Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted today by Diane Mayr at Random Noodling.

For your consideration, I offer: Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the trees of Kenya, written by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Kadir Nelson -- Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 2010. 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai, known as Mama Miti (Mother of Trees), is the subject of this poetic picture book. Styled like a folktale, Maathai, a Kenyan environmental activist, advises the village women who come to her for help to plant trees...for food, for firewood, to protect livestock or clean the groundwater. Different trees for different needs, but each offered with the same Kikuyu expression: "Thayu nyumba-Peace, my people." Brilliant illustrations awash with the colors of a Kenyan landscape combine oils with the prints found in traditional African textiles.

This book would be an excellent introduction to the "Green Belt Movement" and could be coupled with "Wangari's Trees of Peace" by Jeanette Winter and "Planting the Trees of Kenya" by Claire Nivola for additional information on Wangari Maathai and the growth of the tree planting mission.

Friday's Famous First: Can you name the title and author for this first line? "Brothers is the baddest."