Global Warming

Gr 6—9—After a quick introduction and opening discussion of the basics and impacts of global warming, Collard identifies the causes, challenges, and related issues and examines the complex issue of what needs to be done. He suggests various solutions and gives global examples to support his arguments. His knowledgeable and persuasive tone convinces readers that change is necessary and achievable. He cites the key to global warming as "the pursuit and production of energy," and calls on citizens to transform and overhaul our energy and transportation systems and redesign our cities. Large, captioned photographs and relevant charts and graphs depicting cogent statistics appear throughout. The informative text is broken into columns, making the extra-wide-page format easy to read. More than eight pages of references give students many further-research options. Sidebars provide supplementary material such as viability of hydrogen fuel cells and differences among hybrid vehicles. Personal narratives written by a vegetarian and a man constructing his own eco-building are included. For students seeking more background on the topic, Neil Morris's What If We Do Nothing? (World Almanac Library, 2007), aimed at grades 7 and up, provides a good overview of causes and effects. An excellent resource for reports and debates.—June Shimonishi, Torrance Public Library, CA