Tackling Plastic Pollution Guides For Children

Plastic has transformed our lives in so many ways, and it has also created an environmental challenge that can seem overwhelming. There are simple changes we can make to limit our use of plastic. If you have a young person in your life, these books will give them some great ideas.

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alison Inches, illustrated by Peter Whitehead. First edition. New York: Little Simon, 2009.

Can I Recycle This? A Kid’s Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single-Use Plastics by Jennie Romer, 
illustrated by Christie Young, Viking, 2023.

Kids vs. Plastic: Ditch the Straw and Find the Pollution Solution to Bottles, Bags, and Other Single-Use Plastics by Julie Beer. Washington, D.C: National Geographic, 2020.

The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics by Susan Hood. New York: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, 2021.

One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul, Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2015.

Pelucco: A Microplastic’s Journey by Erika Cedillo González and Paolo Oliani. Independently published, 2024.

A Planet Full of Plastic by Neal Layton. London: Wren & Rook, 2019.

The Plastic Problem: 60 Small Ways to Reduce Waste and Save the Earth by Aubre Andrus, edited by Dynamo Limited, Lonely Planet Global Limited, 2020.

Zedalla Rescuing Oceans! by Joanna Jarc Robinson. Everyday Heroes, 2020.

Anyone in Wisconsin can borrow these books and more. Email askwater@aqua.wisc.edu.