Synopses & Reviews
A vast amount of plastic waste - twice the size of the United States - is floating in the Pacific Ocean. Welcome to the Great Pacific Garbage Path: the Plastic Soup. Plastic is an incredible material we can't do without, but it also creates the biggest pollution problem imaginable. This is something Jesse Goossens discovers during her travels and conversations across the United States and Europe. Her blogs and interviews are shocking, fascinating and dismaying. In this full-color book, she uncovers the effects of plastic waste on our health and on the environment, not only in the Pacific Ocean, but everywhere on earth.
Review
The well-written narration will keep readers engaged, and it's excellent for reports. The science is clearly explained, and the vivid and lively photographs and well-labeled charts and diagrams help to create interest and build understanding. This title will get readers thinking and possibly acting on these problems.
Review
The writing is light, but the facts are weighty, and the message of reduce, reuse, and recycle comes across loud and clear. This book is fascinating on its own, but it also can hold its place in a middle-level science curriculum. The complex science behind the movement of the ocean is explained clearly with excellent supporting graphics.
Review
Spacious layout, exceptionally fine color photos, and handsome maps give this book an inviting look. . . . A unique and often fascinating book on ocean currents, drifting trash, and the scientists who study them.
Review
Step by step, the reader of this engaging description of research involving familiar objects like tub toys and LEGO pieces comes to the profoundly depressing realization that the oceans of the world and the stomachs of marine animals are filled with indestructible bits of human trash, just in time for the section entitled, "What You Can Do." and#8212;
Kirkus, starred review
The well-written narration will keep readers engaged, and it's excellent for reports. The science is clearly explained, and the vivid and lively photographs and well-labeled charts and diagrams help to create interest and build understanding. This title will get readers thinking and possibly acting on these problems.and#8212;School Library Journal, sand#8212;tarred review
Scientific information builds from chapter to chapter, creating a natural detective story.and#8212;Horn Book
The writing is light, but the facts are weighty, and the message of reduce, reuse, and recycle comes across loud and clear. This book iand#8212;s fascinating on its own, but it also can hold its place in a middle-level science curriculum. The complex science behind the movement of the ocean is explained clearly with excellent supporting graphics.and#8212;VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
Spacious layout, exceptionally fine color photos, and handsome maps give this book an inviting look. . . . A unique and often fascinating book on ocean currents, drifting trash, and the scientists who study them.and#8212;Booklist, ALA
"Even kids not remotely interested in science might find this work captivating." and#8212;Newsday, 9/30/07 Newsday
"There's plenty of good reading . .and#160;. "and#8212;Columbus Dispatch
"[L]oaded...with information, insight, and intellectual twists." and#8212;Natural History Magazine 12/07-1/08
Review
"It lives up to the standards set by others in this stellar series."and#8212;Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"This is a living, breathing window into the watery world of manatee studies, with eager scientists pursuing the preservation of stressed sirenian populations with determination and grit."and#8212;School Library Journal
Synopsis
Aided by an army of beachcombers, oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer tracks trash in the name of science. From sneakers to hockey gloves, Curt monitors the watery fate of human-made cargo that has spilled into the ocean. The information he collects is much more than casual news; it is important scientific data. And with careful analysis, Curt, along with a community of scientists, friends, and beachcombers alike, is using his data to understand and protect our ocean.
In engaging text and unforgettable images, readers meet the woman who started it all (Curtand#8217;s mother!), the computer program that makes sense of his data (nicknamed OSCURS), and several scientists, both on land and on the sea, who are using Curtand#8217;s discoveries to preserve delicate marine habitats and protect the creatures who live in them. A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book for Nonfiction.
Synopsis
In The Manatee Scientists, John Reynolds does an aerial count of manatees from the Florida sky; Lucy Keith spends a weekend rescuing manatees trapped in a dam in Senegal; and Fernando Rosas takes the author on an Amazonian boat trip, looking for a young manatee he released back into the wild, with emotional results. These scientists are working hard to save manatees: docile, large sea mammals who are eaten in some parts of the world, feared in others, and adored in still others. But factors such as human encroachment, disease, environmental hazards, and being hunted are causing their numbers to decline: they are an endangered species, in need of help.
About the Author
Loree Griffin Burns, Ph.D., did her doctoralandnbsp;at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.andnbsp;Ms. Burns lives in Massachusetts with her husband and children. She isandnbsp;the author of Beetle Busters, Tracking Trash, and The Hive Detectives.