Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg

Stars: *****

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Originally 1990, Updated 2011)
Picture Book
48 pages

Summary: When it comes to the environment, young Walter is not an enlightened individual. He's a litterbug who believes sorting trash is a big waste of time. What's more, he thinks his friend's birthday present, a tree, is the most ridiculous gift he's ever seen. Walter believes the future is going to be wonderful, filled with robots and other amazing inventions. One night while lying in bed, Walter wishes he could visit the future. He falls asleep and his wish comes true. But the world Walter sees is not exactly what he'd imagined. When he returns to the present, he is changed and so are his dreams.  - from author's website

This is a great book for Earth Day or anytime you want to teach about environmentalism. Although it's an older book, I'd not seen it. It's by the author of The Polar Express and Jumanji (and many others,) so you know the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

The little boy's dreams show just how scary our world could end up the way we are going. He pops in and out of different dreams, showing many different scenarios. At the end he learns his lesson and pitches in and his dream that night is quite different.

I was a little surprised at first with the "ideal world" dream as it shows a return to simpler days with no clothes dryers or electric lawn mowers but I quickly realized that we would have to limit our energy usage in order to reverse the poor environment our children can look forward to (or not) in the future. It makes sense to me!

I read this to my 4 and 5 year old but it was over their head. I tried to explain as much as possible and I think the got a bit of it but it was too long and involved. I'm not sure the target age range but I'd say 8+

Links of Interest: Chris Van Allsburg,
Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy Just a Dream at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

Green Books Campaign - Meet the Teacher: How to Help Your Child Navigate Elementary School

This review is part of the Green Books campaign.Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

Stars: *****

Firefly Books (2010)
Non-fiction
176 pages, 25 illustrations

Summary: "Parents want their child to succeed in school. This book helps them promote smooth sailing for their child through all those important early school years, encouraging them to communicate with teachers early and regularly. The authors, two teachers who are also mothers, share ways to establish positive parent-teacher relationships and provide an insider's understanding of how schools actually work. Here is outstanding practical advice that parents need to help their child thrive in school." - from Firefly Books

This book is printed on FSC (Forest Stewardship Counsil) Certified paper.

This is an awesome book for parents with children entering school or who have been in it a few years but have questions. It was published in Canada so it talks about the Canadian school system and answers any question you may have.

"Tips for parents cover a variety of topics, including:

• Establishing a positive relationship with teachers and the school
  
• Managing homework
  
• Interpreting report cards
  
• Suggestions for successful parent-teacher interviews
  
• Addressing conflict
  
• How to prepare young children to enter school
  
• Early reading and writing development
  
• Effective home-school communication
  
• Improving their child's study skills
  
• Tips for parents who need to help their child deal with peer pressure and bullying

Special chapters include information on the different ways children learn, legal and medical matters and special education concerns. There are also fun and educational activity pages for family-oriented activities that support school curriculum topics."

Links of Interest: NONE YET

Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy Meet the Teacher at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

Backpacker: Predicting Weather - The Great Camping Event - Day 9

It's Day 9! Time to talk weather....

BACKPACKER: Predicting Weather: Forecasting, Planning & Preparing by Lisa Densmore

Stars: ****

Summary: The basics of forecasting the weather when out on the trail and what to do to manage in that weather.

This book is made for backpackers but a good portion of it is helpful to any campers. This is one book in a series related to the Backpacker magazine.

I've always been interested in weather and clouds. I have a collection of cloud photos as a matter of fact. I think it is an important skill to be able to see what kind of weather is coming when you are camping so you aren't running around putting stuff away when it starts raining. If you know rain is coming, you have time to put stuff away, make sure your tent guy lines are tight, take out your rain gear and do any activities you need sunshine for. For backpackers it's of course even more important as they are closer to nature and usually more secluded. Where I camp, if it's a really bad storm, I can go into the washroom building to take cover. Backpackers cannot do that.

Contents:
Weather Basics (Ingredients of Weather)
Reading the Sky (Clouds)
Figuring Out Fronts (Warm Front vs Cold Front)
Dew, Frost and Fog (The difference and what to keep in mind)
Local Effects (Mountains, Valleys, Large Bodies of Water, Snowfields/Glaciers, Alpine Zones, Deserts,
Beat the Chill (Cold Weather - how to dress, what gear to use, how to stay warm)
Cool It (Hot Weather - how to dress, what gear to use, how to stay cool)
Weathering Wind (Winds from different directions, wind chill)
Extreme Weather (Storms, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Hail, Sleet/Freezing Rain and Flash Floods)
Lore or Likely (Weather lore and if it's true or not!)

I will be studying this book until I've memorized the clouds and other signs of poor weather.

Links of Interest: NONE

Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy Backpacker: Predicting Weather at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

Books with an Environment Theme

Earth Hour is tomorrow at 8:30pm. Don't forget to turn off your lights and electronics for at least a on hour span to help conserve energy and make a statement!

In honour of Earth Hour, I wanted to highlight some environmentally friendly or environment related books I've reviewed here.

