We All Share the Air

 

The Air We Share: A Pollution Problem and Finding Ways to Fix It (Books for a Better Earth) 

by Dee Romito; illus. by Mariona Cabassa 

40 pages; ages 6-9

‎Holiday House, 2025

theme: air, pollution, environment

What goes up here, ends up there. It’s all connected, in the air we share.

The air around us may look invisible, but it’s a mixture of gases and tiny particles. What sort of particles? Think about the things that go up into the air: smoke from wildfires, exhaust from cars and buses, volcanic ash, dust, and even pollen and fragrances from flowers and trees. In the pages of this book, Dee Romito talks about sources of air pollution and what people – and governments – have been, and are doing about them. The book ends with a list of things you can do to keep the air clean, and a reminder that “…everything is connected, and we all share the same air.”

What I like about this book: I like that there are examples of different things that can impact our air quality, from man-made smog to volcanic eruptions. And that Dee highlights how solutions were implemented: tree-planting to combat erosion and the dust storms, a clean air act to control vehicle emissions. I also like how she showed that air carries other, invisible things: sounds and smells and sometimes seeds. Back matter includes an author’s note, glossary, short bibliography, and index.

Beyond the Books:

Build a Pollution Catcher to find out what’s in the air you breathe. Smear a thin coat of petroleum jelly on a paper plate and attach it to a wall or fence using paper clips. Particles carried in the air will get trapped and you can see them the next day. Here’s a short video showing how.

Learn more about what causes air pollution from the NASA Climate Kids page.

https://climatekids.nasa.gov/air-pollution/

What’s your Air Quality? You can check it out at AirNow – and they also have a wildfire smoke tracker. A couple weeks ago some US cities were getting warnings about poor air quality due to particulates from the wildfires in Canada.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Falling in Love with Pond Scum

 

Magic in a Drop of Water: How Ruth Patrick Taught the World about Water Pollution 

by Julie Winterbottom; illus. by Susan Reagan 

48 pages; ages 6-9

‎Rocky Pond Books, 2025

theme: biography, water, STEM

When Ruth Patrick was five years old, she fell in love with pond scum.

How can you not want to keep reading with a line like that? The story: she and her dad were out on a nature hike and brought home a number of things to study and (if they could) identify. Among those things: a bottle of slimy brown pond water. When Ruth looked at a drop of that water under the microscope she found glassy gem-like things. Diatoms. She was entranced and wanted to learn more!

But back in the early 1900s girls didn’t study scummy pond water. And they weren’t encouraged to study science. But with her dad’s support, Ruth went to college to study diatoms, and ended up teaching us about water pollution.

What I like about this book: The language is luscious. Here’s how Julie describes diatoms: “jewel-like shapes… ovals made of beads, circles filled with pearls, shimmering stars, lacy triangles…” It’s enough to make you want to collect your own pond water and look for these algae treasures. There are other similes and metaphors tucked into the text. I like how the story expands as Ruth discovers that studying diatoms can tell bigger stories. Stories of floods, and even about the presence of chemical pollution. Stories on a larger scale, from pond to rivers to the ocean. And I like that there is back matter – more about Ruth Patrick and a timeline to put her life and discoveries into a context we can relate to. Also, the end papers are amazing – kudos to Susan Reagan, the illustrator, who captured the magic of diatoms on the page.

I was amazed the first time I saw pond water under a microscope. So I had to ask Julie One Question…

Me: What made you want to write about Ruth and her pond scum (and diatoms)?

Julie: When I first read about her in a book of essays about women in science, three things leapt out at me that made me want to do a book about her. The first was the story of how her father introduced her to the world of microscopic life in ponds and streams when she was only five years old. I thought that was a wonderful way into a scientist's life for young kids. The second was the incredible beauty of diatoms: what wonderful illustrations they would make, I thought. And the third was the important work that Patrick did to get government and industry to do something about water pollution, long before it was a public concern. Pollution is still such a pressing issue, and one that I think many young readers care about.

Both Julie and I were struck by the parallels between Ruth Patrick and Rachel Carson. They were contemporaries, both women in science and studying creatures in water, as well as the impacts of pollution. 

Beyond the Books:

Investigate pond water. Collect some and pour it into a clean white bowl (a plastic take-out container works well). Do you see pond scum (algae)? Do you see any insects? Use a hand lens to get a closer look. You might find fairy shrimp!

What happens when water is polluted? Pour some water in a bin and add some plastic ocean animals. Now pollute the water – great instructions here! Can you clean it up?

