This is a gorgeous book, both in the sense of the beautiful illustrations and the wonderfully inspiring story it tells. I love nonfiction children's book and this is one I can't wait to share. This would be wonderful to teach in classrooms and have in home libraries. I can't wait to add a physical copy to my collection!

Educational and entertaining, The Forest Keeper paints a beautiful picture of the change one person can make for the world!

The Forest Keeper is a book for kids that has pretty pictures and fun stories. Every child should have it on their bookshelf. This story teaches us that everyone can contribute to making the world a better place, protect the environment, and make a home where plants and animals can thrive. This book is important because it talks about the problems caused by global warming and climate-related tragedies happening now. This is a really good book with cool pictures that teaches us to never give up and always do the right thing.

“The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jaidev Payeng“ by Rina Singh with illustrations by Ishita Jain is the true story about a boy from India who grew a forest.

Jaidev, PAYENG lived in India in a place that was always flooding. There was one small island in the flooding and Yadav started planting bamboo trees there. People told him it wasn’t enough, but Yadav persisted. Eventually, there were enough bamboo planted that a new forest is found in 2007.

This is a pretty incredible story about how one person can make a difference even if it seems small at the time. I really like the inspiration that the story brings.

It was certainly an inspiring story. This book deserves to be part of students' reading material. The illustrations are certainly eye-catching and gorgeous. Readers are in for a surprise.

Thank you the NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

What an interesting story!

This is about a young boy who sees a need, and when told that there was nothing to be done, found a way to make it happen, and continued to help it thrive [and helped both the animal world and the ecosystem as well].

Well told with interesting illustrations, this is a great book abut not giving up and doing what is right [and needed], even in the fave of adversity.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rina Singh, Ishita Jain - Illustrator, and NorthSouth Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Forest Keeper is an inspiring true story of a boy who created and nurtured a forest all alone, on a sandbar in northeast India. In this area, the Brahmaputra River flows and during monsoon season, it covers the islands and sandbars, washing away the sand and depositing silt. In 1979, sixteen year old Jadav Payeng, a young tribal boy, noticed many snakes dead on the sandbars and islands after the area had been flooded. There were no trees or plants to provide cover from the sun. He approached the village elders and the forest department, but all they did was give him a bag of bamboo seedlings and tell him to "Go plant them yourself”, so he did. He started planting those seedlings on an abandoned sandbar and after thirty years, the resulting dense forest covers about 1360 acres, an area larger than the Central Park of New York. There is now a lot of wildlife living in Jadav's forest (elephants, tigers, rhinos etc.). In 2009, a wildlife photographer posted images and suddenly everyone knew about what Jadav had done. He is now known as "The Forest Man of India."

What an amazing and inspiring story. I read this with my 9 year old grandson and we both enjoyed learning about Jadav. This story shows how anyone can help to create a better world, help the environment and create a biome so plants and animals can flourish. It also opened our eyes to the fact that those government agencies don't always help the way we would expect and we talked about what we could do to encourage others to do their part. With global warming and so many climate related tragedies, this book is timely and important. I would recommend this book to all schools, no matter what age as this story is simple, yet important. Every person can play a part, not matter how small. After reading this, we went out on the world wide web and found more information about Jadav Payeng and his forest that added to our knowledge.

Interesting and inspiring story of a teen who planted trees and made a forest in India. Nowadays when people cleared forest to make home and city and the likes, this guy made a forest to keep the land intact from sea water, Truly inspiring, his dedication to made something better for this earth. And completed with beautiful illustration, this book is surely a nice one to read.

Thank you to the author NorthSouth Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful children's book aimed at young readers, but also good for reading aloud. It tells the inspiring story of Jadav Payeng, a young boy in a remote area of India who replanted a barren sandbar - completely on his own - and persevered until it became a thriving, vibrant forest. He devoted his life to this work, and the book follows his story through to the involvement of his children. This incredible story only became known because a travelling photographer happened upon the forest 30 years after Payeng started his work. The illustrations are evocative and reflect the emphasis on nature. Highly recommend to bring awareness to environmental issues!

