Michael Recycle
By: Ellie Bethel & Alexandra Colombo
Bethel, E., and Alexandra Colombo. Michael Recycle. IDW, 2013.
https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Recycle-Ellie-Bethel/dp/1600102247
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Fiction - Picture Book - Online Materials
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
This is a story about a young superhero who's greatest power is to teach others about recycling! He has a plan: to save a lazy town, Abberdoo-Rimey, which is full of garbage and smelly air, and the rest of the world! Can he be the planets new savior, or as the towns people call him, the "green-caped crusader"? Follow along as everybody does their best to try and clean up their town, that once before was brown and slimy, and now is green and healthy thanks to Micheal Recycle!
Target Audience:
The target audience for this book is for children between the ages of 6-8, and it has a Readability Lexile of AD640L. This book is easy to follow and fun for children to read about how an individual can impact an entire town, especially somebody close to their age. This would be a great book to read aloud to a class, yet simple enough for children to read it on their own.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's elements for quality literature, this book is a great choice! The pictures correlate well with the text on each page and offers a variety of color and different looking people. The theme of this story can be easily identified, which is recycling, and each image helps embody this overall message. The book avoids stereotypes of race and sex, and concludes that everybody, no matter who you are, should help keep our world healthy and clean to live in!
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I ask that students create a superhero of their own! However, their powers must do something that saves the Earth and keeps it healthy and clean. I decided to choose this activity because Michael Recycle, in our story, encourages all kids to become environmental superheros, so what better way to follow the book than to take a superhero's advice? This is a fun, hands on activity that evokes students to think about how they would want to change the world. I also included an online read aloud for students to hear and see the story by different means!
The Good Earth
By: Pearl S. Buck & Nick Bertozzi
Bertozzi, Nick, and Pearl S. Buck. The Good Earth. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
![The Good Earth by [Buck, Pearl S.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Fik4C7KnL.jpg)
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Earth-Pearl-S-Buck-ebook/dp/B01MG7O55M/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542036671&sr=1-1&keywords=graphic+novel+about+earth
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Graphic Novel
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
This moving story describes a Chinese farmer and his family trying to making a living off of their harvested crops during the 1920's with a strong dedication and love for the land. During this time, China is rapidly modernizing it's culture yet keeping the same traditions. However, they suffer through horrible environmental conditions, forcing them to seek work within the city. This is an award-winning, captivating story that beautifully portrays the cycles in life, as well as the environment and it's power.
Target Audience:
This graphic novel is for children ages of 12+, and has a Readability Lexile of 1530L. This book is much more challenging than the previous books I have posted about. It has an immense story with a serious plot regarding the environment, as well as struggles an individual has faced. There are many deep parts of the story, however it offers a great message to middle school readers about the importance of the impacts the environment has.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's elements for a quality graphic novel, this book does an exceptional job portraying a family's story from a different time period. The pictures accurately portray each text, and it offers students a visual version of the story. This shares the feelings and emotions of the characters as they pass through different phases of life, therefore giving meaning. The book is described as a “finely rendered showcase…that perfectly captures the story’s timeless subject matter while also underscoring the antiquity of the depicted world” (Kirkus Reviews).
Reader Response Activity:
For this assignment, I ask students to reflect on their own lives and how their world's might change if they were faced with environmental disaster. I used flooding for an example, and prompted them with different questions to show them how I want them to be thinking.
XOC: The Journey of a Great White
By: Matter Dembiki
Dembicki, Matt. XOC: The Journey of a Great White. Oni Press, 2012.
https://www.amazon.com/Xoc-Journey-Great-Matt-Dembicki/dp/1934964859
20&linkId=26d06fcbf4878d413d90eeef5b19631f
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Fiction- Graphic Novel
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
Explore the wonders of Earth's oceans through the eyes of a Great White as he pursues a 2,300 mile trek from the Farallon Islands off the coast of California, to warm Hawaiian waters. Along the way, he faces natural encounters with predators and prey, however runs into a man-made impediment: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this book is for children between the ages of 9-12, with a Readability Lexile of GN700L. This is a great book for middle school students who have never been fully immersed into a different perspective. It offers them to see how different species are affected by the environmental issues that humans have created, and that sometimes it is an everyday obstacle.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's elements for a quality graphic novel, this book does a wonderful job portraying it's message through every illustration. Readers are taken on a journey through a different body and mind, and together it allows a fully immersed experience for young readers, especially. The images are augmented by the text, and it is full of bright, vibrant colors to enhance the beauty of the ocean. The language is appropriate for the targeted age group, and it is simple to follow.
