The Earth Needs a Break from Plastic
The engaging picture book The Earth Needs a Break from Plastic shows how single-use plastics pollute the environment and suggests eco-friendly alternatives.
In Jaime Hilditch’s picture book The Earth Needs a Break from Plastic, small decisions have a big impact on the environment.
Sam and Abdul each enjoy a snack on the bus after school, but while Sam’s snack came in a plastic container, Abdul’s food was packed in a reusable steel container. From this beginning, the book asks its audience to think about which packaging alternative is better for the environment and why, and encourages noticing options for creating a “zero-waste day.”
Gentle, rhyming language homes in on how plastic waste affects the planet and its inhabitants, suggesting that each person take personal responsibility for keeping the planet clean and green. The text is complemented by playful collage illustrations that make use of geometric shapes, setting them against bright, colorful backgrounds—though, in an off-putting touch, the children are without facial features. Elsewhere, a photograph of two-weeks’ worth of collected plastic waste calls attention to the way casual littering can make places dirty and unappealing. Still, capitalization errors, a misspelling, and an omitted word impede the text.
But the book is strong and straightforward when it comes to delivering its message about caring for the environment. It calls attention to the timely issue without inducing guilt. Its suggested alternatives to throwaway plastic packaging are accessible, and it ends with an easy-to-implement task that’s designed to increase awareness about the amount of plastic used in daily life. Still, the friends are not shown taking action in the course of the book; its final statement is unsupported by examples of their behavioral change.
The engaging picture book The Earth Needs a Break from Plastic shows how single-use plastics pollute the environment and suggests eco-friendly alternatives.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
