The 2009 Best Book for Young Children,
One Hen, is a colorful and informative picture book that introduces
children to micro-financing, a loan program that helps budding entrepreneurs
in economic-challenged communities. Kojo, the central character in
One Hen, buys a hen and uses the egg proceeds to build a successful chicken
farm. Author Katie Smith Milway based One Hen on the life of
Kwabena Darko, a successful Ghanaian businessmen who used a small loan
to build a thriving poultry business. Later he founded Sinapi Aba Trust,
an organization that grants loans to other Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Recently
ABC News profiled One Hen describing it as "A Book That's
Changing the World" http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7484625 .
Author Katie Smith
Milway is a partner in the Bridgespan Group, a non-profit strategic
advisor for philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations. She has coordinated community development programs in countries in
Africa and Latin America. Her first children's book was Cappuccina
Goes to Town. Illustrator Eugenie
Fernandes, is an established author-illustrator of many children's
books, including A Difficult Day and Cappuccina Goes to Town.
She lives in southern Ontario.
2009 Honor Book Planting the trees of Kenya introduces
young children to the life and work of Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist
to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Author-illustrator Claire Nivola aptly captures
the rolling hills of the Kenyan highlands and the emotional drama surrounding
the creation of Maathai's Green Belt movement. Her book can educate
and inspire young and old alike to take action to reclaim environmental
abundance.
Author-illustrator
Claire Nivola was born in New York City and later attended Radcliffe
College, where she majored in history and literature. The child of artists,
Nivola drew and sculpted from early childhood. She illustrated
her first book in 1970. Recent books include The Forest,
Elisabeth, and The Mouse of Amherst written by Elizabeth
Spires. http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/contribbios/nivola.html
In 2009 Honor Book The Butter
Man a young girl impatiently waits for her dad to serve the
delicious couscous he has prepared. To detract her, he tells a story
about growing up in the mountains in Morocco and his much longer wait
for food during a time of famine. The story is based on the experiences
of author Ali Alalou who grew up in a Berber community in Morocco's
Atlas mountains.
Authors Elizabeth and Ali
Alalou met in Southern Morocco when she was serving in the Peace
Corps. Elizabeth is a writer and Ali teaches at the University of Delaware.
The Butter Man is their first book for children. Illustrator
Julie Klear Essakalli lives and works in Marrakech, Morocco where
she designs and creates textile art and furnishings for children with
her husband, Moulay.