“Follow That Paper!: A Paper Recycling Journey is part of the Keeping Cities Clean Series and has three companion books. Each title in the series is intended for early elementary aged children. The book has clean colorful graphics. Pages five and six explain and demonstrate how a recycling truck lifts a dumpster and empties the contents into the truck. We just moved to a new neighborhood with roll–out bins for both garbage and multi–stream recycled items. The truck has an arm which lifts the bin in the same manner. My husband read Follow That Paper to our favorite six year old, Paul, and took time to explain how the truck loads and empties the bin, also reviewing the vocabulary in the glossary (p.23) with Paul. The book accurately traces the journey of a sheet of notebook paper to its logical end: recycled paper towel for a school. This book certainly supports a lesson on recycling paper. The activity making paper beads (p. 22) would be fun in a classroom as a follow–up to the story. My concern is that many elementary teachers invest an inordinate amount of time teaching recycling to kids. The price of the book, [$20.95], may keep it out of reach for most classroom teachers.”—Deborah Stevens
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Follow that Tap Water!: A Journey Down the Drain
A child washing the dishes wonders where the water goes, and the story follows water drops as they travel to through the city sewer system, treatment plant, and back again. Includes "Recycle it Yourself" activity and further resources.
retail $29.95 your price $20.95
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Follow that Garbage!: A Journey to the Landfill
A child watching a garbage truck pick up the trash wonders where it goes, and the story follows two garbage bags as they travel to a transfer station and then to a landfill. Includes "Recycle it Yourself" activity and further resources.
retail $29.95 your price $20.95
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Follow that Bottle!: A Plastic Recycling Journey
A child tosses a plastic bottle in a recycling bin and the story follows that plastic bottle to through the process of recycling until it becomes a new bottle again. Includes "Recycle it Yourself" activity and further resources.
retail $29.95 your price $20.95
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Follow that Paper!: A Paper Recycling Journey
A child tosses old homework paper into a recycling bin and the story follows that paper through the process of recycling until it becomes usable paper again. Includes "Recycle it Yourself" activity and further resources.
retail $29.95 your price $20.95
Keeping Cities Clean
What happens to water when it goes down the drain? If you throw a bottle into the recycling bin, what happens to it? Follow the things we dispose of and see where they go and how they are reused. With clear process explanations and bright, graphic illustrations, this series answers the questions of curious kids and inspires good stewardship of the earth.
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Complete Series of 4: retail $119.80 your price $83.80
“Follow That Garbage, A Journey To The Landfill is one of four books in a new series, Keeping Cities Clean, written for early elementary aged children, which supports Common Core State Standards. The graphic images are clean and colorful. My husband read it aloud to our favorite six year old, Paul, and the story sparked a discussion and a quick trip to the garage to distinguish our trash and recycling roll–out bins (we just moved to a new neighborhood with multi–stream recycling and no longer have to sort). Paul, however, did not find the garbage trip to a landfill engaging. Each book in the series has an activity (p.22); this book’s is making compost with coffee grounds and egg shells, appropriate to the topic of garbage. Follow That Garbage has a glossary (p.23) and additional resources (p.24). Each book in the series is [$20.95], which did give me pause. Follow That Garbage is accurate and clearly written. An elementary teacher might appreciate the book for its lesson on the landfill, I am just ambivalent given the price.”—Deborah Stevens
“Follow That Bottle!: A Plastic Recycling Journey is part of a four book series, Keeping Cities Clean. Each book in the series is geared toward early elementary aged children and supports Common Core State Standards. Recycling is one topic most elementary teachers cover, so this series could serve as an introduction to launch lessons on recycling. This book has clean, colorful graphics and traces a plastic water bottle on its journey as it’s recycled. As an Environmental Science teacher I must admit that it grates on my nerves to read about bottled water. I preach to my students that bottled water is someone else’s tap water and they’re paying at a rate of about $8.00 a gallon for each bottle. But, I do understand that a bottle of water is familiar to young children. I loved the image on page eleven of bottles yelling, ‘We’re Number ONE!’ This page could be the platform to a lesson on what the numbers on the bottom of plastic bottles or jugs mean (typically, numbers one and two are the most accepted and recycled. The numbers correspond to different types of plastics). At the back of the book, page 22 is a hands–on activity, making a recycled plastic bottle bird feeder, followed by a glossary (p. 23), and a few more resources (P.24). Each book in the series retails for [$20.95]. The book presents an accurate portrait of the journey a plastic bottle takes when it’s recycled.”—Deborah Stevens
“Follow That Tap Water!: A Journey Down the Drain is one of four books in a new series, Keeping Cities Clean, which supports Common Core Standards, and is intended for early elementary aged children. The graphics in Follow That Tap Water are clean and colorful. The book follows the journey of a drop of leftover dish water to the water treatment plant. Each book in the series would be useful to early elementary teachers crafting recycling lessons and includes a relevant activity. On page 22 there are instructions for making a water filter using common materials: soil, a plastic bottle, sand, gravel, and cotton balls. This is a good activity and can be adapted to make it more inquiry–based by testing other materials such as activated charcoal or varying the amounts of sand and soil. Each book also has a glossary (p.23) and more resources (p.24) useful for instruction. Follow That Tap Water does a credible job tracing the flow of water beyond the waste water treatment plant. The story and filtration activity could compose an excellent lesson on recycling.”—Deborah Stevens
“Kids see water come out of the tap, and they generally don’t understand how it connects to rain or rivers. They also don’t understand why they can’t drink water from, say, a pond. This book provides them with an outline of the numerous steps water has to go through in order to be safe, and also what happens to water once it leaves the house again. It’s got enough kid-grabbing grossness to keep them interested—my five-year-old was howling at microbes eating toilet water. My kids also enjoyed the water-drop characters and their funny little catchphrases. (“Now I’m fat free!” exclaims a water drop as it exits a waste water treatment that removes fats and oils.) A suggested experiment at the end of the book gives kids a basic idea of how water filters work. It’s relatively quick and easy to set up, and kids end up feeling a strong sense of connection to the whole water cycle.”—Fenella Saunders