In honor of Earth Day (April 22), we picked out a fun book to read to celebrate.  We picked Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel.

The premise of the book is a town covered in trash and other gross stuff when Michael Recycle crashes into town superhero style to change their ways.  He teaches the townspeople about the importance of recycling ("...before all your trash reaches up to the moon!") and teaches them what they can recycle.  The text and photos also indirectly refer to having rain barrels and gardening - other eco-friendly practices.

What I thought about the book:  Overall, I enjoyed this book.  It is definitely aimed at younger children (I estimate ages 4-6) as it introduces the concept of recycling, but doesn't go into great detail about the benefits and just briefly mentions the types of things you can recycle.  I also kind of wish it addressed reusing, but I guess that's a whole other book.  ;-)

What Jack thought about the book:  Overall, Jack enjoyed the book.  He said his favorite part was when Michael Recycle crashed into the town dump...headfirst and with a colander on his head.  :-)  He also liked the last few pages where the author discusses other common eco-friendly practices (using less water, reducing paper usage, composting, etc.) and we were able to have a nice conversation about which of those things we already do and which we could do next.



What Colin thought about the book:  Colin was not super interested in this book until we got to the page where the townspeople had a celebration of their newfound eco-friendliness and "covered the town with green toilet paper".  I thought that part was odd (condoning decorating with dyed paper products), but they did mention that when they were done the rolled up the paper to use again.  Anyway, Colin asked me to read that part at least five times before I was able to move on with the book and he was still talking about it two pages later.



You could buy this book, but wouldn't it be more fun to win it?  Enter the giveaway via Rafflecopter below for your chance to win this book!

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