The Little Recycler

PreS—This lift-the-flap book introduces young children to recycling. It begins with sorting in the home: "Clink, clink, clink./Into each bin-/BOTTLES,/PAPER,/PLASTIC,/TIN." Then a small boy wheels a wagon filled with recycling to the truck where a driver loads it and heads to the recycling center. "Pour it out/on a belt./Shred and mix./Sort and melt./Crush the cans-/red, green, blue./Melt them into something new." Crushed cans rotate on a background of swirled colors. Lift the flap to see a shiny red car on the same background. The book then shows different ways that children can recycle in their everyday lives. The young Caucasian protagonist hands a box of castoffs to other, grateful children with darker skin, and a used cardboard box becomes a fort. The text is clunky in places, but recycling is becoming a regular part of American children's lives, and it is good to see a board book address it.—Amelia Jenkins, Juneau Public Library, AK