Recycling is an important action we partake in to help the environment. We have four books that emphasize this importance and can bring you information, community, and inspiration. The environment helps keep this Earth functioning for the better. Remember, a little goes a long way.
1. Seedfolks – Paul Fleischman
When a Vietnamese girl plants six lima beans in a vacant Cleveland lot, a Romanian woman, who looks down on the immigrant-populated neighborhood, is suspicious as she watches the girl. A school janitor gets involved, then a Guatemalan family. Then a pregnant Maricela, then a muscle-bound guy named Curtis trying to win back Lateesha, gets involved. Amir from India also chimes in and soon the entire community sprouts. This book gives me a sense of community, growth, and the environmental importance of being green.
2. Ada’s Violin – Susan Hood
This is a picture book for young kids, but it is still an inspirational story nonetheless. Illustrations by Sally Wern Comport bring the story of Ada Rios, who grew up in the small town of Cateura in Paraguay, to life. This town is built on a landfill. She wants to play the violin, but with little money, little to no essentials, it is just a pipe dream. But a music teacher named Favio Chavez wants to give the children something hopeful. So he makes instruments out of recycled and trash materials.
3. Can I Recycle This? – Jennie Romer
Here’s one big question that you may ask yourself when you are about to place an everyday item in the recycling bin: “Does this go in the recycle bin?”
If you want a straightforward answer and quick information at your fingertips, this book explains how recycling works. It goes over common household objects and if they can be recycled. It explains the who, what, how, and whys. This will help you become more conscious of the environment and band as a community to clean our environment.
4. Nausicaä – Hayao Miyazaki
This manga can be entertaining for middle-grade, young adults, and adults. Nausicaä is a graphic novel about Nausicaä, a princess living in an ecological system’ which consists of polluted wastelands created by civilizations ‘in the past.’
Nausicaä’s world is a small kingdom in a post-apocalyptic world with a toxic ecosystem. When war between kingdoms occurs, little does anyone know an environmental disaster threatens humankind. This has action, amazing graphics, and nuances about the environment and what we technically do today, such as pollution, the forests, the oceans, and more harm to our ecosystem.
Hope these four books have made you think about what we can do to stop pollution, heal the earth, and have more greenery around you. Think about it: what better way to enjoy a book than outside in the fresh air under a tree? For more recycling-themed books go to Bookstr.