World Recycling Day is commemorated on May 17 in order to raise awareness about the importance of responsible waste management and environmental protection. That is why we at 3Love Inc. would like to recommend 6 books for children that address the topic of recycling in a simple and didactic way.
- “Nature Recycles: What About You?”. Author: Michelle Lord.
This book is ideal for introducing recycling to young children. By showing the different methods animals use to reuse materials in their natural habitats, this book provides examples of recycling that will inspire young children to creatively reuse their own objects.
For example, readers will learn that poison dart frogs reuse bromeliad plant leaves and nut pods from the rainforest as cradles for their young. The full-page illustrations accurately depict the ingenious ways animals use the materials they find.
- “This Class Can Save the Planet”. Author: Stacy Tornio.
This book shows how recycling and other sustainable efforts can make a difference in a school or community. It takes the form of a letter written by a fictitious class to the rest of their school. It lists simple suggestions on how to save the planet in everyday school life. One creative suggestion involves using up old classroom supplies before buying new ones.
This colorful and beautifully illustrated book acknowledges how overwhelming saving the planet can be, while encouraging elementary students to stay hopeful, dream big, and act locally with simple steps. It prompts readers to use critical thinking to design their own plan of action and starts the conversation about how they can not only take action right away, but also create lifelong habits of conserving the planet.
- “Earth Ninja: A Children’s Book About Recycling, Reducing, and Reusing”. Author: Mary Nhin.
When Lazy Ninja sees how carelessly thrown trash can endanger the environment, Earth Ninja convinces him to adopt the Three R’s in his life: Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. From reusing washable lunch containers instead of throwing away single-use plastic bags to understanding how to recycle paper, plastic and glass, this book gives young readers many effective and simple ideas to get started. It’s a fun story about how just one person can make an impact on the big problem of excess waste and reduce their carbon footprint.
“Earth Ninja” is easy to read and has delightful illustrations. It is the first in the “Ninja Life Hacks” series, developed to help children learn valuable life skills.
- “Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art”. Author: J.H. Shapiro.
Tyree Guyton, an urban environmental artist from Detroit, transforms trash into amazing works of art and brings both healing to his community and a call for awareness of its plight. Tyree cleans up vacant lots and creates the Heidelberg Project, a huge interactive art environment that brings together found objects, nature, people, and turns a once devastated landscape into an amazing wonderland.
“Magic Trash” demonstrates that anyone -regardless of where they are or in what circumstances- can contribute to helping their environment in profound and unique ways, and even involve their community in the process. This story may even inspire kids to take on some recycled art projects of their own to show others how amazing creative reuse can be.
- “Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay”. Author: Susan Hood
Ada lives in a small slum town in Paraguay built on a landfill. She longs to play the violin. But there’s a problem. After her grandmother signs her up for violin lessons, they realize there aren’t enough instruments for the children to practice. Ada’s teacher ingeniously creates instruments for each of them out of garbage from the landfill. The Recycled Orchestra plays music all over the world, proving that when there is hope and imagination, there are endless creative ways to recycle.
“Ada’s Violin” is a poetic and true story that will open readers’ hearts and make them reflect on how the accumulation of trash can be a problem faced by various communities. And when they see how real-life people can tackle multiple pressing needs with creativity and determination, they will see that the sky is the limit when it comes to how to recycle.
- “Bag in the Wind”. Author: Ted Kooser.
Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Ted Kooser, this book has descriptive and poetic language that chronicles the wanderings of a plastic bag. The bag drifts through the countryside and ends up in the hands of several people, highlighting the long journey plastic pollution can take and how everything is interconnected.
The descriptive language of the story flows like the bag itself, and the stunning illustrations will delight young and old alike as they immerse themselves in the importance of recycling.
