The Adventures of A Plastic Bottle

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling is a picture book in Little Simon's line of Little Green Books. The book is made from 100% postconsumer waste recycled paper.

I think the cover gives you a pretty good indication of what to expect. When your plastic bottle is smiling and waving at you, you know going into it that the book is going to be flirting with dinky.

What we've got is a diary from the point of view of what will be, what is, and what was a plastic bottle. Here is an entry from January 30th:

Hi-ho, Diary!
Today, was so fun! Being a bottle is great! I was clipped onto a BOTTLING LINE. Wheeeee! I flew down the line and went round and round and up and down. Along the way I was washed and STERILIZED. Then I was filled with fresh water! I even got a spiffy label. They're putting all of us bottles into boxes now. I can hardly wait to see the rest of the world! More adventure awaits me...

With words like hi-ho and spiffy (just to name a few) you can clearly see this one is proud to be dinky. However, I will say this. It was informative. It was clear. I learned while reading the book. It may not have much to offer in entertainment, but it does offer readers user-friendly facts. And so it's not without value. So for what it is...a teaching tool...it's not bad at all.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Little Green Books: My First Garden

My First Garden is part of Little Simon's Little Green Books series of environmental and eco-friendly books for kids. The book itself is made from 100% recycled material. It's a concept book--a book teaching children about colors. We've got green cabbage, purple turnips, orange carrots, yellow squash, red tomatoes, etc. What do we have after a day in the garden with mom? The makings of 'tasty' vegetable soup*.

This is neither here nor there in a book review. But cabbage and turnips will never be tasty in my book! Green zucchini, that would be tasty. Or green broccoli. How about brown mushrooms, and white onions?

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Planet Earth: Baby Penguins

Baby Penguins (Jan 2009) is a board book in Scholastic's Planet Earth series. (The book is printed on recycled paper.)

If you (or your little one) likes Happy Feet and have developed a fondness for penguins, then you'll find much to enjoy. Photographs and simple text together tell a story about a baby penguin surrounded by family and friends. Personally, I love to see photographs in books for kids--I like the realness, the details. A few well-selected photographs can tell so much more than cartoon-like illustrations.


© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Little Green Books

So Little Simon of Simon & Schuster has a new line of books for young readers. The Little Green Books series. You can read the press release here. You can see all the lines in that series here.

Today I'll be highlighting two of their picture books. Both books are made from 100% recycled paper. And that's good and all. But...

I'm a big believer in stories. I'm a believer in good messages. But I'm not such a good believer in stories weighed down with good messages. In library school, you're taught (and wisely at that) to frown upon didactic reading materials. So, for example, there could be a message that you believe in--support--100% (or 90% of whatever) and still not want to see that message spun into a "story" for children. (If you ask me, if parents want their children to grow up green, then modeling green behavior is the first and most important way to convey that message. Not reading them "story" books about the subject.)

The fact that these two books in the series do not feature an author's name on the cover...says something in my opinion. These books are all message, little story. What story there is in the books is weak and flimsy.

The books in question: The Polar Bears' Home: A Story About Global Warming and I Can Save The Earth! One Little Monster Learns To Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

What does the text look like? Obvious and not-so-subtle messaging about humans' bad behavior and bad habits.

Max the Little Monster liked to fling candy wrappers. He left a trail of trash wherever he went. "Whee!" said Max. Max the Little Monster did not like to give away his old toys--even when he'd outgrown them. "Mine!" cried Max. Max the Little Monster like to overflow the sink...and the bathtub...and clog the toilet. "Hungry toilet!'" said Max. Max the Little Monster left the lights on and blared the TV--even when he wasn't in the room. "No big whoop," said Max.

But all this changes when Max experiences a black out which leads to a change of heart....and behavior.

With The Polar Bears' Home we've got a message-as-dialogue between father and daughter about the plight of the polar bear and the world at large due to global warming. It's very message-heavy. Even more so than the out-of-control monster who learns his lesson. There are better books out there about polar bears (ones with the author's name on the cover and everything) that include this subject within a larger context. So this one isn't all that great in my opinion.

Good message? Mostly. Good literature? Not really. Not the "quality" type you'd want to read with your littles unless you wanted to preach to them about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Goodnight Moon, Curious George, or Knuffle Bunny this is not.

Here is what I'd like to see. Good old regular stories about anything and everything being printed and published in an eco-friendly way. I'm all for publishers taking steps to go green. Using recycled paper, etc. But I'd like the stories printed on that paper to merit it.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Little Green Books: Little Panda

So Little Simon of Simon & Schuster has a new line of books for young readers. The Little Green Books series. You can read the press release here. You can see all the lines in that series here.

Two of the books in the series are books for babies. Little Monkey and Little Panda. Yesterday, I reviewed Little Monkey. Today it is Little Panda's turn.

Meet Little Panda. Like Little Monkey, his packaging is made of 100% recycled materials, and the book itself is made from Polartec fleece which is made of 50% recycled materials. Again like Little Monkey, he is washable.

Simple text. Cute pictures. A short and sweet little book about friendship.

Roly-poly Little Panda
loves to eat bamboo.
He climbs up trees
with his friend Little Monkey, too.


© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Little Green Books: Little Monkey

So Little Simon of Simon & Schuster has a new line of books for young readers. The Little Green Books series. You can read the press release here. You can see all the lines in that series here.

Two of the books in the series are books for babies. Little Monkey and Little Panda. Up for review today, Little Monkey. Little Panda will have a turn tomorrow.

What makes "The Little Green Books" eco-friendly? The packaging is made of 100% recycled materials. And the book is made of 50% recycled materials. The book itself is fabric--Polartec fleece made with recycled material.

Little Monkey is soft and cuddly. The text is simple. It rhymes.

Singing, swinging Little Monkey
lives high above the ground.
Fast and spunky,
Little Monkey
makes a happy sound!

Overall, I liked it. I think it is baby friendly. It is washable. And I think little fingers and mouths will enjoy this hands-on book.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers