''Moot: The Story of an 8-Year-Old Dutch Girl Who Wants to Save the World'' -- by Daniel Halevi Bloom, world publishing and animation rights available via book packager/scout Biko Lang (bikolang@gmail.com): Agent wanted/Publisher Wanted

 

                                ''MOOT''

                                                          


EXCERPTS
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 '"Moot" -- An international children's picture book about an 8-year-old Dutch girl who wants to save the world', is now published and can be found at http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/moot-an-international-childrens-picture-book-about-an-8-year-old-dutch-girl-who-wants-to-save-the-world/

 ''Thanks for having your say in our marketplace of ideas!''

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a children's picture book-in-progress


by Daniel Halevi Bloom


for ages 4-12 and parents and teachers worldwide

                ''Moot: The Story of an 8-Year-Old Dutch Girl Who Wants to Save the World''

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"I think we should start thinking about taking all the cars and trucks and taxis and buses off the roads, all around the world, in order to lower our CO2 emissions," said Moot, an 8-year-old Dutch girl who lives in a small village outside Amsterdam.

 

"But Moot, that's just not possible, said her mother. "People need cars and taxis and buses to go to work, and take children to school, and for families to go on vacations in the summer.

 

And in Amsterdam and London and Paris and New York, taxis are in-dis-pen-sable," said her father, enunciating each syllable in that long adult word so that Moor could understand it better. "Your idea is a good one and is to be commended, but Moot, it's a moot question. We just can't do it."

 

Moot didn't look in-dis-pen-sable but she did look in-con-sol-able. Every time she had a new idea about how to save the Earth from CO2 overload, her idea was mooted by the grown-ups.

 

"They just don't understand me," said Moot, trying to console herself.

 

But Moot had other ideas and she was not one to give up quietly and go away without a fight.


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Moot was trembling, as she often did when she felt misunderstood.


"What are you doing?" her older sister Lila asked.


"I'm trembling, can't you see?" Moot replied. "I just can't stand it when nobody understands me!"


"I do!" said her grandmother Bella. "I do. Don't give up. Think of another idea and another and another that nobody can moot."


So Moot came up with a new idea, and she explained it this way.


"Why don't we ask the government to paint the atmosphere pink!" she shared. "Yes, let's paint the planet pink!"


Mother was perplexed and Father was confounded.


"What?" they both said in unison.


"If we paint the planet pink, and if we paint the atmosphere pink, then we will be able to see all the CO2 emissions in the air," Moot said, happy that she had come up with another brainstorm of an idea. "I read about this in a book. I think it's a sterling idea. It could really wake people up if they saw all the pink CO2 molecules all over the place, in our homes and outside where we play and work and go to school and drive and fly."


Older sister Lila put her hands up in the air.


"I hate to tell you this, Moot, but your idea is just not possible to do," she said. "First of all, there is not enough pink paint in the Universe to do what you are proposing. And two, the government would never allow it. Maybe Disneyland in Florida will allow it for one day a year, but that's all. Sorry, sis, but I've got to moot your idea before it goes any further."


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"Well, if we cannot stop all the cars and if we cannot paint the CO2 pink, then how about if we stop flying airplanes?" Did you know that airplanes, both commerical jets and cargo jets -- and military jets too! -- contribute tons and tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere every day? We need to stop flying altogether. Are you with me or against me?"


Professor Octaviasdottir who was visiting Amsterdam and was a friend of Moot's parents said: "But Moot, if we stop flying, how am I going get back to Iceland from Holland? How are business people going to conduct global business if they cannot fly to meetings and conventions and forums worldwide? How will academics deliver keynote addresses in all four corners of the globe if we do away with airplanes altogether. It's a sterling idea, of course, but it's not practical. It's a moot question, that."


Moot was getting tired of getting mooted every time she spoke up, but she was not one to give up easily and she heeded her grandmother's advice to never never give up.


"I won't give up," she said to the professor. "I have more ideas where these first three ideas came from. Just you wait."




"I have a good idea about bicyles," said Moot. "Since I'm only 8 years old I like to ride my bicycle, and I know that many grown-ups also like to ride their bicycles for fun and exercise and even to get to work and go shopping."

"What's your idea?" asked Lila, Moot's older sister.


"Well, since cars and trucks and buses and taxis and airplanes put alot of CO2 intro the atmosphere every day, tons and tons of CO2, what if more and more people around the world started using bicycles to go to school, to get to work, to go shopping, to get some exercise, and just to have fun exploring the countryside and even the local city streets," Moot said. "In fact, I think using bicycles for trans-por-ta-tion is a capital idea! What do you think?"

Lila nodded her head and said she agreed. Grandma also said yes. Mother and Father also said yes. In fact, everyone in the house where Moot lived agreed with her, and no one mooted her idea.

But then visiting Professor Octaviasdottir from Iceland chimed in: "Moot, your idea is great, and I also love to ride my bicycle in the summertime in Iceland, but think of the people who live in very cold climates in the winter, like in northern Norway or northerm Sweden or Lapland or Moscow or St. Petersburg in Russia. Or in Alaska or Hokkaido in Japan. It's so cold in the winter and it snows a lot. How can people ride bicycles on streets covered with snow and ice?"

The professor said: "I am sorry to say this, Moot, but I must moot your bicyle idea as a year-round idea to save the planet from excessive CO2 emissions, but as a summertime idea, it's perfect. I like your idea, Moot. So I am only half-mooting it."



Moot seemed happy that the professor had only half-mooted her bicycle idea and was satisfied that she was making progress in coming up with ideas to save the planet.

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[4 more ideas follow and then]...



"I know, I know," said Moot. "Let's all go for hikes in nature more often! Let's go on more nature hikes and walks in the meadows and hills and mountains, near river and lakes."


Lila her older sister seemed to think that was a boring idea. "Why on Earth would that help save the planet, Moot"? she asked.


"Well, to begin with, Lila, by getting out into nature more, we humans can make direct contact with the world around us, the natural world, instead of being cooped up in our homes and office and classrooms, right? The more we know and learn about nature the more we will be prone to make decisions in the future that will help protect and save the Earth," Moot said.


"You can't moot that can you?" she added.


Lila thought about what her younger sister was saying and said that all in all, all things considered, she had to agree with Little Sis.



You are right," said Lila. "For once I agree with you. The closer we get to nature, the closer we will get to understanding why our planet is in such dire straits."


"So you are not going to moot my idea this time?" Moot asked.


"Well, I am only going to half-moot it, Moot, because just walking in nature is boring, and walking along a river or near a lake is boring. For me, at least, I prefer to stay indoors and play with my computer," Lila added.


Moot could not hold back her feeling any longer and blurted out: "Aha, it's you who are boring, Lila. You've been cooped up inside too long. Let's go out for a nature hike right now. Are you coming?"


"Not me," said Lila. "You go for a walk in the woods with Grandma."






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After taking a long walk with her grandmother in the woods, Moot was even more inspired to talk about another idea she had: the need to governments worldwide to plant more trees around the world, because yes, trees are not only pretty and beautiful but they are also absorb CO2 and can help lower the amount of carbon dioxide on the planet. She even knew the name of a British man who loved nature so much that he even wrote books about it, her mother told her once while they were watching a nature programme on BBC-TV from London: His name was Robert Macfarlane and Moot thought she'd like to meet him someday.




Moot took a deep breath and made her next suggestion a short but important one: "Let's plant a million billion trillion trees on the planet starting tomorrow!"




And neither mom nor dad or sister Lila dared to moot that idea.


"Bravo!" they all said in unison.




Moot hugged her grandmother and said: "Wow!"

 "I like to eat fish and chicken and beef," Moot said to Grandma Bella, "but as I get older, I am beginning to think more like my sister Lila that maybe our whole family should be become vegetarians, or semi-vegitarians or at least Vegetarians on No-Meat Mondays like many families around the world do. I love vegetables, too, like tomatoes and cucumbers and apples and broccoli. Oh, wait a minute, apples are not vegetables, they are fruit. Sometimes my brain backfires. But yes, if we eat more vegetables and more fruit and let meat, perhaps this new way of living in a sustainable way can help make the world a better place, not just for humans but for animals, too! What do you think of this idea?"


Father weighed in on this issue, telling Moot that while he liked her idea, he felt he had to moot it, too.


"I like the idea of No Meat Mondays," he said, "and that's a good way to introduce the concept of vegetarians to people worldwide, Moot, but there are almost 8 billion humans on Earth now and how can we feed them all? With just vegetables and fruit? Who have you been talking to about this?"


Moot looked over at Lila and then at Grandma Bella. "They have both taught me many things about living in a more sustainable way. Blame them, papa!"


Father laughed and smiled. "Well, I guess thinking about making the world a better place for humans and animals runs in the family," he said. So I won't moot your idea anymore, Moot. Yes, let's try to come vegetarians in this house!"
























''My next idea is for people who love the ocean. Do you? I do!" said Moot.


