We live in a time of heightened environmental awareness, and this knowledge is creating a generation of children with feelings of eco-anxiety — the world is doomed, isn't it? Maybe not. Not Your Typical Book about the Environment allays kids’ fears by showing how all is not lost. Young readers learn about the remarkable time they live in: smart technologies, innovative ideas, and a growing commitment to alternative lifestyles are exploding around the world. Awareness is creating a future that will be brighter than we sometimes might think. Each chapter begins by taking familiar objects — T-shirts, video games, bikes — and using these as launching pads to delve into related environmental issues. Plus, profiles of unexpected personalities, like happiness researcher Catherine O'Brien, show how many are seeking viable solutions to the serious problems facing our planet.
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 4–8—This is an intriguing, fact-filled book about saving the environment in unusual ways. Imaginative, comic-booklike illustrations add to a lively layout that will keep readers moving from one paragraph to the next, and funny wordplay prevents the facts from becoming overwhelming or dry. The accessible narrative will help readers to realize how their purchases of food, clothes, and electronic equipment nurture or hurt the world around them, and achievable goals and ideas will enable them to pitch in and help. The concluding chapter discusses new and unique ways to create energy. Each chapter ends with an "Elin Explains" spread that describes ecological interrelatedness ("How Video Games and Cell Phones Are Connected to Gorillas") in a graphic-novel format. This hilarious, information-packed work is an excellent addition.—Rachel Artley, Watertown Elementary School, TN
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
This colorfully illustrated book accentuates the positive side of environmental concerns as it provides information and encourages readers to make responsible choices. Although the approach is a bit scattershot, the discussion introduces a wide variety of ideas to consider, and the presentation is lively. Four chapters discuss topics related to clothing, food, technology, and energy in ways that show how individual choices make a difference. In the first chapter, for example, Kelsey considers the pros and cons of T-shirts made from bamboo, hemp, and organic cotton, as well as secondhand tees. Within the context of general discussions, she includes some specific facts, such as the names of retailers accepting old fleece jackets and gym shoes for recycling. Though there are no source notes here, and the sometimes busy, cartoon-style illustrations won't appeal to every kid, this book raises many environmental issues and offers some useful information. Grades 4-6. --Carolyn Phelan
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By DCScience
Format:Paperback
Kids are increasingly exposed to fearful messages about what's going on with their environment. Their favorite animals are going extinct, the earth is getting hotter, and sometimes kids can feel that it's all their fault! Not so with this book. Ms. Kelsey gives kids positive messages about what they can do. They get brownie points for all the things they're already doing, and she gives suggestions for ways they can build on their efforts. There's not a negative statement in the book. If everyone took this attitude to environmental awareness, there would be a lot less worrying and much more doing. It's a great book for kids and parents to read together so that they can collaboratively change their family habits, talk about issues in a non-scary, even hopeful way, and turn something negative into something positive.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Focusing on positive impacts and steps that kids can take to help "green" the world
May 22, 2010
Format:Hardcover
"Not Your Typical Book About the Environment" is a chapter book for kids ages 9-12 that addresses some of the nonspecific eco-anxieties that dis of today may be suffering from as a result of heightened environmental awareness. Focusing on positive impacts and steps that kids can take to help "green" the world, each chapter takes a familiar object to launch specific "green" tactics that kids can employ to diminish negative environmental impacts. For example, in the chapter on t-shirts, no fewer than five choices are suggested for green t-shirt options for kids. Another interesting comic-book strip section explains How Video Games and Cell Phones Are Connected to Gorillas, concluding that recycling video games and cell phones helps control the demand for coltane, a rare mineral found in lands that are prime gorilla habitat. "Not Your Typical Book About the Environment" ends with an upbeat but honest note from author Elin Kelsey that concludes:" There are endless choices about how you and I and everyone else can create a happy life for ourselves and millions of other species. Ride a bike. Share stuff. Play outside. Eat less meat. Be silly. Play more. Choose an issue and commit to changing it, even if it's just a little. Recycle cell phones. Keep playing. Reduce. Reimagine. Rejoice (p.63)."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A. Johnson
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Finally, someone has written a book that doesn't just offer stories of environmental doom. How will our children face the challenges of climate change and sustainable living without a sense of hope about the future? Dr. Kelsey has hit the right tone in her latest book. Remarkably, she has packed a 200-page science text into 64 pages of fascinating -- and hopeful -- stories about the many positive things that researchers and citizens do every day to make a better world. The depth of her exploration and the presentation of her findings will inspire everyone. And the decision to pair Dr. Kelsey's writing with the illustrations by Clayton Hammer has produced a fun and engaging book that all kids and parents will enjoy. Not Your Typical Book About the Environment is quite different from Dr. Kelsey's last book, Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales, but it's every bit as readable and important. An exceptional effort!
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