Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids, written and illustrated by Gail Gibbons, is a step-by-step guide for recycling written in a kid-friendly and inviting way.
The book opens up with a simple explanation of how the trash we make ends up in landfills and all of the problems associated with this practice. Gibbons writes, “One solution is to cut down on the amount of trash we make. We can do this by recycling some of our garbage to make it into new things.” She continues the book by providing descriptions of the paper, glass, aluminum cans, plastics, and polystyrene consumers use as well as the different steps kids can take to recycle items made of those materials. Most importantly, Gibbons explains the positive effects that recycling objects made of those materials can have on the environment. The book concludes with statistics designed to make students aware of how much waste the United States produces each year such as, “New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building.” The fun-facts also show students how recycling can help save the environment. “Every ton of paper that is recycled saves seventeen trees.”
Students will find the suggestions Gail Gibbons sprinkles throughout her book, Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids, fun and easy to do and will feel good about putting them into practice.
Curriculum Connections
Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids is a perfect guide to introducing young students in kindergarten and first grade to the concept that everyday materials can be reused, recycled, and conserved (VA SOL K.10a&b) and that recycling reduces our consumption of natural resources (VA SOL 1.8c).
Additional Resources
- Teachers can use this hands-on activity to stimulate students’ thinking about what can and can not be recycled.
- Students will enjoy this first-hand approach to recycling paper with this paper-making project. Teachers will also find helpful background information on the process of making paper and thought-provoking discussion questions to ask students after the project is complete.
- This printable coloring book can be used to reinforce the main ideas and concepts covered in Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids.
- Teachers can use this website to gain more information of how students in Virginia can recycle.
Book: Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids
Author: Gail Gibbons
Illustrator: Gail Bibbons
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Publication Date: April 1996
Pages: 32 pages
Grade Range: K-1
ISBN: 978-0316309431