The Adventures of an Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling
December 30th, 2009 by Green-Eco-Path-Finder
Product Description
Peek into this diary of an aluminum can as it goes on a journey from inside a bauxite rock, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a display on a bookshelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into its new life?as a baseball bat! This 8×8 paperback storybook is told from the point of view of an enthusiastic aluminum can. The diary entries are fun and humorous, yet point out the ecological significance behind each product an… More >>$1.02
The Adventures of an Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling
Tags:Recycling,Story
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The Adventures Of An Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling, is authored by children’s book writer Alison Inches and illustrated by Mark Chambers, and is part of the “Little Green Books” series by a webzine called The Daily Green. On The Daily Green’s web site, they state “Born on Earth Day 2007, The Daily Green has grown into one of the most trusted sources on the Web for news and information about going green.”
So what’s up with this book?
The story is presented as the diary of a speck of alumina in the earth. “The bulldozers got rid of all the trees, grass, dirt, and rocks from the ground above me.” “Speck” [I've given it this name] enjoys the explosions, the boat and train rides, and the whole processing plant journey. Speck is turned into a can for fruit! Yay, Speck! And instead of heading off to the landfill, Speck goes to an aluminum recycling plant, and comes out as an aluminum baseball bat. It’s a home run, Speck!
I’m guessing this is a story to be read to ages 2+, and it probably is too simplistic for 2nd graders.
What do kids need to know about aluminum recycling? Well, it is recyclable, but so are many other things. Aluminum is energy intensive to extract and process, but efficiently recycled. I think if Speck had a number of “friends”, some recycled, and some not, this may have been more effectively explained. Also, recycling reduces the demand to extract ever increasing amounts of bauxite from the soil… also important. Finally, I’d guess that the primary source of aluminum in a kid’s life that can be recycled is in beverage containers. This is important to note.
There are better children’s books on the nature of recycling and sustainability. This one is cute, probably harmless, but not especially awe-inspiring.
Rating: 3 / 5
This little paperback book attempts to cover a lot of material in a limited space and comes up short. It is hard to know how to feel about the little piece of aluminum. We see her home ripped apart. We see her burned, smashed, squished, electrocuted, melted, and shredded. Yet she seems to be mostly happy about her life, so maybe we should feel happy for her…? I think the subject matter that the book was trying to convey is worthwhile; I like the idea of teaching kids about the process of recycling. Unfortunately, the way the information was presented was not effective. Ultimately, the story was all over the place and relatively uninteresting.
Rating: 3 / 5
This book reminds me a little of the Schoolhouse Rock series. It’s fun, but your kids are learning something useful at the same time they’re being entertained. In this case, they learn about recycling, and the book will hopefully get them thinking about how materials flow through our world and how we can re-use them instead of throwing everything in a land fill. Good stuff, fun book.
Rating: 5 / 5
This cute little, inexpensive book give little children and adults alike a better appreciation of what goes into obtaining aluminum, creating a can, and recycling a can. Seeing so many products “magically” there at the grocery store and around our house, it is easy to forget that they come from somewhere. Giving a big picture gives the reader a better appreciation for what we have and makes recycling an educated decision. The book will probably go over the heads of any children under 3 or 4 and has language that will probably not be fully appreciated until the a year or two into elementary school. So the target audience of the book spans a nice range and the author did a fine job of taking that into account with the language used and pictures included.
The story is a “dear diary” format written from the perspective of aluminum as it is mined, formed, sold, used, and recycled. Better than I expected.
Rating: 4 / 5
This picture book is a unique product–besides having been produced in an environmentally responsible way, its appeal is much larger than the 4-8 age range. My three-year-old picked up and leafed through the brightly illustrated pages, and it held my interest as I learned about the life cycle of aluminum.
The story begins with the harvesting of aluminum out of the earth and continues with the processing that it undergoes in order to become a fruit can that winds up at a baseball game. Afterward, it is taken for recycling, ground down and reheated, and then processed as a baseball bat!
The aluminum’s perspective is told through diary entries, not entirely novel, but it works for this picture book. However, the cheerful illustrations transform the science into a story appealing for all kids. Recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5