Go Green by Fighting Pollution by Lisa Bullard, John Wes Thomas
Published by Lerner Publications (Tm) on August 1st 2018
ISBN: 1541520165
Pages: 24
Goodreads

How simple is too simple in non-fiction books for young readers? 

“My family and I ride our bikes.

That way we don’t use our car. 

Driving cars pollutes the air.”

This text from one of this book’s pages needs a LOT more discussion. Living in very rural Maine, statements such as this trouble me: 1) if you want to ride bikes, the safest places require people to drive there in their car and carry the bikes; 2) bikes are great only in summer months when it’s not raining – or in Florida & Arizona only in winter months; and 3) how do you carry your groceries or new furniture or materials to build your house?? The use of electric cars is not mentioned. 

The large, dark, thick easy-to-read font is probably the best thing about this “Early Bird Stories” book. The simple, cartoonish illustrations are adequate and emphasize the topic on each page. One one page, the narrator is shown wearing gloves when planting a tree but not when picking up garbage. Behind him stands a girl, frowning, arms crossed, apparently looking at another child holding a hose in which a dog has tangled itself. The dog looks a little angry, too. Are they thinking the water’s being wasted because the water is not yet going onto the tree being planted? 

The title says, “Go Green…” but the book does not use or explain that phrase again. Even though there are “how” and “why” questions on a few pages, this book is more of a simplistic statement for early elementary readers rather than an invitation to explore or discuss ways to reduce, reuse, or recycle.

Reviewed by Lynn Mayer, Librarian, Old Town Elementary School, Old Town