George Washington Carver often said that a weed is a flower growing in the wrong place. He might have said this about himself. As the child of slaves, he grew up eager to learn, but was unable to find a school in his neighborhood that would accept black students. It was twenty years before he had enough money saved to go to college, but eventually George Washington Carver became a professor at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. There he was able to teach poor farmers the value of plants such as the sweet potato and the peanut - crops that were almost unknown at the time, but for which he invented hundreds of uses.Written and illustrated with affection for "a wonderful man who devoted his whole life to making life better for others," Aliki's biography tells the remarkable story of a great figure in African American history who is now recognized as the most prominent Black scientist of the early twentieth century. This book needs to be returned. 

Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.

Dolores is a teacher, a mother, and a friend. She wants to know why her students are too hungry to listen, why they don't have shoes to wear to school. Dolores is a warrior, an organizer, and a peacemaker. When she finds out that the farm workers in her community are poorly paid and working under dangerous conditions, she stands up for their rights.

Sally is a young girl living in rural Alabama in the early 1900s, a time when people were struggling to grow food in soil that had been depleted by years of cotton production. One day, Dr. George Washington Carver shows up to help the grownups with their farms and the children with their school garden.