MMGM- Recycling Day and Welcome to My World

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
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Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

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Unleashing Readers

Faber, Polly and Fahlen, Klas. (illustrator)
Recycling Day: What Happens to the Things We Throw Away
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

What happens to the things we throw away or put in the curbside recycling bin? Well, depending on where you live, what ostensibly happens can be very different. My children and I spent a lot of time making sure we were putting correct items in the bin, and this book would have been helpful in explaining to them why it was so important to be conscious about discarding items.

Misha and her family always have some items that are used up, broken, or no longer needed that need to leave their house. Near her house are a variety of recycling bins for different things. She's fortunate that there is a robust recycling center that collects electronics, textiles, glass, paper, and cans. We learn how glass and paper are recycled and turned into new bottles or paper, how food scraps and yard waste are composted, and how cans, textiles, and plastic bottles are turned into many new products. Trash that can't be recycled is burnt in an incinerator that powers a steam generator. Other trash is buried. At the end of the book, Misha's family is shown trying to reduce the amount of waste they create, which is such a critical part of the process! The end of the book includes tips on how readers can keep items from becoming waste.

Faber's informational text is accompanied by colorful, detailed illustrations that shown many aspects of the recycling process. There's a comfortable amount of text arranged neatly on the pages, so this would make an excellent read aloud for elementary classrooms to accompany units on recycling or for Earth Day celebrations. I loved the tips at the end, and would love a poster of them!

Books like Recycling Day, along with titles like The Can Caravan by O'Neill and Kang, Flipflopi: How a Boat Made from Flip-Flops Is Helping to Save the Ocean by Lodding and Pabar, One Plastic Bag by Paul and Zunon, and Don't Throw That Away!: A Lift-the-Flap Book about Recycling and Reusing by Bergen and Snyder can help raise awareness in young readers and help them become pros at reducing, reusing, and recycling their unwanted goods properly!

Lawrence, Ellen. Using Water Around the World

August 1, 2025 by Ruby Tuesday Books

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

It's easy to take clean, running water for granted in the US, but not everyone is that lucky. This Welcome to My World series, which covers a variety of topics, starts with describing the different ways that water is used. It's not just important for drinking; water is essential for cooking, cleaning, and staying cool. We find out about getting water from plants in desert environments and from snow in icy ones, and learn how children in some parts of the world spend a large part of their day transporting water. The effects of dangerous water are outlined, and the impact of wells on communities without good supplies of water are explained. At the end of the book, the importance of clean water is discussed, and there is a map that shows where each of the examples in the text takes place. There is a short glossary, as well as a brief index. 

I was surprised at how many things I learned from this 24 page book. I had never heard of fog screens, which collect potable water from the fog in Peru, and also did not know about milk plants in the desert. My students would be surprised to find out that many people still wash clothes in rivers or have to get water from trucks and transport it home in containers. 

The photographs in this book are all helpful in supporting the text, and I enjoyed the insertion of facts that went along with the theme of the pages. It was good to know that line drying clothes really is better for the planet; I hand out my laundry mainly to save money! 

While this series is probably best suited to elementary schools due to the short length and simplicity of information, reading Using Water Around the World would help even middle school readers understand the plot of books like Bajaj's Thirst. Offer this to students who want to know more about how water is used around the world along with Clendenan and McLaughlin's Fresh Air, Clean Water Our Right to a Healthy Environment Daniele and Wu's The Girl Who Tested the Waters: Ellen Swallow, Environmental Scientist, and Mihaly's Water: A Deep Dive of Discovery. 

There is a whole series of these books. I am donating my copies to my local elementary school, and would probably purchase them if I worked at that level. These are a bit too young for middle school.