Go on a Pond Scum Safari with Sally Warring from the American Museum of Natural History. Remember to take your sketch pad so you can draw the cool micro-life you discover! Link here.

Julie is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website, julie-winterbottom.com

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Good to the Last Drop

 

When the World Runs Dry: Earth's Water in Crisis 

by Nancy F. Castaldo 

208 pages; ages 10 & up

Algonquin Young Readers, 2022   

“When you get up in the morning and turn on the faucet of your bathroom sink, you can probably trust that water is going to flow out through the tap.” But what if it doesn’t, asks Nancy Castaldo? Or what if the water that does come out is toxic? 

You might be able to go a week or so without food… but water is essential to our life. In this book, Nancy examines our relationship to water and highlights specific issues contributing to a global water crisis. Each chapter presents case studies of ongoing problems in the US and beyond.

In one chapter, Nancy looks at infrastructure: the plumbing and pipes that transport drinking water into our homes. She revisits the Safe Drinking Water Act and shows how polluted drinking water is often and environmental justice issue. She dives into the problems facing residents in Flint, Michigan and Newark, NJ and gives some tips on what to do if lead is found in your school drinking water. 

A number of chapters focus on sources of water pollution, from industrial to agricultural. One community facing groundwater pollution is a short couple-hour drive from my home. Residents in Hoosick Falls, NY are dealing with industrial chemicals that have percolated through the soil and into the aquifer they depend on for their water supply. Other communities, such as our neighbors in Bradford County, PA have lost their water due to pollution from fracking. Sure, you can get water delivered to your home and fill up large 250-gallon “buffaloes” – but the average person in our country uses 60-80 gallons of water per day. How long would that water last for your family? Not to mention problems of keeping water flowing on frigid winter days.

fracking in Bradford County, PA

Algae blooms and red tides contaminate water supplies. Accidental pollution happens when people flush medications down the toilet, and when chemicals from soaps and detergents reach rivers and streams. 

There are problems with too little water: lack of rainfall and snowfall resulting in lowering water levels in lakes and reservoirs. Maybe people can conserve by not watering their lawns, but how can farmers keep crops growing and livestock healthy when the pump runs dry? Likewise, problems arise when there is too much water. Flooding and rising seas pollute drinking water and destroy farmland.

Declining water resources drives conflict and migration. What happens when a corporation, partisan group, or local gangs take control of diminishing water supplies? Fortunately, Nancy ends with a couple chapters that look at potential solutions from recharging aquifers to desalinization, suggestions for action, and resources for folks who want to know more.

Nancy was kind enough to answer One Question:

me: What was the thing that made you know you had to write this book?

Nancy: This was a tough book to write, but so worth it. It enabled me to see people impacted by very difficult challenges rise to the occasion to help others. Every voice matters, from the Standing Rock teens who ran across the country to raise theirs to the Flint moms who supported the Hoosick moms miles away. In the end, I watched so many people show up to make a difference. That’s what it is all about – just showing up for our families, our communities, each other, whether in a classroom or a ballot box. The water crisis impacts everyone. 

My inspiration began in childhood when my mom became a water activist. I even wrote about clean water issues for my middle school newspaper. But the topic rose up again more recently when I was working on The Story Of Seeds and I saw how water issues impacted our worldwide food security over and over again. That led me to writing this book. It is a worldwide issue that needed attention. My readers are on the front lines. I hope that this book becomes a tool in the toolbox for teens working for a better future.

Thank you, Nancy. Speaking of working for a better future, here are some Simple Things You Can Do staring today:

• take shorter showers
• fix leaky faucets
• only run full loads in dishwasher
• collect rainwater for gardening
• fill a reusable water bottle

Nancy is a member of #STEAMTeam2022. You can find out more about her at her website.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

A Recipe for Ocean Soup

 Ocean Soup: A Recipe for You, Me, and a Cleaner Sea 

by Meeg Pincus; illus. by Lucy Semple 

32 pages; ages 6-9

Sleeping Bear Press. 2021

theme: ocean, environment, STEM

 From afar the vast ocean appears pure and clean.

But when you look closely you notice bits of plastic. The ocean, it turns out, is a soup of big bits and some so tiny they’re like pieces of confetti or glitter. Meeg Pincus shows how all that plastic got into the ocean, how it gets integrated into the aquatic food chain, and where it ultimately ends up: on our own plate!

