Author: Tom Noll (no website found)
Publisher: Green Kids Press
Rating: Worthy!
Art: Brandon Fall
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review.
This is book one in the Trash to Treasure series for young children. It's an upbeat a charmer, and is very practical. Printed on recycled paper and illustrated beautifully in double-page images, this novel tells the somewhat autobiographical tale of LT (Little Tommy), who is growing and growing. Soon he needs a new bike, and his dad takes him to a junk yard so they can find the bits and pieces they need. They head home with a bunch of old, discarded bikes, and they cobble together a new one for Tommy. He even gets it painted so it doesn't look cobbled-together like his dad's old truck does - a major selling point with Tommy!
It's not long before the recycling bug grabs Tommy himself, and he has a few ideas of his own, especially with regard to recycling this collection of already recycled scrap bicycles! The book ends with a whole list of tips and tricks to help re-use and reduce, so its impact and its educational value is high.
If I had one quibble it would be over Tommy's dad's 'recycled' truck. It looks like a 1950 Chevy pickup truck and the mileage on those old trucks wasn't great: no more than 20mpg, and perhaps less (but gas was way cheap back then, so no one cared about wasting gas!). I have to say as cute as it looks, a new electric, or at least a flex-fuel, truck might be better for the environment; then again, maybe LT's dad has an engine hidden under that huge hood that runs on recycled cooking oil for all I know!
That observation aside, I recommend this book as a fun read and an educational tool to get kids on the road to recycling. No one individual is going to save the world with recycling, but that's not the point. This isn't about one person, it's about building a movement and growing the sentiment until intelligent environmental behaviors become the norm - and every little helps.
