 FRONT PAGE Archive Index Feedback |
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
| |||||
Environmental Education for Youngsters
By Nicole Jones
Illustration by Chris Bivins from The Garbage Monster. |
Joni Sensel, Chris Bivins- illustrator, Dream Factory Books, 2001, ages 4-8, 24 pages (****)
Not only does Jo not like taking out the garbage, she also pays no attention to what she throws away. Her carelessness creates and feeds Garbage Man who decides to take her out instead. To destroy the smelly creation, she picks out everything from his body that can be recycled, composted, or reused somehow. All that remains of him afterwards fits safely within a small trash bag.
Sensel's personification of out-of-control garbage is a clever approach to teaching young children the importance of recycling. The narrator is faced with a problem and instead of an adult offering the solution, she discovers it herself. Not only does her answer end the immediate threat, it also continues to improve the environment and help people in need. "These leaves and grass and bits of food/can make the garden grow,/and I'll give these useful gadgets/to a charity I know." The author utilizes humorous play on words, like "Garbage Man," "litterbug," and "talking trash" that older readers will appreciate. Younger readers will enjoy the rhyme and pointing out the interspersed letters that deviate from the normal font to blackened handwriting.
The colorful illustrations also intrigue readers. Facial expressions like Jo's mom as she asks Jo to take out the garbage yet again, Garbage man looming over Jo as "icky, sticky, slimy glop" oozes from him, and Jo's victory grin are successfully captured. Bivins' Garabage Man is a wonderful creation of items that children will easily recognize. On the inside front and back covers is a detailed breakdown of "Trashicus Stinkimus," including his habitat and habits.
Illustration by Barbara Johnson from The Case of the Mossy Lake Monster. |
Michele Torrey, Barbara Johansen Newman- illustrator, Dutton Children's Books, 2002, 112 pages, (****)
Drake Doyle and Nell Fossey team up again to solve four scientific mysteries presented to them by classmates. In A Matter of Life or Death the duo have to figure out why their friend's cat refuses to eat after sleeping on a new angora blanket. A Major Disaster takes the pair out of the classroom to figure out how to save the penguins of Penguin Island, where Fossey is vacationing, from the dangers of an oil spill and declining temperature. They return to their school to investigate ruined campaign posters in An Evil Plot. And in The Monster of Mossy Lake, they discover how their nemesis, Frisco, scares the fishing competition away so that he can win unfairly.
Torrey introduces basic scientific principles like electrons, protons, neutrons, and hypotheses at a level that doesn't intimidate children, instead awing them. Most of the solutions to the problems are feasible, the only stretch being knitting sweaters for the penguins so that they both stay warm and are unable to clean their feathers until their natural oils return. The fifth graders' pursuit of science is taken seriously by the adults around them, despite the comic undertone of each adventure. Their parents support and encourage them by providing everything from transportation to decaffeinated coffee to basic supplies like test tubes and computers. During one of the research sessions, the subject of children utilizing the Internet is quickly, but aptly, addressed with two sentences: "Drake searched the Internet. Drake asked his parents." At the end of the book are several suggestions for relevant experiments the reader can easily perform without much supervision as well as instructions on how to set up a personal lab.
This is one of three chapter books chronicling the scientific investigations of Doyle and Fossey: The Case of the Gasping Garbage was reviewed in a 2001 issue of The Seattle Press and The Case of the Graveyard Ghost is scheduled for publication in August of 2002.
Reader Comments
Discuss this article in the forums!
| Michele Torrey | May 30, 2002 | Auburn, WA | Writer |
| Dear Nicole Jones, Many thanks for the thorough review you provided for DOYLE AND FOSSEY: SCIENCE DETECTIVES ~ THE CASE OF THE MOSSY LAKE MONSTER in the April 25, 2002 issue of "The Seattle Press." As the author of the series, I thought it would interest readers to know that, in fact, the penguin rescue case described in the book is based upon a true story. In January 2000, there was an oil spill off the coast of Phillip Island, Australia, where the smallest penguins in the world live. Even after they had been scrubbed clean, the penguins continued to be in danger as they preened their feathers and injested the residual oil. Also, their natural oils, which protected them against the cold, had been destroyed. Workers on Phillip Island came up with an ingenious solution---dressing the penguins in doll sweaters. A penguin sweater pattern was posted on the Internet and soon sweaters poured in from all over the world. The sweaters prevented the penguins from preening their feathers and kept them warm & cozy until their natural oils were replenished. An article plus photo can be found at: http://kids.infoplease.lycos.com/spot/penguinsweater.html More information on the Phillip Island penguin preserve can be found at: http://www.penguins.org.au/index.html Thank you, Michele Torrey | |||
| carol | Jul 11, 2004 | cottonwood,ca. | disabled |
| what can I use to keep my garbarge can from smelling, I have to keep it close to house because it"s hard for me to take it to street, garbage co. very picky!!!!!!!!! | |||
