2018 School Spending Survey Report
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
illus. by Elizabeth Zunon. 32p. chron. ebook available. further reading. glossary. illus. maps. Millbrook. Feb. 2015. RTE $19.99. ISBN 9781467716086. LC 2014009382.
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Gr 1–4—The simple format of this picture book belies the strength of its content, a story lovingly supported by charming collage illustrations. As a girl, Ceesay realized that the goats on which her village relied were dying because they were eating plastic bags. She also saw that people were tossing the used bags on the ground just as they had always thrown away their baskets when no longer useful—except the plastic bags, unlike the baskets, weren't biodegradable. So Ceesay figured out how to use crochet, a skill with which the villagers were already familiar, to make purses out of the plastic bags. Simple but lyrical text conveys this beautiful, thought-provoking tale of ecological awareness and recycling ("The basket tips. One fruit tumbles. Then two. Then ten."). An inspiring account.—Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston, TX
In 1980s the Gambia, ever-growing piles of discarded plastic bags
were attracting disease-bearing insects and killing domestic
animals. Paul has written a clear and sensitive account of Isatou
Ceesay and her fellow activists' ingenious solution to the problem.
Zunon's collages, with vivid colors, elegant patterns, and varied
textures--especially those from plastic bags--provide a beautiful
entry into the story. Reading list, timeline. Glos.
In the 1980s in the cities of the Gambia, a switch from using baskets made of natural materials to non-biodegradable plastic bags led to a problem: roadsides began to be choked by ever-growing piles of plastic bags. Then the problem spread to the villages. In Njau, Gambia, a young woman named Isatou Ceesay became concerned; when she learned that these non-biodegradable objects, discarded after breakage and tears made them no longer usable, were attracting disease-bearing insects and that domestic animals often died after eating the bags, she decided to do something about it. Author Paul has written a clear and sensitive account of Ceesay and her fellow activists' ingenious solution to the plastic bag problem (they wash them, cut the bags into strips, and
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