I am in awe of the lifesaving missions they perform every day. Water Princess is also a perfect name for volunteers like my sister-in-law who go to countries around the world installing wells in villages and refugee camps. Each day, like Princess Gie Gie, Georgie and her grandmother would make a long journey to get water carrying heavy pots on their heads.Īlternately plaintive and playful, The Water Princess packs a powerful message - the lack of clean drinking water for over a billion people around the world, one in six. This book is based on the childhood memories of high fashion model Georgie Badiel who spent summers with her grandmother in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa. Imagine being a child and rising before dawn each day to walk four miles or more to bring back water for drinking, cooking and bathing. I can almost touch the sharp edges of the stars.' The full page illustrations, done primarily in soft browns and yellows, take us with Gie Gie and her mother on their long day's journey to get water. The beautiful illustrations start with a young girl, Princess Gie Gie, looking up at a sky full of countless stars, 'My kingdom. Because the book is told through the eyes of a child, many pages reflect an innocence and joyfulness that carry the 'Water Princess' through one of her long and arduous days. This is a surprisingly light-hearted book considering the topic is water poverty. Everyone he knows does have those things. He didn’t seem to understand the concept. He asked why they didn’t have a sink to get water? I told him that some people don’t have those luxuries. He’s put up with my picks for a while now.

I need to find him something he will like fast. There is a final page they talk about 1 billion people on the planet don’t have fresh water and there is a daily struggle for water. The protagonist is amazing, bright eyed and hopeful. The artwork is amazing with rich earth tones.

Our girl prayed for rain and water from the sky to fall so she wouldn’t have to walk to get the muddy water.

When it was out, there was no more water. This village had to walk 4 miles every day to fill a jug of water and back and that was their water for the day: drinking water, washing water. This is based on the childhood experiences of Georgie Badiel. Wow, I wasn’t expecting this wonder at all.

The Water Princess by Susan Verde