Follow that garbage truck!

...to the landfill to see how trash keeps piling up...to the incinerator to see how trash can be turned into energy ... to the recycling center to see how a soda bottle can be turned into a flowerpot. Filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, Where Does the Garbage Go? explains how we deal with the problem of too much trash and provides ideas for easy ways to be a part of the solution.

1994 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children 1995 (NSTA/CBC)

Price: $5.99

Unfortunately, there's always someone else who is willing to take his place, but the message of this environmental book is plain: Save the rain forest! The story itself is not overly compelling, but each personalized entreaty from the animals provides an accurate and persuasive scientific argument for preserving nature's gifts. Lynne Cherry's fertile watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, including a map of the tropical rain forests of the world, are vivid and colorful. A fine starting point for a discussion about conservation. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Price: $6.99

The now remorseful Once-ler--our faceless, bodiless narrator--tells the story himself. Long ago this enterprising villain chances upon a place filled with wondrous Truffula Trees, Swomee-Swans, Brown Bar-ba- loots, and Humming-Fishes. Bewitched by the beauty of the Truffula Tree tufts, he greedily chops them down to produce and mass-market Thneeds. ("It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove. It's a hat.") As the trees swiftly disappear and the denizens leave for greener pastures, the fuzzy yellow Lorax (who speaks for the trees "for the trees have no tongues") repeatedly warns the Once-ler, but his words of wisdom are for naught. Finally the Lorax extricates himself from the scorched earth (by the seat of his own furry pants), leaving only a rock engraved "UNLESS." Thus, with his own colorful version of a compelling morality play, Dr. Seuss teaches readers not to fool with Mother Nature. But as you might expect from Seuss, all hope is not lost--the Once-ler has saved a single Truffula Tree seed! Our fate now rests in the hands of a caring child, who becomes our last chance for a clean, green future. (Ages 4 to 8)

Price: $14.95

Did You Know?
Fun Facts about Jan Brett

Each book begins with the art first. Jan likes to listen to audiobooks while drawing--usually thrillers! Each book takes about a year to complete. The pages of each book are not created in sequence (she saves the front materials and endpapers for last). Each book is carefully researched--she created The Umbrella after a trip with her husband to Costa Rica. Jan prefers to use her memories of a place to create her art, rather than relying on pictures.

For Young Writers and Artists
Tips from Jan Brett

Want a reality check on your artwork? View your work in a mirror. Be honest with yourself, and get comfortable with personal and private writing. Write in a notebook that no one sees but you. Remember the things that happen to you now. It's okay to feel things strongly as a kid. You can use your emotions as part of the recipe for something later.

Price: $15.99

Wartville is being buried in trash! There are soda bottles under the flowers, juice cans by the mailbox, and newspapers along the road. Every day the piles grow higher and higher.

Then one tidy old man realizes he has the power to get rid of all the trash forever. Wartville will finally be cleaned up once and for all!

Price: $6.99