A Great Round Wonder: My Book of the World

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax.

With conservation the key theme, this book focuses on the three
components that combine to create the environment: air, water, and soil.
The significance of each ingredient, how it contributes to the
life-sustaining process, and how the effects of pollution are eroding
that process are explained, and the mutual interdependence of the three
is demonstrated. The accelerated destruction of the environment in
modern times is placed in historical context: the how and why of what is
occurring is fully explained and future consequences are forecast.
However, solutions to the crisis are presented, including the many ways
in which the individual can contribute to saving our planet.

Packed with information presented in easily understandable prose, this
book would provide invaluable curriculum support for environmental
studies in the primary grades. Key words and phrases are identified in
boldface type and are thoroughly explained. Illustrations, diagrams, and
charts accompany the text. Perhaps the most positive aspect of the book
is its tone. It would be so easy to be lugubrious about such a weighty
topic but Tanaka is mindful of her young readers and manages to keep her
writing light and occasionally funny without trivializing the subject.
Highly recommended.