''Everyone should go sea kayaking from time to time to get up close and personal to the ocean and see the problems it is facing like ocean a-ci-di-fi-ca-tion," said Moot, pronouncing that long word very slowly in short syllables so that everyone could understand her and so that she could say in correctly.  "In fact, I saw a very good YouTube video by a six year girl in Australia about ocean acidification, and you should watch it here, if you have time. It's just five minutes long. Surely you have 5 minutes to spare to help save the planet! He rname is Ruby -- Ruby the Climate Kid!"


"If more people get out on the ocean with sea kayaks or canoes or ferry boats and fishing boats and kind of boat that floats your boat, we can all learn to care more about the oceans, all seven oceans around the world," Moot said. "Are there seven seas? I need to check that if that is true. Is it?"












"Okay, okay, here's my last idea: Let's not use our air-conditioners so much in the summer. We can help save energy that way, and we can live more sustainably, too." said Moot. "Of course, I know it gets hot sometimes in the summer, especially if you live in warm climates like Mexico and India and Thailand and Taiwan. Amsterdam gets hot in the summer, too. Copenhagen, too. Paris, too. But let's stick together and put our heads together (as my mom and dad like to say) and see if we can find other ways to keep cool in the summer, without using so much energy with our air-conditioners."


Moot wasn't sure if her idea would past muster around the world, so she added one more sentence: "If you children listening to this story or you adults reading this story to your child or your students in school can think of some cool ways that we can lessen our dependency on air-conditioners, let me know. I'm just a little Dutch girl with freckles and red hair, but I have any email adress somewhere, and you look hard enough for it you can find and send me a suggestion or two (or three."


Note: Moot's email address is bikolang@gmail.com She will read your letters and comments and she will reply to you, too.









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After putting nine different ideas into the discussion, with little success, little Moot decided to take a different tack. She wanted to suggest something that nobody would moot. So she sat down next to her grandmother Bella in the living room and listed her last suggestion on how to save the planet.

 

"What if we all worked together, all of us in every nation on Earth, to stop runaway global warming before it runs away with our future? " Moot asked Grandma Bella, who nodded her head as if to say "yes, yes, that's my little Moot talking now!"

 

"What if we put aside all our differences, nation by nation, and put our shoulders to wheel and our noses to the grindstone, and just worked hard day in and day out for the rest of our lives, always with our chins up and our hearts strong, to solve the problems that are putting our Earth in danger? All of us, just not me and you, but all of us," Moot added. 

 

Her mom and dad were delighted to hear their daughter talking like this, and Mom said:

 

"You know, Moot, that's a very good suggestion. And it's not moot. You've hit the nail on the head. We do need to work together on all this, and now. Like tomorrow."

 

"Moot, you're great!" said Dad. "We need to make a sustaibale world, and we need to do it in a positive way. Moot, you're just 8 years old but what you just said sounds the way an adult would speak. You are really growing up fast!"







And with those words from her mother and father, Moot was a very happy little girl.




THIS IS NOT END BUT JUST THE BEGINNING!




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POSTSCRIPT:
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/moot-an-international-childrens-picture-book-about-an-8-year-old-dutch-girl-who-wants-to-save-the-world/






Imagine there's a red-headed, freckled little Dutch girl named Moot who wants so much to help protect the planet and save the world. She lives just outside Amsterdam, with her mother and father, older sister Lila and Grandma Bell. She asked a grown-up to write a picture book for kids about her interest in creating a sustainable world, and someone did.






Meet Daniel Halevi Bloom, author of the 1985 picture book "Bubbie and Zadie Come to My House," first published in New York by the Villard imprint at Random House and then reprinted in 2006 when Rudy Shur at Square One Publishers brought out a new edition with a new cover and inside art.








Bloom is a climate activist with an eye on the future, but for this picture book about a little girl named Moot, he wanted to focus on sustainability issues, from the viewpoint of a little Dutch girl with a big heart and a far-seeing mind. So he sat down the other day and wrote ''Moot: An international children's picture book about an 8-year-old Dutch girl who wants to save the world."








The book is available online free of charge, a very short read, just ten or twenty minutes if you read it out loud to your children or students in elementary school. It's a read-out-loud kind of book, with the adult reader using their emotions and voice to project the thoughts and feelings of Moot.
For the time being, the book will remain online only and there are no plans to bring the story to a publishing house or an ebook publisher. Bloom likes the book the way it is, and he calls it a blook (for blog + book). However, if someday a publisher in North America or Europe wants to bring the story out as a real, physical, in-your-hands picture book of about 32 pages, the author will be happy to talk about it.


For now, the book is yours to enjoy and use as you wish, and if you find some children you want to hear the book read out loud, then by all means make a hard copy of the story by printing it out on paper and then reading it to your own children or your school class. This book is not about making money, and it will always be free of charge online.