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!

This book was provided as an e-arc by NetGally. Thanks for them and the publisher.

Nowadays,I am in the mood for different reads from what I normally read so when I stumped upon this in Netgally ,I decided to read it.

I loved the message of this little book and I am very happy to find that it's a realistic story. I liked the art as well. It was simple and beautiful. I loved seeing the real pictures in the end. That alone made me smile.

I really recommend this.

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.

Beautiful illustrations and story. It makes you consider how we can change the world with our 'small' actions and ideas. I am excited to be able to share this story in the classroom not only because of the beautiful story but the additional information they give about Sundar and his eco-feminism.

Sundar is an amazing gentleman, he tells his story from he was a little boy going through hunger, no water his mum sadly dies and then you see him grow older and have children himself. He cares so much about the environment of his surroundings, but nobody else did. Sadly his eldest daughter died from dehydration and after shutting himself in his room for twelve days he comes up with a plan.... plant 111 plants for every girl that is born. Eventually his village people come around to like the idea and there village stars to thrive by fruit growing on trees, the water that is produced from trenches that were dug.
At the end of the book there is a lovely wrap up of pictures of the real village that is mentioned in the book with paragraphs of how growing trees has changed the lives of these people.
Well done Sudar

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.

I just need to say Sundar Sir, you have my utmost respect.
I have to admit that the first reason I download 111 Trees is because of the publisher. I love Kids Can Press so much, and I may just added their newest books that are out on her to my shelf.

111 Trees is one of the loveliest books I have read in a long time. It’s a story about a man name Sundar, who fights for gender equality and healthy environment.

The case of gender equality in most Asian countries are still exist. In this book, you’ll read a little introduction how it is like in India. But as a girl who was born in Indonesia, I’m lucky because my parents always loves me and never seen me less even though I was born a girl. But for my grandma. having a baby boy is a must. You gotta have a baby boy in a family, because he is the one who’s gonna continue the family lineage and you’d be seen more honourable with having a baby boy in a family. But girl, what would girls do? Staying home, caring for the baby kind of job. And when the girl is married, she will be taken away from home.
This story hit home. It make me feel seen and accepted. I didn’t know that it would touched me so deeply.

But, I think this is one of the books that every library in the world need a copy. I mean it. It’s so educational, yet touching and important.

Sundar’s parents raised him well. It’s so beautiful to see a man he became. We need more Mr. Sundar in this world.

Thank you Kids Can Press for publish yet another wonderful, wonderful book.