Recycling Day

Welcome back from Summer Vacation. Yes - it's Labor Day. A day to celebrate the work people do. Here's a book about the kind of work anyone - even kids - can do to make their world a better place.

Recycling Day
by Edward Miller
32 pages; ages 4 - 8
Holiday House, 2014

Once there was a vacant lot between two buildings. It was a nice, sunny place, full of ants and worms, grasshoppers and flies. Until...

People started tossing trash.Then the rats moved in. Big rats. Mean bullies who pushed and shoved and took what they wanted. Until ...

A girl came by and posted a sign: "Recycling Day. This Saturday help us clean up this lot!" Kids showed up with rakes and bins and work gloves. They tossed glass in one container, cardboard in another, sorted cans and plastic, and started a composting bin. Then they planted seeds.

The story is accompanied by text boxes filled with facts and statistics about trash and how it can be taken out of the waste stream and recycled into new products. Backmatter lists more recyclables: toys, electronics, batteries, fabrics ... and includes information about reducing the amount of garbage that goes to dumps.

Don't let the talking worms and eye-patch-wearing rat fool you: this book is crammed with facts. And the issue of trash attracting rodents is so serious that New York City has created a "Rodent Academy" to teach people how to "rat-proof" their homes and businesses. NPR recently ran a story on the "Rat Academy" - you can read and listen to it here.


Today is Nonfiction Monday. Hop over to the Nonfiction Monday blog where you'll find more book reviews. Review copy provided by publisher.