Green City: How One Community Survived a Tornado and Rebuilt for a Sustainable Future

On May 4, 2007, a tornado leveled Greensburg, Kansas. The citizens who stayed decided to rebuild a community as environmentally sound as possible. Drummond creates a first-person narrator from a composite of experiences "meant to reflect [those] of many town residents." Concise informational sidebars explain the processes. Watercolor illustrations--a vibrant blend of vignettes, full-page art, and double-page spreads--reflect the town's can-do attitude.

On May 4, 2007, a tornado (shown in all its fury on a pre--title page spread with slashing lines, subdued colors, and frantic warnings) hit the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, leveling it and killing eleven people. Those who stayed (eight hundred -- a little over half of the original population) decided not only to rebuild the city but to create a community as environmentally sound as possible. Drummond adds to his body of ecologically themed books (Tin Lizzie, rev. 7/08, and others) by creating a first-person narrator from a composite of experiences "meant to reflect [those] of many town residents." The remainder of the narrative sticks to the facts, adding concise informational sidebars that explain the processes. Here, Drummond shows a community working together; how, for example, once people understand the principles of sustainable building, their individual contributions and resulting structures may take many different forms. Smartly laid out with both vertical and horizontal frames that contain small amounts of text, the book allows beginning readers to process the steps in planning and execution while giving them plenty of visual clues for potentially unfamiliar vocabulary. Watercolor illustrations -- a vibrant blend of vignettes, full-page art, and double-page spreads -- showing the clean-up, planning, and construction reflect the can-do attitude of Greensburg. "It took a few years for everything to come together, but now look! Greensburg is Green City." This book is a triumph of both community action and scientific writing. Appended with an author's note, tips for going green, and a bibliography. betty carter