Review: 20 Easy Ways to Save the Earth

It is becoming more and more popular to become “green.” Not only are more and more families making wiser decisions, it is also becoming a popular topic of conversation in classrooms. My daughter did a major unit last year in 3rd grade on “the 3 R’s” – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. Over the summer, she was a part of the summer reading program which included a Recycling Art Project contest to be turned in at the end of the session.  20 Easy Ways to Save the Earth is a children’s book that focus on simple things that children can do in their goals of implementing the 3 R’s in to their lives.

The book is authored by Pedro Rita, who is a husband and father in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Part of his parenting duties, included coaching youth soccer. One afternoon, while walking along the soccer field, he noticed the amount of trash laying around, and knew that most of this was left around by the children on his team.  He wondered how he could get them to realize just how wrong this was, and thus the birth of 20 Easy Ways to Save the Earth.

20 Easy Ways to Save the Earth focuses on how kids’ actions can affect thir homes and communities or offers them easy-to-use, Earth saving tips to protect the environment.

What I Liked About the Book

1. The graphics/colors.  It is so colorful and eye appealing that you want to read it.
2. The language – The book is in both English and Spanish.  Not only is this great because both English and Spanish speaking children can read it, but for older children (like my 9 year old) it is a great tool for them to go back and forth and learn a little more of the other language.
3. The tips. While some are more challenging (like planting trees), many are very simple and easy actions that we could all incorporate into our lives such as picking up others and throwing away your trash, not giving animals human food, turning off the water when you are not using it, turning off electrical stuff when you aren’t using it, and using rechargeable batteries.