This lushly illustrated picture book focuses on Sundar, who grew up in a poor family, in a poor community, in a dry, hot region of India. His village continued the cultural traditions of celebrating the birth of boys while the birth of a girl was seen as a burden. After the childhood loss of his mother Sundar would hug trees for comfort. Working in the area’s marble mine as an adult gave him a view of it’s destructive practices and concern for the future of his village.  The loss of a daughter to dehydration inspired Sundar to promote the idea of planting 111 trees for each girl born. As village leader he eventually convinced villagers to join him in planting trees. Over many years the act of planting trees led to a renewal of the environment and an appreciation of girls within the community. It also improved the prosperity and quality of life for the villagers. The colorful illustrations enhance the tale based on a true story.  After the story are several pages with additional information about Sundar and the village as well as photographs of Sundar and the trees. The additional pages also have didactic information on gender inequality and eco-feminism not dispensed as charmingly as it was in the text of the story. This book could be used as a read-aloud for older students to start conversations about gender inequality and reclaiming the environment. The amount of text on each page of the story would make it a challenging read aloud for younger children. The additional pages of information are probably too text-rich for a typical elementary group read-aloud session.