Maria’s Wish. Kathy Knowles. Winnipeg, MB: OSU Children’s Library Fund (188 Montrose St, R3M 3M7 or www.osuchildrenslibraryfund.ca), 2008. 27 pp., stapled pbk., $10.00. ISBN 978-0-9809437-0-2. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Dave Jenkinson. **** /4
	Peter’s Wish. Kathy Knowles. Winnipeg, MB: OSU Children’s Library Fund (188 Montrose St, R3M 3M7 or www.osuchildrenslibraryfund.ca), 2008. 27 pp., stapled pbk., $10.00. ISBN 978-0-9809437-1-9. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Dave Jenkinson. **** /4

excerpts:

My mother is very worried about our trees. She has joined the environmental committee on our village council. She tells everyone to plant trees near their homes and farms.

Our family is in charge of the village tree nursery. The District Forest Office gives us seeds to plant, and a local company donates garden rakes, shovels and watering cans. (From Maria’s Wish).

 

My father works for a hunting company. He is a village game scout on an anti-poaching team.

In the early morning, my father and his team leave in an open four-wheel drive vehicle. They travel for many kilometres and take long walks to look for poachers. (FromPeter’s Wish).

 

Though both Maria’s Wish and Peter’s Wish were written for an African market, specifically Tanzania, their contents have applications to the Canadian curriculum, especially for purposes of international comparisons. The pair of books utilize a young person as the narrator, and Maria and Peter are each deeply concerned about an aspect of conservation in their country. In both cases, they and their families are part of the solution. Maria and her family are being impacted by the rampant destruction of Tanzania’s forests which have been, and are being, cut down to create areas for farming as well as for providing cooking fuel and lumber for building houses. River flows have been significantly impacted by the deforestation, a situation which could lead to large areas becoming deserts. Through their role in the village’s tree nursery, Maria and her family contribute to local attempts at reforestation. Maria’s wish?

I hope the forest will return to my village soon. My mother believes this will happen if we try very hard. Then, when I have children, they can play under the shade of the large trees, just as my mother did when she was a little girl. If our trees come back, our lives will flow freely again.

     Ten-year-old Peter also has a wish that is related to the environment.

When I grow up, I want to be like my father and save our wild animals.

     Peter’s father, Genda James Baya, is a village game scout on an anti-poaching team. Although Tanzania has created parks and wildlife areas to protect large game animals from being indiscriminately hunted by foreign trophy hunters, the numbers of these protected animals are still being significantly reduced by poachers who sell the bushmeat to locals while also selling the horns, tusks and skins to purchasers outside the country. Peter’s Wish shows how the anti-poaching teams work at reducing this illegal hunting.

     Both books are illustrated by Knowles’s full-colour photographs which occupy one page of each pair of facing pages. An introductory map indicates the location of Tanzania in Africa.

Highly Recommended.

Dave Jenkinson, who lives in Winnipeg, MB, is CM’s editor.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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