Eco Journeys

These ecology-minded offerings take everyday objects that young audiences will recognize and tell where they come from and where they end up. Facing spreads featuring full-page photos overlaid with images and word bubbles show how items are made, what they’re made of and how—after just one or two uses— they’re often thrown away to sit in landfills for years.

The books follow a similar format by offering two alternatives: recycling and upcycling. The spreads of recycling explain how the items can be turned into new products; pages about upcycling shows pictures of objects turned into craft projects of used for alternative purposes. Glass Jar starts with an empty recycled jar; it’s melted down and turned into something new: another glass.

Piece of Paper follows recycled pieces of used paper as they’re turned into pulp and then dried out in thin sheets and stored in huge rolls, ready for new projects. Recycling is the name of the game in Plastic Bottle, which shows these containers being melted down and used to make new bottles. Likewise, Soda Can explains how cans are crushed, cut into small pieces, and melted, probably to be made into more cans.

Back matter includes brief quizzes and glossaries. Back matter includes brief quizzes and glossaries. Eye-catching and relatable, the accessible guides in the Eco Journeys series will help kids understand the importance of reusing and recycling.

Each of the four books in this series follows an item (piece of paper, glass jar, plastic bottle, and soda can) through its creation, usage, disposal, recycling process, and reuse.

The descriptions and details are easy to understand and provide just the right amount of information for young readers. The use of photographs, colorful graphics, simple text bubbles and single sentences make the books extremely visually appealing.

Readers that usually gravitate toward books by National Geographic Kids will find these titles equally as attractive. A table of contents and glossary make these books easy to use and the “Quick Quiz” at the end of the book is a fun review of what was presented.

VERDICT: This is a fantastic purchase for libraries looking for easy reading books about recycling.