Tracking Trash
September 12, 2008
Tracking Trash
Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean MotionAges 9-12
Hardcover,64 pages
11.1 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
Houghton Mifflin
ISBN-13: 978-0618581313
$18.00
Buy the book
“Tracking toys and sneakers gives us a chance
to see what the ocean does with our trash . . .
and we can learn from it.”
In this worthy book, Loree Griffin Burns gathers a surprising wealth of oceanographic education (starting with Benjamin Franklin’s investigation and mapping of the Gulf Stream) and rallies it quite effectively around a single cause: protecting our oceans. The author recounts how scientists decided to follow two garbage spills of seemingly innocuous materials: 21 cargo containers of Nike sneakers and 28,800 bathtub toys dumped by storms off of their carrier vessels into the Pacific Ocean.
Older children and adults alike will find this an engaging book for its colorful and user-friendly maps, charts, and photojournalism. Tracking Trash is not only enjoyable science reading, however; its narrative celebrates two friends, both retired oceanographers, whose passion for tracking ocean trash quickly becomes a project sparking global cooperation.
This exciting science project is one for the history books, and we are not excluded from its legacy. The section “What You Can Do” offers tips for putting readers’ocean-saving inspiration to work by being mindful in our daily choices — reduce, reuse, recycle. Avid folk who live near the ocean can get involved by becoming “beach sentinels”: walking one mile of beach every day and recording what they see.
A valuable teaching tool, Tracking Trash is a great way to set the context for a science lesson that features a field trip to the beach, or prepares young people for a marine biologist’s school visit.
Ceci Miller owns CeciBooks, an editorial and book publishing consultancy that empowers authors to write, publish, and market irresistible books that uplift and inspire. Ceci has written, co-authored, and edited books with bestselling authors and experts since 1988. See recent and popular book projects here. Also . . . get expert information on writing, publishing, and marketing a book in CeciBooks Chats (”Getting Started” series is FREE).
A graduate of the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Ceci Miller is also the author of two published children’s picture books, and former contributing editor for Darshan, an international magazine. A student of yoga and meditation since 1976, Ceci leads seminars that explore language as a vehicle for personal transformation. Based on her book Sacred Visitations, and the popular book she co-authored with John Lee, Writing from the Body, Ceci’s work (both with CeciBooks authors and in public programs) blends writing, intuitive guidance, and contemplative practices that connect your right brain creativity with your true intention.