This book’s text is taken from a 2012 speech given at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, the president of Uruguay speaks about human consumption and the greed that is caused by capitalism. José Mujica is often referred to as the “world’s poorest president” because he donated 90% of his salary to charity, continued to live on his farm rather than the presidential palace, and drove his own car.

This speech is a beautiful call to action for global citizens to self-reflect and think about what the culture of consumerism and wealth hoarding has done to our planet and to our society. Mujica calls out the systems that purposefully design items to become obsolete in order to create more profits, and the ideologies that the greater capitalist society insist will make us happy. “Economic growth and progress must add to human happiness, not take away from it” Mujica insists in his speech. This is a brilliant outlook on life, one that all of us would benefit from having. When capitalist greed drives our decisions, it’s detrimental to the most marginalized as well as our own happiness. Mujica became a folk hero (specifically in Japan) because of his insistence to live the way that he speaks on in this speech to the UN. I really loved this book, and the idea to turn a speech into a story that is inviting and thoughtful is very appealing to me. The illustrations are bright and engaging, and I can’t wait to have discussions with young people about their thoughts on it!