I Am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement in Cameroon

44 Pages·2019·10.685 MB·English

by  Miranda Paul, Baptiste Paul

When Tantoh Nforba was a child, he
loved the dirt and all that grew in his
grandmother’s garden. In school, his
fellow students mocked him by calling him
Farmer. His older brother told him to study
hard so he could one day get a job in an
office. But Tantoh knew that wasn’t the
right path for him.
Today Tantoh is proud to call himself
Farmer. Farmer Tantoh is an environmental
leader, bringing clean water and bountiful
organic gardens to the central African
nation of Cameroon. He is also the founder
of the international charity Save Your Future
Association. Authors Baptiste Paul and
Miranda Paul traveled through northwest
Cameroon with Farmer Tantoh to see
firsthand how his grassroots work is growing
a movement. Elizabeth Zunon’s intricate
collage illustrations authentically bring to
life this powerful story of community.
Ages 7–11 Reinforced binding
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Farmer Tantoh stands beneath banana trees
Sarah Ntala, Farmer Tantoh’s that grew from one he planted thirty years
grandmother, who taught him about earlier in Taku, Cameroon. The original tree
gardening at a very young age. was a gift for his grandmother.
All photos taken in January 2017
froAn stTi goanfn ttwhoehit ’hCs hhtiuopams- Cfeothoru wkaen eB poofitn aNgnk wiacmaatlb eGre a,c rCledaaemnn ses rtionaon Fnda.sr mine r
A road that leads to Akweto, Cameroon, provides a view of the landscape during the dry season.
For small-scale farmers and grassroots environmentalists everywhere —B.P.
For eco-minded people, especially Carol Hinz —M.P.
For people working to better our world, one person at a time —E.Z.
The authors would like to acknowledge Farmer Tantoh Nforba Dieudonne, Mbunkur Quinta
Musah, and their respective families for their help and hospitality while researching
this book. They would also like to recognize Nfor Kenneth Yinkfu, Fombe Nfor Celestine,
Justice Mrs. Grace Kinyang Mabu, Dr. Peter Mabu Tata and family, and Save Your Future
Association for supporting us and Tantoh. Your contributions, great and small, will
encourage young readers around the world to become stewards for the earth and leaders in
their own communities.
Text copyright © 2019 by Baptiste Paul and Miranda Paul
Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Zunon
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written
permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in
an acknowledged review.
Millbrook Press
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.
All photographs on endpapers courtesy of Baptiste Paul and Miranda Paul.
Map © Laura Westlund/Independent Picture Service.
Designed by Emily Harris.
Main body text set in Stone Informal ITC Std 16/23.
Typeface provided by International Typeface Corporation.
The illustrations in this book were created with cut paper collage, watercolor, pen
drawing, and pasted colored pencil.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Cataloging-in-Publication Data for I Am Farmer: Growing an Environmental Movement
in Cameroon is on file at the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-5124-4914-3 (lib. bdg.)
ISBN 978-1-5415-4380-5 (eb pdf)
Manufactured in the United States of America
1-42846-26510-7/31/2018
BAPTISTE PAUL MIRANDA PAUL
AND
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ELIZABETH ZUNON
J
MILLBROOK PRESS • MINNEAPOLIS
This is northwestern Cameroon.
Green.
Wet.
Alive.
The rainy season has begun.

A young boy arrives at his grandmother’s
farm. His feet squish between rows of
cabbage and beans. His small hands
plunge into the dirt. “Nshee!”
“Oh, Tantoh!” His father laughs. His
grandmother laughs, too.
They do not stop him.
They understand his joy.