Our Poisoned Sky

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-- A well-researched and logically arranged summary of the manifold problems confronting humanity concerning the atmosphere. Each chapter focuses on one area, giving historical background, sources of pollution and its effects, as well as efforts to control and counteract them. Controversial topics are treated fairly, supported by the most current information. There is a note of urgency, but the tone is never hysterical and readers are offered courses of action. Although not exclusively for reports, the book has chapter subheadings that will be helpful for ready reference. The black-and-white photographs vividly illustrate the adverse consequences of air pollution and the diagrams are unusually lucid in explaining technical matters. Not only does this update Kavaler's Dangerous Air (Day, 1967; o.p.) and Aylesworth's This Vital Air; This Vital Water, (Rand McNally, 1973; o.p.), but it also supplements Gay's Ozone (1989) and The Greenhouse Effect (1986, both Watts). --Meryl Silverstein, American Museum of Natural History, New York City