When it comes to being green, surprisingly, my six-year-old son is a great advocate of it. He’s like me — once he learns about something, he’s the staunchest supporter of it. When we started ridding the house of plastic disposable cups and silverware, he asked why and I told him. After that, I caught him on more than one occasion lecturing someone else about their own use of plastic disposable products, going into great detail why they should make the switch.
So when we heard about the True Green Kids book, I knew it was the perfect book for us to spend time reading.
The GOOD: The book is jam-packed of full color pictures and bright messages, the perfect way to get a kid’s attention from the get-go. I like that the suggestions on “100 things you can do to save the planet” include the very easy (turn off your lights) to the those a little more challenging (setting up an edible garden). That way, it’s easy to implement things on an ongoing basis, and yet you also flip through the book and start at any point that grabs and inspires you. The back of the book also includes a few resource pages that are good for those ready to take it one more step further.
The BAD: Absolutely nothing.
MONEY MATTERS: The book retails for $15.99 (although can be found online for as little as $10) and can be purchased from your favorite bookseller or at Amazon.
The MOM VERDICT
Cate says: If the folks at National Geographic hadn’t kindly us this book to review, and I had come across it on my own, I definitely would have grabbed it. Nicholas has fast become my little earth-friendly partner, and I love that this book is filled with ideas that we can both grab onto and implement. It’s a terrific multi-faceted way to increase our bonding time together, and great little lessons in protecting our environment to boot. Each item included in the book not only gives you a suggestion of something to do, but the how and why behind the action, which I like. A little bit of learning, a little bit of action, a whole lotta reward. Perfect gift for your own little budding environmentalist.
Sarah says: I was so excited to read this book. It’s filled with great ideas for kids to go green. I read some of the suggestions to my three year old and while it definitely was above his head, he asked some good questions and did get some take away. This is better for a slightly older child like Nicholas, for sure, but it’s still something I will keep on hand and pull out every so often for my kids.
