The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jadav Payeng

Singh inspires with this biography of Jadav Payeng (b. 1959), who since 1979 has planted and sustained a forest on a river-adjacent sandbar in northeast India. As a youth, Payeng witnesses the death of hundreds of water snakes after they wash ashore and, without shade, bake beneath the sun: “Jadav, a tribal boy, raced to the edge of his river island and stood speechless.” Unable to interest elders or the forest department in reforestation efforts, the determined 16-year-old begins solo daily outings to plant bamboo. Cause-and-effect text and layered crayon- and wash-like textures chart the course of Payeng’s work tracking diversifying plant life as well as the arrival of first birds and then fauna. The presence of elephants brings problems to a nearby village, but Payeng’s savvy stewardship generates the balanced ecosystem the pachyderms require—a happy ending for a still-developing story about “the Forest Man of India.” Notes offer context about the figure and the forest. Ages 5–9. (Apr.)