Recycle!

Gail Gibbons’ Recycle: A Handbook For Kids is a colorful non-fiction picture book about what and why to recycle.  Gibbons begins the story by asking children where all the trash goes? Then, she provides details about the landfills created to collect garbage. Concerned that there is too much trash for landfills to hold, she suggests that the solution is recycling.  As the text introduces recycling, the accompanying illustrations depict canisters labeled paper, glass, plastic, cans, and polystyrene. On the following pages, the text and illustrations work together to introduce reason to recycle each of the materials listed above.  The way that each product is made is discussed as well as the manufacturing processes’ impact on the environment. Cartoon-like illustrations expand on the text by showing the processes described. Reasons to recycle each product such as preventing harm to animals or the destruction of forests are discussed. The ways in which each product can be re-purposed are also identified.

Gibbon’s illustrations and text are consistently framed throughout the text. Sometimes multiple illustrations are framed individually to present multiple scenes on one page. In Keeping with Gibbons’ style, many of the illustrations include labels or captions that define key terms. Meanwhile, the main text is consistently placed in a frame across the bottom of each page. Gibbon’s word choice and sentence structure remains simple and straightforward throughout the text. Often, the word RECYLE! is highlighted in red to signify the importance of this civic responsibility. 

The design of this non-fiction picture book is an excellent precursor to the science textbooks that await upper elementary-aged children.  Gibbon’s objective language familiarizes children with the nature of non-fiction text. Likewise, facts and labels in the illustrations resemble simpler versions of those in textbooks. Older children will enjoy studying the facts displayed in the illustrations, but the placement of text in the illustrations may confuse younger children. For younger children, Recycle: A Handbook For Kids would be an excellent read-aloud with which teachers and parents can model how to approach the elements of non-fiction texts. Simply, reading aloud a story about caring for the earth will send a powerful message to young children about their roles in the world around them.  For more kid-friendly information about recycling, check out Kids Recycle!