PICTURE BOOK - The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Allison Inches

2009, Little Simon (Little Green Books)
3.99 in paper

24 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.11 - 83 ratings

My rating: 4
There looks like there's another book called The Adventures of an Aluminum Can that is published by the same publisher.

My comments:       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.

Goodreads:  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!