On a mean street in a mean, broken city, a young girl tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the frail old woman says the thief can’t have it without giving something in return: the promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change the girl’s life — and a chance to change the world, for good. - Amazon.com

In my opinion this is a powerful book. First, the illustrations were very profound. The colors the illustrator used matched the words. The first couple of pages illustrate a city that is cold, broken and lonely. But as the child plants the seed, color is brought into the pictures. The change of dark colors to bright colors represent the change we can go through. Second, the book pushes the reader to think about nature. Nature is something vital for living things. The book starts describing the city the main character was living in. A city that was cold and harsh with cracks on the ground from the heat. With these words, we can visualize a city with no trees, plants or flowers. Then as the seeds started to grow, people touched the leaves and started having tea and talking. Nature gives so much more than color to our lives; it brings a community closer. Lastly, the book demonstrates how we can change any situation into something good. It uses nature to make that illustration. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. The main character is a child who is affected by poverty. Poverty is not a topic that is touched on in many children’s books and I think that this particular book explained it in a way that children could understand. For example, “I lived by stealing from those who had almost as little as I did. My heart was as shriveled as the dead trees in the park”. The author explains how this child has been affected by poverty and the extra obstacles that she has to go through to get basic necessities. I believe that the illustrations in the book were wonderful and helped convey the different moods in the book. For instance, in the beginning of the book, all the illustrations use neutral colors which conveys the mood of sadness and loneliness that the main character is feeling. By the end of the book, the illustrations are colorful which fits the happy mood that the main character is in. ( )

In a city where everything was mean, hard and ugly, a young thief stole an elder woman's bag. Stealing was the only way she knew how to make a living. After tugging over the bag with the elder woman, the elder woman stopped and said, "If you promise to plant them, I'll let go." Confused but determined to steal the bag, she said "All right, I promise." After opening the bag and discovering that the bag only held acorns, she understood the promise that she had made. She began planting the acorns throughout the mean, hard and ugly city. People began to come outside to see the beautiful trees sprouting, but by that time she was already off to plant more in other cities. One night in a lonely alley, a thief tried to fight her for her bag of acorns. She smiled and made the bargain, knowing how a heart can change. This story is an amazing and inspirational story to children on how hearts can change, and how one person can change the world through the smallest gesture of being kind. ( )

The promise is about a girl who steals a purse, and as she does so the woman she is stealing it from makes her promise that she will plant them. Although she didn't understand at first, when she opens the bag full of seeds, she understands. She goes on to plant all the seeds and turns her city beautiful again.

The message of this book is so important to me. I feel strongly about the environment and the well being of nature and plants, so this book really spoke to me.