Where Does the Garbage Go?: Revised Edition (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) [Paperback]

Paul Showers (Author), Randy Chewning (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: January 30, 1994 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years | Series: Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2 | Lexile Measure: 810L (What's this?)

Follow that garbage truck!

...to the landfill to see how trash keeps piling up...to the incinerator to see how trash can be turned into energy ... to the recycling center to see how a soda bottle can be turned into a flowerpot. Filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, Where Does the Garbage Go? explains how we deal with the problem of too much trash and provides ideas for easy ways to be a part of the solution.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-An update of the 1974 title (HarperCollins), not only in content but also in terminology. In the original, the narrator's grandfather buried their trash on his farm and fed garbage to the hogs. "Garbage and trash" were taken together to the dump, or, in the case of big cities, incinerated, resulting in air pollution. Separating trash for recycling was only a hopeful prospect. Gone is the family farm in the 1994 edition. Children learn in school about how things "used to be." They take a field trip to a landfill where garbage and trash (brought in from a nearby big city) are still being buried, but they refer to recycling as a commonplace activity in which the whole town participates. A pie chart breaks down the composition of a landfill by percentages. Showers mentions toxic ash and smoke generated from incinerators and the basic problem of too much trash. The pictures are also more sophisticated in content, if not style. How a landfill is built and how an incinerator works are more fully portrayed than in the previous edition, and more detailed drawings are used to show the processes involved in paper, glass, and plastic recycling. Suggestions for what individuals can do to help the environment are appended. Touches of humor are added via dialogue balloons, making this title an enjoyable and useful introduction to the subject.
Judith V. Lechner, Auburn University, AL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5-8. The 1974 edition of this Let's-Read-and-Find-Out book began with a girl saying, "Everything goes into the garbage pail in our house." Showers suggested recycling as the solution to the problem of massive waste, but even he probably didn't expect that 20 years later the revised book would begin with a teacher telling her class about the "way things used to be" and contrasting it with current landfill and recycling programs. Clearly written and accessible to young children, the book explains what used to happen to solid waste, what goes into landfills, and how aluminum, newspapers, glass bottles and jars, and plastics are recycled today. Although Chewning's ink drawings are clear and appealing, his use of multicolor, hyper-bright washes sometimes distracts the eye and detracts from the pictures as illustrations. Given the usefulness of this book in the classroom, public and school libraries will want to have at least one copy of the new edition. Carolyn Phelan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Revised edition (January 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064451143
• ISBN-13: 978-0064451147
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 9.9 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Nature > Environment

More About the Author

Paul Showers wrote twenty books for the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, including favorites such as What Happens to a Hamburger? and Where Does the Garbage Go? Mr. Showers worked on the Detroit Free Press, the New York Herald Tribune, and for thirty years, the Sunday New York Times.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Every day Jobs that interest kids! September 2, 2007

By Angela J. Zaev VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

My son, like many curious 5 year olds, enjoys watching the Garbage Truck. And he loves to ask questions such as posed by the book's title, Where Does the Garbage Go?

As with most books I have seen in the Let's Read and Find Out Science series, it begins with a story to engage the child in the books primary theme. This one begins in a "traditional" classroom setting where the children learn all about garbage from their classroom teacher. It's a great conversation starter with a young child or group of children to ask them where they think the garbage goes.

In this book children will learn:

1. what garbage is (various types of garbage - yard waste, consumer waste, recycling etc.)

2. simple diagrams explain how an incinerator works, how glass, aluminum, paper and plastic is recycled

3. the process that transpires at a landfill, which includes bulldozers, compactors and dump trucks (a thrill for my son for sure)

4. practical ways to reduce our own garbage

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to waste management for young children March 21, 2006

By K. Sheppard

Format:Paperback

This book is one of my collection for a Recycling education center. It is helpful because it breaks down the process of landfilling and recycling as well as shares what we throw away as Americans via a pie chart.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive book about trash. March 4, 2008

By Heidi

Format:School & Library Binding

My 8 year old read this book to me for health. We are learning about waste and pollution. This book includes at dumps, landfills, ocean dumping, incineration, recycling, the end uses, and reducing our garbage to begin with. A very good book that I would recommend for grades 1-3rd. It would also make a good book for social studies.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resouce October 15, 2007

By Linda Grunwald

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I used this book with 1st and 2nd graders. There is a lot of information provided about recycling garbage (how plastics, paper, newspapers and metal) are processed at their respective recycling plant. The book encouraged a lot of relative conversation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Get it from the library March 9, 2010

By M. Heiss

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is just an "ok" book.

Trash disposal, composting, and recycling are utterly fascinating to kids, but this book was blah. It was focused more on the fierce urgency of implementing community recycling programs than on the interesting and exciting details of sorting and recycling and landfilling.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thankfully, this one is a keeper! October 1, 2007

By J. Arena TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This book satisfies a child's natural curiosity about the everyday world around us. That garbage that we carry out in big plastic bags after raking the lawn, cleaning out the cellar, or tidying up the kitchen -- you just have to wonder where all this garbage ends up!

Diagrams, charts, graphs and cute illustrations will put kids in the know about dumps, landfills, recycling and preventing unnecessary waste to help the environment.

Well done volume on a timely subject.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great informative book! August 19, 2006

By Elsner

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

My 3 year old grandson loves this book. I bought it for him because he loves to watch the garbage truck come by every week. This book really taught him what happens to the garbage after pick-up.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Does That Garbage Go? October 15, 2007

By Lynn Ellingwood VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a great book about how we deal with our garbage. It is easy to read and understand. My students are middle school who are learning English. This book allows my students access to information while learning to read English. I highly recommend this series and this book.