Our Green City

Gr 1-3–For educators who want to buoy children’s spirits with a snapshot of what an active green campaign looks like, this book is a cheerful road map. In spread after spread, Lloyd Kyi and Larmour show familiar scenes—crosswalks, community gardens, a family at the kitchen table—where readers can locate all the green choices that have been made toward preserving the planet. Electric cars, pedestrians, and people biking, or scootering have made great transportation choices; a Black child splashing in a puddle includes descriptions of how rain water has been captured for use; there are visible solar panels on a distant house; included is a line about pebbles helping to whisk water away. Every page has details to pore over and squirrel away for discussion; every detail could be expanded upon in the classroom or used in a checklist for children to test out their own green homes. The mood is ebullient, and the information is neutral. This is an accessible way to make the topic of climate change and conservation nonthreatening and imminently doable.