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I ask that students try writing from a different perspective other than their own, whether it be a different animal, person or plant, about an environmental problem they may face. This allows them to practice thinking about different points of view on their own, and envisioning the feelings of others and they face conflict.
The Massive
By: Brian Wood & Gary Brown
Wood, Brian, and Garry Brown. The Massive. Dark Horse Books, 2014.
https://www.amazon.com/Massive-Vol-Black-Pacific/dp/1616551321
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Fiction- Graphic Novel
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
Being the first book of Brian Wood's postapocalyptic series, readers go on a journey through the viewpoints of an environmentalist- after the world has already ended. Now, nothing is certain and ideologies are meaningless. However, follow along as a group of activists are determined to find out the source of the crash and how humans have pushed Earth's limits too far. This is a great book for students to think about the world as becoming something completely different- a very challenging concept to grasp, however intriguing.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this book is children between the ages of 11-13 with a Readability Lexile of 660L. This is a great book for students to challenge their viewpoints of the world. It is appropriate for this age range, includes thought provoking images, and offers a "warning" about pushing the Earth beyond it's environmental limits.
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's elements for a quality graphic novel, this book does an awesome job portraying it's messages. It sucks students in to a different world that is foreign to them, however is still the Earth they are familiar with. The images and text correlate well together, and the concepts are appropriate for middle school readers. I would highly recommend this book because it enforces the idea that the health of our planet is no joke- just imagine a world like the one in the story!
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, I ask students to fill in a Venn Diagram comparing the differences between Earth before and after the disaster, whether they make note on the landscape, buildings, cities, etc., I want them to recall elements from the story that they found to be noticeably different. They can look through both the text and images to find these details.
Anywhere Farm
By: Phyllis Root & Brian Karas
Root, Phyllis, and G. Brian Karas. Anywhere Farm. Walker Books, 2017.
https://www.amazon.com/Anywhere-Farm-Phyllis-Root/dp/0763674990
More About the Book and Author Found Here!
Genre: Picture Book
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Summary:
When most people think of farms, they imagine a barn, tractors, and pastures full of animals. However, farms can be anywhere! Anything can be a home for green, growing plants! The book offers a wonderful variety of ideas on where to start- whether it is on a window, balcony, or even your front step. The book combines cheerful urban illustrations with different ways to make your community a greener, healthier place.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this story is for children between the ages of 4-6, with a Readability Lexile of AD 490L. This book is great for children just starting in the school setting because it teaches them that farms don't always have to be in vast, country fields, but can also be included anywhere you could imagine! A Box, bucket, boot or pan, the opportunity to be green is endless in any community!
Evaluating the Story:
Based on Donna Norton's elements of a quality picture book, this story is fantastic at portraying its message! The colors of urban neighborhoods are vibrantly painted, and the combination between cheerful illustrations and text creates a very positive reading experience for young learners. The story is straightforward, and it feeds the need of children's connection to Earth and being apart of nature themselves. This book offers no type of stereotyping of any sort, and encourages that all people try their best to make use of their green thumbs!
Reader Response Activity:
For this activity, it would be fun if as a class, each student got to plant their own seeds and grow something! They could then be placed around the room, the school or even brought home. All that is needed would be a package of seeds (your choice), a spray bottle filled with water, some soil, and a plastic cup. As a group, you could pass out all of the necessary materials to each student. Then, you could review what is needed for a seed to grow- being sun, soil and water. After all of the students have completed this project, place them in front of a window and watch them grow! It is fun for students to check in on their plant each day to see how it is progressing, and how beautiful they can become from just a small seed!
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