better to be more suitable for the young readers.
The artstyle is beautiful and unique; the illustrations and the colours used are subtle and aesthetically pleasing. I appreciate the team and the publishers for bringing out such an important book.

I really loved the actual pictures towards the end of the book. A beautiful journey indeed!

Thank you #NetGalley for the book.