2nd December World Pollution Prevention Day

• If I Were the World  by Mark Sperring

If I were the world, I’d want flowers and bees. 

A chorus of birds singing high in the trees. 

If I were the world, I’d want sparkling seas. 

If I were the world . . . 

would YOU look after ME?

Today is the day to listen to our world!

This beautiful and uplifting book will inspire us all to join hands and help our amazing planet. With an irresistible rhyming text by Mark Sperring and stunning illustrations by  Natelle Quek, it's the perfect book to inspire children to ask questions and take action and that is what we want everyone to do on World Pollution Day. Stop. Think. Act. Three words that are used in schools so often.

Increasing pollution is posing threat and danger to our existence. Pollution can be of different types such as water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution, food pollution, etc, but whichever kind it is, it is not 'a fun topic' for young students. The students I teach are young, constantly bombarded by messages about what is happening to the earth and I worry that each time we talk about pollution and its effects we are adding to their anxiety, so books such as this one allow us to start with the positive and things we can do without dwelling on the horrors.

Allan Drummond's books provide positive case studies of dealing with specific kinds of pollution. Through the eyes of children this inspiring series about everyday communities inventing exciting new approaches to green living, shows that working together for a common cause has an impact that is lasting, meaningful and fun!

• Green City : How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future

In 2007, a tornado destroyed Greensburg, Kansas, and the residents were at a loss as to what to do next--they didn't want to rebuild if their small town would just be destroyed in another storm. So they decided they wouldn't just rebuild the same old thing; this time, they would build a town that could not only survive another storm, but one that was built in an environmentally sustainable way. 

• Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World

Cycling rules the road in Amsterdam today, but that wasn't always the case. In the 1970's, Amsterdam was so crowded with vehicles that bicyclists could hardly move, but moms and kids relied on their bicycles to get around the city. PEDAL POWER is the story of the people who led protests against the unsafe streets and took over a vehicles-only tunnel on their bikes, showing what a little pedal power could do! Author and illustrator Allan Drummond returns with the story of the people that paved the way for safe biking around the world.

• Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed Our World

At a time when most countries are producing ever-increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses, the rather ordinary citizens of the Danish island of Samsø have accomplished something extraordinary--in just ten years they have reduced their carbon emissions by 140% and become almost completely energy independent. A narrative tale and a science book in one, this inspiring true story proves that with a little hard work and a big idea, anyone can make a huge step toward energy conservation.

• Solar Story: How One Community Lives Alongside the World's Biggest Solar Plant

This is the story of the Noor Solar Power Plant in Morocco's Sahara Desert. Drummond relates the story through the everyday life of a school girl who lives in a small village next to the plant. Through a school excursion to the plant we see how the reliable power is brought to the village and beyond, and how it provides jobs, changes lives and upends the old ways of doing things.

• Zero Waste:How One Community Is Leading a World Recycling Revolution

Kamikatsu, Japan, is known worldwide for its sanitation innovations. This small community of 1,700 people is leading the way in recycling and upcycling, and has nearly achieved its goal of zero waste. Told in Allan Drummond's energetic, informal narrative style, this is the story of a group of citizens who dared to break out of their comfort zone and make radical change for the good of their town and the planet.

 

3rd July International Plastic Bag Free Day

The 3rd of July is International Plastic Bag Free Day, a global initiative to eliminate the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags may seem like a useful convenience for grocery purchasing, but they have a devastating impact on the environment. Plastic bags can take up to 500 years to decompose, so they make up a significant portion of what remains in our landfills and pollutes our waterways.

I have highlighted this day before here and here, but although our supermarkets and many other shops no longer have single use plastic bags, there is still a problem and more and more picture books for very young children seem to want to 'hammer' home the message. One of the library staff thinks we are scaring our preschoolers? Are we? I'd like to know what effect they have.

In the library we have:

• Bag in the Wind  by Ted Kooser and Barry Root

One cold morning in early spring, a bulldozer pushes a pile of garbage around a landfill and uncovers an empty plastic bag — a perfectly good bag, the color of the skin of a yellow onion, with two holes for handles — that someone has thrown away. Just then, a puff of wind lifts the rolling, flapping bag over a chain-link fence and into the lives of several townsfolk — a can-collecting girl, a homeless man, a store owner — not that all of them notice.

• Jelly-Boy  by Nicole Godwin and Christopher Nielsen

What happens when a jellyfish falls in love with a plastic bag she mistakes for a jelly-boy? Jelly-Boy is different. He is big and strong. And not as wobbly as the other Jelly-boys. By the time Jelly-Girl discovers the dangerous truth about her new friend, it may already be too late. 

• Saving Seal  by Diane Jackson Hill and Craig Smith

Lizzie and Grandpa Dave are motivated to do something about cleaning up their Bay and saving the marine life who are being threatened more and more by the rubbish found in the Bay and on their beaches. They encourage the towns people to join them in their fight against plastic pollution devastating their beaches and harming marine life. 

• Little Pago by Lauren Briggs

 Little Pago and his friends set out on an adventurous journey in search for food, but not everything floating in the ocean is safe for a baby turtle to eat. A plastic bag is easily mistaken for some of Little Pago's favourite food. Little Pago is a mascot for the welfare of all Australian sea turtles and shines a light on one of the critical threats that face sea turtles, plastic waste in our ocean. It encourages readers to challenge the way we live, so that collectively we can work towards preventing these majestic sea creatures becoming extinct.

• Little Turtle and the Changing Sea by Becky Davies and Jennie Poh

Little Turtle loves the ocean with her whole heart. As the years pass, she repeats an incredible journey across the world to the beautiful coral reefs. But one day she finds that plastic has invaded her beloved ocean. Could Turtle's journey be over forever?

• A Bag and a Bird by Pamela Allen

This is a story of a plastic bag and a bird - a cautionary tale about taking care of our environment as well as being a wonderful showcase of some of the famous sights of Sydney.

• Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts and Hannah Peck

Most jellyfish have dangly-gangly tentacles, but Stanley has two handles...

• One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the recycling women of Gambia by Miranda Paul and Elizabeth Zunon

For years, plastic bags were a cheap and convenient option for carrying goods in Njau, Gambia. However, when these bags broke or were no longer needed, they were carelessly discarded, leading to an unsightly accumulation of plastic waste alongside roads. Isatou Ceesay decided to take action, and she began to collect the plastic bags and recycle them into something new. Her efforts not only helped to clean up the environment, but also provided income for women in her community who had been struggling to make ends meet.

22nd January Brian Wildsmith (1930 - 2016)

Brian Wildsmith was born on the 22nd January 1930 and unfortunately died last year on 31st August. He has always been a favourite of mine and as school begins for yet another year I have promised myself to do more with his wonderful picture books this year. It is always easy to share his Easter and Christmas titles, but I thought I would make a bigger effort to use his fables and fairytales. This started when I pulled off The Bremen Town Musicians while I was looking for rooster books. I am also particularly fond of Professor Noah's Spaceship and what it says about air pollution. It is just as relevant or even more relevant than when he wrote it. I also like Hunter and His Dog and as the library year is starting with a display of books about sticks and stones this one will be included there because of how the dog always brings the hunter sticks instead of the wounded birds. Plenty to discuss with Year 2.  Cat on the Mat is the best beginning reader there is! Perfect layout, perfect picture clues and sight words with a worthwhile predictable story.  Publishers please bring back many of Brian's out of print titles, starting with Jack and the Meanstalk and The Rich Man and the Shoemaker.