Old Enough to Save the Planet

by Anna Taylor and Loll Kirby

[Sarah Says]

Both my 6-yr-old Riley and 3-yr-old Ethan sat through the entire book. Yes, my 3yr-old was mainly interested in the beautiful pictures, but my 6-yr-old appeared to be paying attention to the words. As we read each child’s story I tried to expand on the topics e.g. discussing with Riley why bees were so important, why plastic in the ocean was so bad and how his school also has a compost plan in place just like the school in the book.

Old Enough to Save the Planet is physically beautiful, a real feast for the eyes. Each child’s story takes up a full colour extremely detailed double page spread. After we read the story and discussed it for a bit, to keep younger Ethan entrained we counted how many rhinos, or bees, or butterflies, or watering cans etc. were on the page and just admired the artwork a little longer before turning to the next story.

I think this book is a fantastic way to open up important discussions with children about simple things we can all do to look after our planet. At the end of the book are suggestions for things we can all do at home and a list of websites with resources for doing so and continuing on the discussion of ideas covered in this book. I’ll definitely be reading it with My boys again.