Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Unbowed by Wangari Maathai


I enjoy reading books about the environment and was intrigued by the memoir of Wangari Maathai. Wangari was born into a poor family in Kenya in 1940. Normally girls in this situation were uneducated, but Wangari’s family sent her to a Catholic school for girls. She worked hard and was extremely bright, and the nuns made arrangements for her to attend college in the United States.

She became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD and she was the first woman to head a University Department in Kenya. She observed the deteriorating environment in Kenya, and realized that poor rural women could play an important role in the restoration of indigenous forests by planting trees in their communities. She started the Greenbelt Movement which spread across Africa.

As I read this memoir, I developed so much respect and admiration for this amazing woman. In 2004, Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for her work in Africa. This book is now available in paperback, and you may also visit the excellent website about Wangari and the Green Belt Movement.

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/




Thursday, February 14, 2008

Don't be shy!

Contribute your comments to each blog post. This can become an online book club with your participation. We'd love to hear your reactions to the book reviews as well as suggestions for future blog posts.

Read and enjoy! Karen

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Welcome!

Welcome to the Books for Book Lovers blog. As librarians working with the young women who attend Harpeth Hall, we regularly recommend books to them for their reading enjoyment. So why not do the same for our students' parents and for our alumnae? We hope you will check in regularly to see what we are reading and what we think you might enjoy too.

Let me get things started by telling you about the book I sponsored for Upper School summer reading last summer. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a real page turner! It is about a young man, Peter Houghton, who turns on his classmates after being bullied and tormented for years. In the brief time span of nineteen minutes, he changes the lives of everyone in his town. Considering the tragic events at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech, I understand why our students find this to be a timely and relevant book. As in all of Picoult's books, you'll find lots of twists and turns and a surprise at the end. The paperback version of Nineteen Minutes is scheduled to be released today.

Jodi Picoult is a favorite of mine and also of many of our students. All of her books are fast reads, which make them great for lazy weekends and vacations. One warning - don't start to read one unless you are going to have plenty of time to finish it. They are all hard to put down!

If you enjoy this book, you might also enjoy other books written by Jodi Picoult. Among my favorites are My Sister's Keeper and Plain Truth. She has a new book, A Change of Heart, coming out next month. The film version of My Sister's Keeper, starring Cameron Diaz and Dakota and Elle Fanning, is scheduled to begin production in March.

For more information about Jodi Picoult, visit her official web site at http://www.jodipicoult.com/

Please feel free to add your comments below and to any future posts.

Read and enjoy! Karen