U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Tomecek, Stephen M. What A Great Idea! Inventions That Changed The World. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 2003. Age Range: 8 and up Publisher's Description: Rather than presenting a "how it works" compendium or a series of mini-biographies, Tomecek puts significant inventions and discoveries in a historical context. Dividing the text into five broad time periods, he offers a series of essays on important advances that occurred in each "age." For example, the Metal Age (3500 B.C.-A.D. 1) includes discussions of measurement, money, irrigation, waterwheels, and maps. Each two-page explanation provides some background and a brief description of how the invention works as well as information about its impact on society and on later discoveries. What emerges is a sense of interconnectedness that other books often lack. Especially in the early essays, the influence of Chinese, Egyptian, and other civilizations is clear. However, even the explanations of recent discoveries acknowledge that inventions seldom occur in isolation. Full-color diagrams and illustrations are well integrated into each spread, providing additional insights into the topic without cluttering the pages. Although Tomecek mentions only a fraction of the inventors and inventions covered in Roger Bridgman's 1000 Inventions and Discoveries (DK, 2002), his work not only highlights past accomplishments but also encourages further explorations.

Thimmesh, Catherine. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Age Range: 8 and up Publisher's Description: An outstanding collective biography of women and girls who changed the world with their inventions. Thimmesh surveys unique and creative ideas that were both borne of necessity or were simply a product of ingenuity and hard work. Included are Bette Nesmith Graham, who invented Liquid Paper, known more commonly as "white-out," and Ann Moore, who emulated the way African mothers carried their babies to create the Snugli. While working for NASA, Jeanne Lee Crews invented the "space bumper" that protects spacecraft and astronauts. The last few individuals highlighted utilized their creativity at a fairly young age. Becky Schroeder was 10 when she invented Glo-sheet paper, which enables people to write in the dark. She became the youngest female to receive a U.S. patent. The book also encourages young women to start inventing themselves and offers a list of organizations with postal and Internet addresses to help them get started. Colorful collage artwork shows the women and their creations and adds vibrancy and lightness to the text.

Platt, Richard. Smithsonian: Visual Timeline of Inventions. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 2001. Age Range: 10 and up Publisher's Description: Unlike many similar books on the topic, this volume manages to convey a sense of how the passage of time affects creative design. Inventions are organized into five categories (world events, travel and conquest, agriculture and industry, daily life and health, and measurement and communication) and are presented concurrently in a timeline that starts in 600,000 B.C. and proceeds, with each turn of the page, to the present. This approach allows readers to note coincidences in creativity. Short captions fill in information about the inventions, but for good explanations of their significance or definitions of terms, readers will have to look elsewhere. The full-color photographs are varied and interesting. What's more, this book teaches a sophisticated form of literacy similar to skills students learn when they interact with multimedia resources, reading both text and pictures, and provides a third understanding, that of juxtaposition.

This website documents one of the most important and influential inventions of our time: the telephone. The website tracks the history of the telephone, from its invention to how it is used today through an interactive timeline, discusses those people and events that made the invention of the telephone possible, and offers teacher's fun and exciting activities to include in their lessons.

Jones, Charlotte Foltz. Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be. New York, NY: Delacorte Press, 1991. Age Range: 8 and up Publisher's Description: Popsicles, potato chips, Silly Putty, Velcro, and many other familiar things have fascinating stories behind them. In fact, dozens of products and everyday items had surprisingly haphazard beginnings. Mistakes That Worked offers forty of these unusual tales, along with hilarious cartoons and weird and amazing facts. Readers will be surprised and inspired!

Claybourne, Anna. The Story of Inventions. Tulsa, OK: EDC Publishing, 2007. Age Range: 7 and up Publisher's Description: Toasters, toilets and televisions, computers, cars and chocolate bars, flying machines and even your jeans. All these everyday things and many more are only here because someone bothered to invent them. This book reveals the real-life stories and bright sparks behind dozens of brilliant inventions.

Bender, Lionel. DK Eyewitness Books: Invention. New York, NY: DK Publishing, 2005. Age Range: 8 and up Publisher's Description: The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures. A fascinating look at the world's earliest simple machines - wheels, gears, pulleys, and levers - to today's complicated telephones and plastics, Eyewitness: Invention presents the stories behind amazing inventions and how they changed the world.

This website focuses on educating readers about the life cycle of paper and plastic bags though facts, charts, and pictures.

This website is devoted to educating children on different environmental issues through homework help, environmental news, games and activities, contests, discussion forums, and opportunities to take environmental action in your community. The website also offers teachers information through an interactive portion of the website called the "teacher's lounge."

This website is published by the Baton Rouge Government and focuses on educating constituents about the process of recycling and which products are recyclable. The website's information toolbar along the left side of the page also directs readers to other important information about natural resources, hazardous materials, and educational classroom activities.

