Tag: recycle

Posted in Fiction, Fiction, Intermediate, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

Green Jolene: Read it for Earth Day!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Green Jolene and the Neighborhood Swap, by Wendy Mass/Illustrated by Billy Yong, (Feb. 2025, Disney Planet Possible Books), $12.99, ISBN: 9781368107563

Ages 7-10

Jolene Greenfield is an environmentally conscious rising third grader on summer break and missing her best friend, Amie, who just moved away. As the new neighbors unload their boxes outside Amie’s old home, she takes a minute to consider how much stuff she has: it’s A LOT. How much of it does she still want or need? Not that much. But the thought of her stuff sitting in a landfill makes her stomach drop, so she and her parents come up with the idea to have a swap meet. As she and her family set about getting the neighborhood on board, Jolene discovers that putting a neighborhood event together takes a lot of work and a lot of tweaking, but in the end, it’s all worth it – and she may even make a new friend in the process. Back matter includes tips for kids on recycling and additional resources. Yong’s cartoon black and white illustrations are fun and keep readers invested in the story. An overall fun and green-savvy book for intermediate readers.

Disney’s Planet Possible books are part of Disney’s sustainability initiative; book content is focused on environmental issues, and the printing of the books themselves take sustainability and conservation into mind. There are free educator guides and activity sheets on the Disney website: get rid of your scrap paper by printing on the other side!

 

 

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads

Little Blue Chair: the power of sharing, the power of home

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Little Blue Chair, by Cary Fagan/Illustrated by Madeline Kloepper, (Jan. 2017, Tundra Books), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-77049-755-9

Recommended for readers 3-7

A little boy outgrows his favorite blue chair, so his mother puts it on the curb with a sign reading, “Please take me”. From there, Little Blue Chair follows the chair as it’s passed from hand to hand: it’s used as a replacement seat on a plant stand; a ferris wheel; a bird feeder; a throne, and a chair for elephant rides. It travels to amusement parks, houseboats, and beaches, ultimately coming full-circle as it arrives back where it began. It’s a sweet story about a favorite belonging – it could easily be a toy, as in Kate DiCamillo’s The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane – and the power of home, but it’s also a story about the permanence of objects. The chair is never thrown in the trash; it’s used again and again, serving different purposes for different people, all of whom love the chair while they have it. It’s a journey home.

Madeline Kloepper’s ink and pencil illustrations, finished digitally, a soft and gentle, calming to the reader. The palette of opaque greens, reds, dark yellows, and gray-blues gives the story almost dreamlike feel; a child’s imagination realized, from one boy using the chair as a tent, to another using it as a throne, his stuffed toys as subjects. Everything in this world has a story; everything has a value. Read this with your little ones and talk about the stories their toys hold. If you’re in a school, talk about the desks: what stories could they tell?

courtesy of Madeline Kloepper’s website

I’d love to pair this with Mirielle Messier’s The Branch and compare the two stories. They’re both books about reusing and repurposing; one, a child’s chair; the other, a branch from a favorite tree.

Cary Fagan is an award-winning children’s author. See more of Madeline Kloepper’s illustration at her website.

Posted in Early Reader, Fiction, Preschool Reads, Realistic Fiction

The Branch gets a new lease on life after a storm

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

thebranchThe Branch, by Mireille Messier/Illustrated by Pierre Pratt (Sept. 2016, Kids Can Press), $16.95, ISBN: 9781771385640

Recommended for ages 3-7

A little girl’s favorite tree branch comes clattering down during an ice storm. A neighbor teaches her how to repurpose the branch, to create new memories.

What a great book to communicate so many ideas! First, we have the imagination of the tree branch. As the little girl says, the branch,”was my castle, my spy base, my ship…”, and she experiences the grief of losing the branch when she spies it on the sidewalk. She doesn’t want to part with it right away, so her mother allows her to hold onto it for a little while – long enough for the girl to encounter her neighbor, who tells her that the branch is “full of potential! …it means it’s worth keeping”, and we learn that he builds things from salvaged wood, and encourages the little girl to think about what the branch could become. When she uses her imagination and reaches into herself to reimagine the branch, she and the neighbor work together to give the branch new life.

In addition to imagination, we’ve got reusing/recycling, which is great for the environment; showing a child unwilling to discard a tree branch as a casualty of the storm, and finding ways to recreate it will get kids thinking about what they could create with objects in the world around them: cereal boxes could become robots or cities for superheroes to protect; old cans can become pencil holders; soda bottles can become terrariums. There are thousands of ideas on the Internet, so there’s no need to wait for Earth Day to come around again to make kids aware of the fun things they can make when they reduce/reuse/recycle.

Finally, we’ve got making: the whole creative process is here: sketching out plans, sawing, planing, drying the wood, waiting, waiting, waiting. It’s a great book to feature with The Most Magnificent Thing, HowToons, and fun nonfiction books, like those in the Make series. Encourage kids and parents to work together on anything from paper airplanes (great use of catalog paper) to repurposing a tree branch – large or small – of your own.

Mireille Messier is a Toronto-based author who’s had over a dozen books published in French. She’s also one of the French reviewers for the National Reading Campaign. Her website is available in English or French and offers information about her books, school visits, and her blog. Pierre Pratt is an award-winning illustrator of over 50 books for children. He lives and works in Montreal, Quebec, and in Lisbon, Portugal.

 

Posted in Middle Grade, Teen, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Sticky Fingers – Duct Tape Fun for All!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

sticky fingersSticky Fingers, by Sophie Maletsky (2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), $16.99 ISBN: 9781936976546

Recommended for ages 8+ with an adult

I’ve been trying to get back into crafting for a while now, and being a kids’ librarian is helping in a big way. My latest fascination is with duct tape crafts – I’m a public librarian in an urban community library, so this is an affordable craft that kids can create really useful things from, and have you seen the wild duct tape that’s out there these days? Hit up your local big box store, or craft store, and see for yourself – there’s everything from wild colors to licensed characters on duct tape.

Sophie Maletsky’s Sticky Fingers is a perfect craft resource for beginners and for far more advanced duct tapers than I. There’s a MESSENGER BAG in here, for heaven’s sake, and it’s fabulous. There are nine chapters, featuring crafts for home, school, to wear, wallets, even ideas for using the end of the roll itself.

Ms. Maletsky provides tutorials on creating duct tape “fabric” – the basis for many crafts – and goes from there, creating simple pouches, wallets, and even gets magnets and Velcro into play, creating clutches and purses. There are crafts for guys, too – belts, ties, sunglass and smartphone cases, wallets – it’s an equal opportunity craft, and it’s totally sustainable. Heck, if you check your parents’ toolbox, you’ll probably find a roll to practice with (just ask first, please).

Many of these crafts call for a pair of scissors, and some call for an X-acto blade – younger users need some adult supervision to work on these projects; no one wants a trip to the hospital marring their craft session. It’s a great way for parents and kids to create some fun projects and memories together. I’ve not only bought this book for my library, I’ve built a program around it.

Sophie Maletsky’s website offers even more craft ideas, including a whole section on recyclable material crafts. (I’ve bookmarked this site – I see many programs in my future!) You can also find party ideas, games (some, with a focus on Science, STEM people!), information about the author, and the ability to enroll in online crafting courses led by Sophie.

 

Posted in Non-Fiction, Tween Reads

Change the World Before Bedtime – Proof that everyone can affect positive change!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

change the world before bedtimeChange the World Before Bedtime, a collaboration by Mark Kimball Moulton, Josh Chalmers, and Karen Good (Schiffer Publishing, 2012). $16.99, ISBN: 978-0764342387

Recommended for ages 4-8

For all the kids out there tired of being told that they’re too young to affect change, Change the World Before Bedtime is a primer on everything anyone, big or small, can do to bring about positive change in their world. The book takes place over the course of a day, with a group of children making positive decisions and taking positive actions to brighten the world around them. By tying on their “hero capes” and eating a healthy breakfast, they prepare for a  day of random good deeds, like picking up litter, visiting a sick friend or family member, donating clothing, toys, and food to the needy, and just thinking and saying happy thoughts and words.

The book features multicultural images and the artwork incorporates some great collage work. The images remind me of Joan Walsh Anglund’s illustrations that I loved, growing up. The rhyming text makes this a fun read-aloud, particularly to 5-6 year olds who may have a better grasp on activism. Positive messages, like “recycle” and “one beautiful world”, are emphasized throughout the book, as are images including composting, teamwork, manners, and environmental awareness. The last page of the book asks the children to write their “bright ideas to change the world before bedtime”, and the endpapers look like pieces of looseleaf paper, encouraging the children to keep writing.

The book’s optimistic tone and beautiful imagery will motivate children and adults alike to do something right away! There’s no need to wait for Earth Day to come around again – there’s always something to do to change the world.

Change the World Before Bedtime received the 2012 Gold Medal Award from the Mom’s Choice Awards.