One Plastic Bag
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
Isatou Ceesay and the women of Njau recycle plastic bags into purses and change their village. Environmental action shown as something real people started small. Ends with the question every child asks next: what can I do?
What makes it special
Isatou Ceesay's recycling movement starts with one woman noticing what everyone stepped over — change at its true scale. Elizabeth Zunon's collage weaves actual plastic textures into the art, closing the loop between medium and message. It ends where every child's mind goes next: what could I start?
From the publisher
Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a…
About Miranda Paul
Miranda Paul taught in Gambia before writing One Plastic Bag, the true story of Isatou Ceesay's recycling movement; she is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and a prolific nonfiction voice.
Paul carried the story home from her teaching years in Njau, then spent nearly a decade getting it published — returning to Gambia to fact-check with Ceesay herself.
Also by this author: Water Is Water · Nine Months: Before a Baby Is Born
More from “True Stories, Big World”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.