Planning for a Sustainable Future

Children's Literature - Laura Ruttig

Perfect for in-class use, this educational title from the "Geography Skills" series focuses on three categories of sustainability: protecting the environment, ensuring quality of life without jeopardizing the earth's resources, and economic well-being. With such a diverse set of criteria, Belmont covers a range of complex topics, including obvious choices such as climate change, overpopulation, and fair trade. However, she also examines more obscure issues, such as reducing the digital divide and controlling tourism. Although each individual section is only two pages, Belmont does a fantastic job of highlighting the important questions and suggesting ideas for further research. In addition, homework ideas, such as measuring your eco footprint online, are interspersed within the text, along with intriguing websites for more information. At the end of the book, a decent glossary and a short list of even more websites to visit are provided. Overall, this is not a title that is likely to attract young readers directly; however, the snippets of information and the additional activities could provide an ideal source for classroom discussion. Reviewer: Laura Ruttig