Earth Day, April 22, 2024
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
Mia Wenjen, Author
Robert Sae-Heng, Illustrator
Barefoot Books, Nonfiction, 2023
Suitable for ages: 5-8
Themes: Agriculture, Sustainable farms, Food justice, Feeding the world, Future
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
Mia Wenjen, Author
Robert Sae-Heng, Illustrator
Barefoot Books, Nonfiction, 2023
Suitable for ages: 5-8
Themes: Agriculture, Sustainable farms, Food justice, Feeding the world, Future
Opening: “Can we feed the world without pollution? Sustainable farms are one solution. We can go back to old ways or try something new. Let’s take care of our Earth — for me and for you.”
With the growing concerns about food insecurity and climate change, Mia Wenjen’s rhyming picture book will inspire lively discussions among children about farming methods that will feed our world. Targeting this age group, is a brilliant idea, because it may nudge kids to get involved in their future. Robert Sae-Heng’s colorful illustrations compliment the text and feature a diverse characters and terrains.
Food for the Future explores salt farms in the United States that preserve ancient customs; a food forest in Kenya; honey farms in Yemen; mushrooms farms in Mexico; rooftop gardens in the United States; fish farms in Brazil; vertical tree gardens in Singapore; a terrace farm in Chile; biosphere ocean gardens in Italy; oyster nurseries in Australia; circular gardens designed for the heat in Senegal; and doba pits to collect rainfall in India.
Wenjen provides more detailed information about sustainable farming for older readers in the last eight pages of the book, She also highlights each of the farms. In an Author’s Note, she shares how she became interested in researching sustainable farms worldwide. And I love that she has dedicated the book to her daughter, Zoe, who is creating wind-farm-based aquaculture systems. This book belongs in school libraries and classrooms.
This is a perfect book to read with the worldwide celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2024 . This year’s focus is on the 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040.
Resources: The book itself is a resource. I would encourage parents and teachers to research their own communities to find out what sustainable food practices are being used. Look what I found in my state, Ohio — the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association — and discovered a lot of sustainable food projects. I am sure you will find sustainable food programs in your communities.
Mia Wenjen enjoys boxing, gardening and yoga. Because Japanese cucumbers are not available where she lives, she sprouted them from seed and convinced her boxing gym friends to grow them as well. She lives in Boston with her husband, three children and a Golden Retriever. She blogs on parenting, education and children’s books at PragmaticMom.com and runs the nonprofit Multicultural Children’s Book Day every January.
Every Friday, authors and KidLit bloggers post a favorite picture book. To see a complete listing of all the Perfect Picture Books (PPB) with resources, please visit author Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.
*Review copy provided by the author in exchange for a review.