Observing/Learning About our Earth
Earth from Above: For Young Readers by Yann-Arthus Bertrand, Robert Burleigh
Many photos of around the world taken from a helicopter overhead.
One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss
Where the water is, who has it, how much is used

Helping our Environment (Kids)
The Adventures of an Aluminum Can
How a can is recycled into something else
10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh
A picture book about being environmentally friendly

Helping Our Environment (Adults)
Trash Talk by Dave and Lillian Brummet
Ideas to reduce waste in and around your home


* Photo Credit: Maximo Lopez on Flickr

Earth From Above for Young Readers by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, text by Robert Burleigh

Stars: ****

Summary: Soar above the earth. Look down - what do you see? Water and land, trees and buildings, people and animals. And more, so much more. Let the remarkable aerial photographs of Yann Arthus-Bertrand take you to a whole new world of discovery and adventure.

Mr. Bertrand goes up in a helicopter around the world and takes pictures of the earth, from above. He made a book for adults and this is his young readers edition. Robert Burleigh adds text to reveal the story of each photograph.

One of my favourites of all the photographs is the one used for the inside cover. It's a photograph of many african women looking up at the camera. I also love the one of the village houses in Morocco. It looks like a whole bunch of squares lined up next to each other. Very neat. The accompanying text helps identify what you are looking at and sometimes why it looks like that.

A beautiful book for teaching children to appreciate our Earth because it's so beautiful!

Links of Interest: Yann Arthus-Bertrand (beautiful photos and more, Earth From Above (Squidoo), YouTube Video of Photos from Adult Book,

Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy Earth From Above for Young Readers at Amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews.

Green Books Campaign: The Adventures of an Aluminum Can

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
(Logo credit: Susan Newman)

Stars: *****

Summary: Peek into this diary of an aluminum can as it goes on a journey from inside a bauxite rock under the beaches of Jamaica, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into its new life...as a baseball bat!

I think recycling is very important and that most people don't realize how important it really is. I am very happy to see this book in print, I hope it will help the next generation to learn about recycling and how important it really is.

The Adventures of an Aluminum Can is from Little Green Books at Simon & Schuster. The book itself is made from 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper. So it's about being green and was made green too!

It's a cute little story about a speck of alumina that is found under the ground and is brought to a refinery and processed into a can. It shows each step from the speck to the can and then after the can is used it's recycled and remade into something else. I won't spoil the story but what the (girl?) can is made into lasts a long time and is used by many children which makes her very happy. It's written almost like the aluminum is writing a diary. The pictures are adorable as you can probably see from the cover. I've read other pictures books on recycling but this is definitely the best.

Buy The Adventures of an Aluminum Can buy Amazon.com

Trash Talk by Dave & Lillian Brummet

Stars: ***1/2

Summary: Trash Talk is about changing people's mind-sets by providing thought-provoking ideas that inspire readers to participate from the ground level in their waste reduction efforts. All the ideas are relatively simple and do not require any special skills or tools.

I thought this would be the perfect review to be posted on Earth Day! This was a great book which had some really creative ways to save time, money and resources as well as the environment. A lot of them are for gardeners thought so if you don't garden (and I don't mean a few flowers or a small veggie garden but a dedicated gardener) then some of them won't apply but there are still some great ideas.

Dave & Lillian Brummet both advocate that before you even think about reduce, reuse and recycle, we should be focusing on refuse. That's refusing to even by items with too much packaging and the like.

The book is separated into chapters on different items such as carpets, containers, furniture, metals, glass, nylons, or tires. Then there are chapters on such things as Diet, Energy Use, Indoor Air, Organic Waste and Water Use. Finally there are chapters on such things such as Envelopes, In the Office, Junk Mail, Paper Bages and Newspaper. Each chapter is short and contains some quick ideas for reusing mainly. There is no extraneous explanation, each chapter and idea is short and to the point.

The book (mainly at the back) as more than 140 websites, book and magazines sources for more information which is a blessing but can also not be helpful as these resources (especially websites) come and go so frequently.

Lillian Brummet has also published a poetry book called Towards Understanding. Dave and Lillian have also published an e-book titled Purple Snowflake Marketing - How To Make Your Book Stand Out In A Crowd.

Author Website - http://www.brummet.ca/

Conscious Discussions Blog - http://consciousdiscussions.blogspot.com/

Trash Talk by Dave and Lillian Brummet

1-4137-2518-6
$24.95 retail
Buy at Amazon.com
Buy at PublishAmerica.com

10 Things I Can Do to Help My World: Fun and Easy Eco-Tips by Melanie Walsh

This review was posted first at The Well Read Child.

Stars: ***1/2

10 Things I Can Do to Help My World is a picture book for ages 3 and up that is designed to teach your child some "fun and easy eco-tips."

"I use... both sides of the paper. If everybody did this, it would greatly reduce the number of trees we use to make paper."

The book is a little bit unusual in that the pages aren't all the same size and square. First of all in the 0 of the 10 on the front cover is an upside down light bulb cut right out of the cover. Also the page that shows exhaust from a car, you turn the exhaust to see the rest of the picture. One page shows garbage and recyclables and compost and bins on the opposite page with their openings cut out. So when you turn the page, the proper items are in each container (compost, cans, glass, paper, plastic.)

The book is really neat and has great ideas. I'm only not sure about one of them. It says to remind your parents to unplug the TV when we are not watching it. First of all if the child decides to unplug it themselves they could hurt themselves. Second of all, who really does that?? I don't know about you but I'd waste more personal energy pulling the entertainment stand out each time to plug and unplug the TV than I would electrical energy by leaving it plugged in.

To top it all off, the book is made from 100% recycled material.
I plan to use this book to help teach my children about helping the environment and recommend that you do too.