This website works to inform readers about the benefits of recycling and where you can recycle. Additionally, readers learn how they can get involved in the Plastic Film Recycling movement.

Roca, Nuria. The Three R's: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series, 2007. Age Range: 3 - 6 years Publisher's Description: The three R's teaches us many things we can do to reduce pollution. When we Reduce the number of different things we throw away--such as plastic bags--we help to keep the land where we live clean and the water that we drink fresh. It is also a good idea to Reuse; for example, by finding new uses for hand-me-downs that we might otherwise be tempted to throw away. And we can Recycle things like paper, cans, and bottles by placing them in collection areas where they can be picked up and made into new and useful things. Remembering these three R words is a good way for us to help make our planet a good place to live.

Miceli-Armenia, Stephanie. When Will We Be Recycled, Momma? Lutz, FL: Author, 2011. Age Range: 4 and up Publisher's Description: A water bottle named Jack dreams of being recycled into a spaceship and blasting off to the moon. However, in order for his dream to come true, he must rely upon the family who buys him and ultimately Juju to be responsible enough to recycle him.

Kooser, Ted. Bag in the Wind. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2010. Age Range: 5 - 8 years Publisher's Description: The life of a plastic bag in a landfill is extraordinarily uneventful and long-15,000 years, give or take a few millennia-but in this former U.S. poet laureate's first picture book, a beige grocery bag serves an array of inventive uses in but a tiny sliver of that life span. Set against a barren plains landscape, Kooser's circular story follows a plastic bag, "the color of the skin of a yellow onion," as it travels in a chain of happenstance from landfill, to tree, to stream, and among the various citizens of a nearby town, including a young girl, a homeless man, and a shopkeeper. The muted, dappled colors of Root's gouache and watercolor illustrations are a perfect complement to Kooser's lengthy, meditative passages, which celebrate not only the virtues of economy and ecology but, moreover, the interconnectedness of all things. An excellent opener for discussions about creative reuse and recycling, the book concludes with an informational author's note.

Jablow, Renee. Hey, That's Not Trash! But Which Bin Does It Go In? New York, NY: Little Simon, 2011. Age Range: 4 and up Publisher's Description: Young readers learn the difference between trash and recyclables in this new, interactive format. Fun, rhyming text shows that everyday paper, plastic and metal trash can serve a bigger purpose when they are recycled! Each page features press-out pieces in the shape of everyday objects. Little ones can practice placing plastics, paper and metal in the correct bins by dropping these play pieces into the three compartments embedded on the front cover. Taking care of the environment has never been so much fun!

Inches, Alison. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling. New York, NY: Little Simon, 2009. Age Range: 4 and up Publisher's Description: Learn about recycling from a new perspective! Peek into this diary of a plastic bottle as it goes on a journey from the refinery plant, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into it's new life...as a fleece jacket! Told from the point of view of a free-spirited plastic bottle, kids can share in the daily experiences and inner thoughts of the bottle through his personal journal. The diary entries will be fun and humorous yet point out the ecological significance behind each product and the resources used to make it. Readers will never look at a plastic bottle the same way again!

Harlow, Rosie, and Sally Morgan. Young Discoverers: Garbage and Recycling (Environmental Facts and Experiments). Boston, MA: Kingfisher Books, 2001. Age Range: 5 - 8 years old Publisher's Description: Explaining the difference between biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage, this book shows how glass, metal, and wool can be easily recycled. How Can I Help? boxes give suggestions for the young environmentalist who wants to recycle at home.

Donald, Rhonda Lucas. Recycling (True Books: Environment). New York, NY: Children's Press, 2001. Age Range: 7 and up Publisher's Description: Ideal for today's young investigative reader, each A True Book includes lively sidebars, a glossary and index, plus a comprehensive "To Find Out More" section listing books, organizations, and Internet sites. A staple of library collections since the 1950s, the new A True Book series is the definitive nonfiction series for elementary school readers.

Bethel, Ellie. Michael Recycle. San Diego, CA: Worthwhile Books, 2008. Age Range: 6 and up Publisher's Description: Just in time for Earth Day on April 22, Michael Recycle tells the adventures of a young superhero whose power allows him to teach people about recycling. After cleaning up a town, the people declare: "To Michael Recycle! The green-caped crusader, our super-green hero, the planet's new savior!"

Stockham, Jessica. Recycling!: Helping Hands Series. Swindon, UK: Childs Play Intl., 2011. Age Range: 5 and up Publisher's Description: What can we recycle? Who can sort the waste? What can we re-use? Helping with real tasks is a natural progression from pretend play, and is a crucial stage in a child's development. Achieving a shared goal encourages a sense of responsibility, and develops many skills useful in later life. Simple conversational text and lively illustrations are carefully designed to encourage further dialogue between reader and child.