Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
By: Kristen Schuetz
Fiction
Books
Dawson is an awesome inventor and collector of junk. He began at an early age to collect things that no one else wanted and turned them into useful toys. His secret hide out is full of the trash he has collected from around the neighborhood. When his Mom calls him to begin his chores, he creates a robot that will do the chores for him so he can spend more time inventing. The robot goes all-haywire and he must save the town with the help of Mooey, his side-kick. This book is written and illustrated like a cartoon to help capture the imagination and provide entertainment for children while, at the same time, teaching them about the recycling. Each invention is labeled to show what types of trash were used to create the new item. This book can be used to inspire students to create junk into treasure. This can start a new unit on using recycled objects and materials to make new inventions and toys.
This is the story of Michael Recycle, a flying, caped protagonist with a colander as protective headwear, who battles a green crusade and encourages a town of lazy, dirty, and wasteful inhabitants to get their act together and go green. They start recycling paper, cans, plastic, etc. The illustrations are comic-like; bright, smiley characters with quirky expressions. Michael Recycle is an appealing boy-superhero, and the author has helped make the idea of recycling fun for children through its rhyming verses. It presents the recycling message in a vibrant and humorous manner.
Ellie Bethel also writes several stories about Michael Recycle, such as the newest one, MIchael Recycle and Bootleg Peg. All of these stories are a fun way to incorporate the theme of recycling in everyday life.
This picture book cleverly presented the idea of dumpster diving within the larger idea of thinking creatively about what most people throw away—what can be re-used and re-invented as something else? Grown-up Steve does the actual diving, but he’s got three kid helpers who hose off the goods and brainstorm what to do with the treasure. The crazy illustrations are complemented by text written on duct tape, lace doily bits, and even a band-aid. This book sends a great message about conservation and creativity. Similar to Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall, this book can start a new unit on using recycled objects and materials to make new inventions and toys.