Literature for children

This book introduces Khadra, a young girl living in a desert landscape, and describes how she turned her home into an oasis. "The Tree of Hope", written by Youth Ambassador Kehkashan Basu, is an inspiring story of a girl who makes a difference, rising beyond conflict and drought, by planting and caring for trees, to benefit her whole community.

The great green vine invention illuminates how children care about growth, what it means, and its limits. The child author offers a vision of development that is in harmony with others and with nature. In the face of a changing climate, the destruction of global resources, the pollution of our environment and injustices in our human family, the younger generation represented in this volume offers a playful, creative voice, which carries hope for a better future.

At first glance this is a lovely story about the friendship between children and young leopard cats who happen to be in the same situation, showing how children can understand animals and become their friends because they do not threaten them. But the story also raises major environmental issues. Through the account of the leopard cats, we are alerted to the way in which human exploitation of nature puts species in danger and leads to loss of biological diversity.