What I like about this book: I like the metaphor of a recipe. I love the language of soup: stewing, simmered by sun, congealed. And I like how Meeg shows that many chefs contributed to the current Ocean Soup. What I like best of all is that instead of a recipe for disaster, Meeg shows what kids (and hopefully the adults they live with) can do to help clean up the ocean. It starts with simple things anyone can do and ends with an invitation:

We will need many chefs top help clean up the sea – 

starting here in our kitchen with you, and with me.

Plus there is back matter! A description of the ingredients in Ocean Soup, from plastic bottles to fishing gear. There’s also a recipe for cleaner oceans. And there’s an author’s note in which Meeg writes about growing up near the beaches, but now finds that much of her beach walking time is spent picking up trash. She realized that she needed to change how she used plastic in her own life. So I had to ask her One Question.

Me: Can you share how you settled on the idea to write this book it as a "recipe" and one of the challenges you faced doing that?

Meeg: I'd been working on my own plastic use for over a decade when I wrote Ocean Soup and was at the point where I was consistently carrying my cloth bags, metal water bottle, bamboo silverware and paper straws. But I found myself still bringing in too much plastic from other sources and wanted to push myself to do better. I would seek out bulleted lists of "how to go zero waste" and other how-to articles to try to keep improving, and it led me to think about the idea of a "recipe." At first, I wrote the story as a second-person recipe, basically "how to make Ocean Soup," showing how our habits (personal and collective) create microplastic pollution in the oceans… After many months of playing with the manuscript, and putting it aside, I finally came to the recipe being how the grownups (and industries) created "Ocean Soup" and how kids today can step in as "new chefs" with a "new recipe" to help fix it.

Beyond the Books:

How much plastic does your family throw away (or put in the recycling bin) each week? Keep a list of how many plastic bottles, yogurt containers, candy bags and other kinds of plastic you use. How much does it weigh? If this is your normal plastic use, what would it add up to in a month, a year, a lifetime (you might need a calculator for this)?

What specific things can you do to reduce the amount of plastic you bring into your home? Try to come up with one, two, or three good actions you can do. For example: stop using plastic straws.

People love using balloons for parties and celebrations. Come up with some things you can do instead of using balloons.

Meeg is a member of #STEAMTeam2021. You can find out more about her at her website, www.MeegPincus.com

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Mess That We Made

The Mess That We Made 
by Michelle Lord; illus. by Julia Blattman
32 pages; ages 5-7
Flashlight Press, 2020

theme: environment, ocean, pollution

THIS is the mess that we made.

The book opens with an illustration of kids in a  boat, surrounded by a spiral of plastic debris and sea life. Then, page by page, introduces the sea animals affected by the mess of plastic floating in the ocean: the fish, seals, turtles.

This is the seal
that eats the fish
that swim in the mess we made.

From the ocean to the landfill that spills plastic into the water, we see tons of plastic: bottles, fishing nets, plastic bags that trap the sea life … a very big mess.

What I like about this book: That Michelle gives us hope. Because “we are the ones who can save the day…” she writes. We can reduce the plastic we use, recycle it, and clean up the beaches and bays. I like the cumulative “House that Jack Built” structure – it’s perfect for a book where the mess grows and grows. Plus there’s Back Matter – and you know how much I love books with back matter! Three pages at the end of the book highlight the problems of plastic in the oceans and landfills, and also provide specific actions readers can take to reduce the amount of plastic trash they produce.

One Question for Michelle

Archimedes: Have you managed to eliminate plastic from your life?

Michelle: Not yet, but I am cutting down. I’ve switched to bar soap instead of body wash in single-use packaging, and  no plastic grocery bags for me. Unfortunately, when dining out I sometimes forget to tell the waitstaff that I don’t want a straw before one automatically shows up in my drink. Maybe I should tie a string around my finger. I wish restaurants only provided straws upon request.

Last year my husband and I bought several pieces of new furniture. The amount of foam in the packaging disappointed me. I am fortunate that my town offers plastic foam recycling for drop-off. Scientists estimate that it takes from several years to one million years for plastic foam to break down! My goal for this year is to shop local and secondhand for the things I need.

My daughter went vegan several years ago and shops at thrift stores and farmer’s markets, and  my husband is a recycler extraordinaire. If we all make an effort, together we can make positive changes to our environment!

Beyond the Books:

You can learn more about the plastic problem in our ocean here. If we continue to use – and throw away – plastic at the rate we currently do, the plastic in the ocean will At current rates plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish by 2050. Absurd, right?

Reduce the amount of plastic you use. I gave up using plastic straws and single-use water bottles last year. I also carry reusable shopping bags when I go to the grocery store. You’ll find more ideas here.

Michelle is a member of #STEAMTeam2020. Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.