The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling

by Alison Inches, Pete Whitehead (Illustrator)

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!

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Childrens, Nonfiction, Environment, Adventure, Education

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Erin]

I always love a kid's book that teaches me something and this book does that. Considering I work in the oil and gas industry, you'd think I'd know you can make plastic from crude oil, but I didn't. My son has asked for it every day since the first reading. I also love that it teaches him more about recycling and I hope it encourages him to grow some green feet in the future. =)

[سیده فاطمه مطهری]

برای آشنایی بچه ها با مفهوم بازیافت. از سری کتابهای سبز انتشارات نردبان

[Nafise Beheshti]

این کتاب توی ایران توسط انتشارات نشرشهر ترجمه شده. توقع ترجمه روان‌تری رو داشتم. مفهوم منتقل می‌شد، ولی نه چندان گیرا برای بچه ها.
داستان خیلی جذاب فرآیند تولید پلاستیک رو توضیح میده. ولی یه نکته خیلی مهم رو نمیگه. اینکه هر پلاستیک حداکثر چهار بار میتونه بازیافت بشه. پس چه بهتر که مصرف چیزی مثل بطری آب معدنی، کاهش پیدا کنه.
من با رویکرد پسماند صفر سراغ این کتاب رفتم، ولی بحث این کتاب کاهش تولید پسماند نبود.

[Jenette]

A very educational read about how plastic is made, and how it is recycled. The illustrations were really cute! I liked the diary writings of the main character and what was happening to him. Very cute to read to the kids.

[Chris]

This story is told in diary form, from the point-of-view of crude oil flowing at the very bottom of the ocean. He’s pumped onto a ship, then to a refinery, made into small plastic bits, then molded into a water bottle. After the bottling plant he’s purchased by a boy who, after guzzling the water, refills it and gives it to his mom with a flower. After it’s done its duty as a vase, they recycle it and it’s sent to another place where he’s boiled down, made into spaghettis of plastic, then into a synthetic fleece sweatshirt that astronauts wear.
There’s no mention of how long plastic takes to break down, which would have been another interesting aspect of the story. But for a discussion about recycling, this would be a great introductory story.

[Chloe]

I love that book!
I do plastic for my topic this term and my teacher read that to us.
Thank you for making it.
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[Kristin Feliciano]

I thought this book would be great for students that are interested in graphic novels. I liked the personality of the plastic. It became somewhat wordy. I feel like students might lose interest after a couple of pages. It is a good book for students to understand how plastic works and then benefits of reusable plastic.

[Anthony]

A plastic bottle writes his adventures in his diary telling of his beginning as a blob of crude oil, and the many changes he goes through while seeing the world, and eventually his journey into space.

[Stephanie]

While this book is informative on the lifecycle of a plastic bottle, I was quite disappointed that it didn’t show what happens when plastic is NOT recycled and the negative affects of plastic on the environment.

[Julia]

Eddie felt a little like this was written by an oil company to say they're not polluting so bad because you can just recycle everything, but it was still a good book about how recycling works and helps the earth.

[Scout Collins]

4.5 stars
Read this book for my kids' summer camps on the environment - I need new books to read them!
This book was definitely a star and I will be using it at a future camp/educational event.

Pros
-As an adult I learned something new about how plastic is made (not about recycled, already knew that, but the first part of the book taught me something!)
-Good story, character and illustration
-Teaches kids the whole process
-Uses the real words but still makes it understandable for kids

Cons
-Was hoping for some kind of message (subtle or not) about why using plastic isn't the best and not all of it gets recycled--but oh well

Overall this is a great book for kids (and adults alike) to learn about plastic & plastic recycling! Main concern is that it makes it seem like all plastic items thrown in recycling get recycled (which is NOT nearly the case). However, I'm aware this is a children's book and can't accomplish everything. Really happy I was able to pick it up from the library, it was a great find.

I'd love to see the author do a book called "Adventures of a Plastic Straw: The Landfill" and have it have a sad ending, telling about how items like that don't get recycled almost ever! (Hey, if she doesn't write it, I will).

[Andria]

Scientific topic to k-2, uos read aloud

[Kyler Lopez]

This book follows a pile crude oil on his way to becoming a plastic bottle. Its a good informational book for students.

[Christine]

A very good book to read aloud to children.

[Connie Fink]

Lot of information. However a page was missing from the book I leased from the library

[Zoe McNeill]

Great book to support children in learning about Zero Waste

[Mrs Heet -Librarian]

A cute story that gives a basic idea of all the things a plastic bottle can go through. 3rd grade read this for Earth day!

[Brianna Krum]

This book introduces recycling in a way that young children will understand. An activity we would do would be for the class to work together to put together a list of things that can be recycled.

[Caitlin Barclay]

I used this book as part of a science literature kit. The book serves as an activating read but it also has lots of information about the process of recycling. Recycling is a new concept for third graders so reading the story from the bottle's perspective will be entertaining as well as educational. I think it will also inspire students to start recycling themselves. In my kit I also included a list of recyclable things and asked students to identify what they are made of and if it can be recycled.

[Destiny Dawn Long]

This book manages to turn a potentially dull topic --the manufacturing of a plastic bottle from the extraction of oil through the recycling process--into something kind of fun and interesting. It's a super informative book that is written in an easily accessible format. There are cute illustrations and little asides to add a bit of fun to the text. The diary entry format, told from the perspective of the blob of oil as he goes through his transformation, is a clever approach.

And, I appreciate that the book itself is printed on recycled paper!

[Todd Freer]

Story about recycling
100 % recycled paper

Starts by explaining what eco friendly means. Tells story in diary entry format. Talks about how a plastic bottle can be made into other plastic things when they are recycled.

Has vocabulary section at end and talks to kids about "A Greener World starts with kids who care."

[Jackie]

The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle follows the life of a thick, oozing blob of crude oil from the ocean floor to the forms plastic takes once processed. Told with engaging pictures that kids can relate to and text that is talkative and chatty, this book helps kids understand why it is important to recycle and reuse our resources.

Used for "Go Green!" Storytime: April, 2011.

[Annie]

Such an awesome book fo kids! It takes you on a journey from crude oil to kitchen table and back to the recycling process to give kids a holistic look at the life of a plastic bottle! Only downfall I would say is that it doesn't show what happens when a plastic bottle ends up in the ocean or in a landfill, but I do like the positive approach :)

[Sam Wojtaszek]

You and Simon both couldn't get enough of this book! I think your favorite part was when he got squirted into the bottle mold. You can't help but love this endearing and ever optimistic little blob of oil turned plastic, turned vase, turned fleece in outer space. Three thumbs up!

[Simon Wojtaszek]

You and Sam both couldn't get enough of this book! I think your favorite part was when he went to an oil refinery just like where daddy works! You can't help but love this endearing and ever optimistic little blob of oil turned plastic, turned vase, turned fleece in outer space. Three thumbs up!

[Crystal Marcos]

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the illustrations. I found myself saying "I didn't know that." A life of a plastic bottle is more interesting than one might think.

[Teri]

good enough--now we want to plan a trip to the recycling center

[Gina Starling]

K-3 The story of a plastic bottle and it's adventures. This is a good introduction to recycling and why we do it.

[Shannon]

Recommended in our Harcourt social studies curriculum. Pretty darned informative for such a slim, fun book. My favorite was learning how all sorts of different things were refined from crude oil.

[Julie]

Love these books! Great combination of fiction and fact. Good for teaching text features and includes a glossary at the back.