CHAPTER 23

Sophia

Did you know that seven billion trees get cut down each year? It’s true. Look it up. (And don’t feel bad. I didn’t know, either.)

Well, Sophia knew that, along with about a zillion other trivia tree-via facts about the rain forest. If you met her, she’d tell you herself—even if you didn’t ask her. She loved to talk about the environment, especially about saving it from humanity. (Who do you think cuts down the trees?)

Now that Sophia was queen, she had a plan.

“I am your queen, and by royal decree, I demand that every person on this planet plant one tree today, and one tree each year thereafter. If every human on the planet plants just one tree a year, we might actually start saving the planet rather than destroying it. There are over seven billion people on this planet. If we work together, we can make the world a better place.”

“That’s actually… a really good law,” Ms. Linda said. She was impressed.

Sophia rounded up all her fellow students and handed each one a small tree sapling. “Are you ready to work?” she asked.

“I don’t like working,” said Preeya.

“I don’t want to get dirt under my nails,” said Mark.

“What if we’d rather spend our afternoon juggling harmonicas while riding a unicycle?” Mason asked.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to plant trees can stay here and listen to me recite every piece of conservation tree-via I know,” Queen Sophia said. “Like, did you know there are over two hundred and fifty thousand known plant species that—”

Whoosh!

The entire class ran outside and started working before Sophia could go on and on about the environment again. (Sophia knew people hated hearing all the factoids—so much, in fact, it proved quite motivational.)

So the students of Classroom 13 spent the day planting young trees. At the end of the day, everyone was pretty proud of their work.

Have you planted a tree this year? You should. And get your friends and family to do one, too. Heck, maybe ask your teacher to plant a tree. (I’m totally serious. You can even show her this book and tell her Honest Lee said it was a good idea.)

Saving the planet starts with you. Yes, YOU, the kid holding this book. You better be-leaf it.