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: The Forest of Molai
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Elephants
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Easy
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Children’s
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Amazing true stories
4.5/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Touching & amazing story of a man who dedicated 30 years & grew a forest
~ Informative although bite sized
~ Great illustrations

True story of Jadav Molai Payeng who did what his village never believed possible, on an abandoned sandbar, he built a forest, starting with bamboo seedlings. This incredible story speaks about the greatness of the human spirit & the strength dreams & desires can hold. Wanting something so badly, you put your all to make it happen.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ Could have been longer

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

This was a lovely and interesting story about a boy who worried about monsoon rains washing away the ground, and the animals that live there. He’s India’s Johnny Appleseed, because he started planting trees. But he didn’t plant one type of tree he planted different types of trees to help maintain the sandbars and the land as well as unintentionally growing a habitat for many diverse animals. This book told a story of a man who could be considered a type of hero that kids might not have learned about otherwise. My only qualms with this book, if I wish they had included a real picture of the man in the end, but other than that this is a perfect read.

Jadav Payeng's story reminds us that one person can make a difference. After a devastating monsoon flood, Jadav realized he could help by planting trees - despite the lack of support from his community. With dedication and determination, he planted trees for over 30 years, eventually creating a flourishing forest larger than Central Park in New York! The forest attracts animals, birds, and insects and serves as a reminder of the power of risk-taking, hard work, determination, perseverance, and the importance of conservation.

An uplifting story about how persistence and determination to save an island devastated by storms by planting trees and caring for them--an effort by one determined boy--resulted in an amazing success. Well-told and beautifully illustrated and designed, this book was a pleasure to read. A fine book to read and share with children.

“The Forest Keeper– The true story of Jadav Payeng” written by Rina Singh and illustrated by Ishita Jain follows the (true) story of Jadav Payeng, who takes matters into his own hands to develop and cultivate a forest on a sandbar in India. The story begins a bit abruptly but overall is well written. The illustrations are also well down and detailed but not overwhelming. This book is a great find for a number of reasons: 1) it’s a true story 2) it highlights the contribution that someone from another / diverse culture has given to the world 3) Touches on environmental concerns 4) Shows kids that one person can make a difference if they have dedication and perseverance. I would recommend this book to my friends and family.

Another beautiful story to inspire us to look at ourselves and the world we are creating. We watch a Judav takes it upon himself to build a forest when everyone said it was impossible. We only need one person to change the world and inspire others to create chsnge!

This is a lovely and informative book. My children loved it and it both captured and kept their attention. The art is also beautiful. I highly recommend it

For some reason I was unable to get this title to send over to my kindle despite trying multiple times and Netgalley giving the confirmation that the title had been sent to my kindle library. As a result I was unable to read this book and review it. I will attempt to find it at my local library after pub date, and if I am successful I will update my review at that time to reflect my thoughts.

This was very cute and I loved the illustrations! The message was lovely too. I’d recommend this one.

Thank you to NorthSouth Books and NetGalley for the eARC to read in exchange for an honest review!

I first heard about Jadav’s fascinating story in a YouTube shorts video not long ago. So I was happy to be approved to read a picture book about his contribution, compassion, and dedication to save the environment in his corner of the world from the affects of the Brahmaputra River. Effectively doing what others deemed with derision as impossible.

What Jadav - aka, the Forest Man of India - accomplished all by himself is truly remarkable. He worked diligently every day to tend to the bamboo seeds he planted on the sandbars of the river island. Under tender care and many many years a mighty large forest - aka, the Molai Forest after Jadav - grew, providing a rich home for wild and plant life.

I enjoyed reading Jadav’s story and learning more about what he created with his own hands and effort starting at a very young age. I also liked the simplicity of the illustrations. I looked at photos of the actual Molai Forest and it’s beautiful! I think "The Forest Keeper" will be a fun and educational read for young readers.

Hmmm… A nicely-presented true story of a man who turned a lowly sandbar in the middle of a river that changed its course constantly with the seasons into a forested reservoir of all that is lovely and charming and life-affirming, but… Yes the area gained all that trees can give you, and all the attendant wildlife that followed those once they'd grown from his seeds, but is it really of benefit to dump a forest in the middle of a natural and naturally-changing watercourse? While not exactly a mahoosive concrete dam, he's demanded the river obey his wishes and accept the wooded obstacle in its way. This book is a perfectly decent representation of the whole story, I just write these questions as a nod to what is not clear-cut. If further editions could prove there were no detrimental outcomes from his actions, then all fine and well. To repeat, I liked the book a lot, I don't like the real world ambiguity it's presented me with.