Amazon Sh Sh Sh Let the Baby Sleep Category:  Children Publisher: Wild Plains Press ISBN-10:  1936021366 Type: Fiction Pages: 43 Copyright: September 2011 ISBN-13: 9781936021369 This colorful and fun picture book demonstrates how important it is to make new friends and help them when they are in trouble. The 22 page activity supplement teaches children to conserve the Earth's natural resources. When Shelby wins a first place ribbon for her Earth Day poster, she gets her parents involved with recycling items in their home. She meets a homeless bluebird who cannot find enough materials to make a nest.  Shelby uses her new knowledge about the earth to help her new friend in need. This colorful picture book will facilitate dialogue between parents, teachers and children about conserving the Earth's natural resources. The 22 page activity supplement includes comprehension questions, fun recycling crafts, easy to learn songs, worksheets, games, and compound word games. Inclued discussions about trees, birds, and recycling materials make it easy for teachers, home-schooling parents, and other educators to pass knowledge along to their students about caring for the environment. This book also includes the history of Earth Day in terms that children can understand as well as the impotance of celebrating this important day.       Excerpt Shelby squirrel crashed through the front door. She was waving her 1st place ribbon. "Guess what? I won the Earth Day poster contest," she shouted. Her dad peeked over his newspaper to see her big, bright sign. the colorful letters spelled out RETHINK, REUSE, RECYCLE!

An excellent resource for educators on the topic of recycling
Trouble on Earth Day, by Kathy Stemke, is the story of Shelby Squirrel, a youngster who is thrilled to have won an Earth Day Poster contest. As Shelby's family of squirrels contemplate the meaning of her poster, namely to "re-think" how some items might be recycled, they start brainstorming ways to put their saved and cast-off items to good use.

When Shelby encounters a bird in short supply of materials with which to build her nest, she comes to the rescue with some of the items her family had recently decided to recycle. Shelby and her new friend pool their efforts and resources to create a beautiful new nest.

With interactive games and projects, including additional Earth Day history information at the back, this book is an excellent resource for educators on the topic of recycling.

Trouble on Earth Day earns the Literary Classics Seal of Approval and a silver medal.

Empowering Children
In an Earth Day poster contest Shelby the squirrel wins a blue ribbon. With her knowledge of recycling and reusing items, she looks around to see what she can do. Pretty soon the whole family finds ways they can, too. Shelby hears a bird crying, because it can't find enough things to use to build a nest. She gives newspapers and a ball of pink string, and the two construct a nest together.

If you're looking for a way to introduce kids to recycling and reusing in an effort to show them how they can make a positive impact on the environment, Trouble on Earth Day is the book for you. Stemke's book can help get kids involved and actively recycling and reusing. It empowers children by showing them concrete ways they can improve the environment and have fun doing it. It includes an extensive teacher's guide, over ten pages. Among the pages of the teacher's section are activities, songs, craft projects, reading comprehension questions, and more. Kurt Wilken's bright illustrations will capture the children's imagination and gives the characters a spark of personality.

I highly recommend this book.

Turning Ecological Interest into Real Learning
We've all heard that we have to re-think, re-use, and re-cycle, but how many of our children have concrete ideas on how to do that? How many picture books for young children support the notion? Kathy Stemke's Trouble on Earth Day does just that. There's not actually a lot of trouble, but when young shelby wins the Earth Day poster competition, she's full of enthusiasm for the principles that she uses in her winning sign - "Re-think, Re-use and Re-cycle". Shelby and her parents brainstorm a bunch of ideas for doing those things, and then, when she finds a bluebird who has lost its home, Shelby puts her newfound recycling capability to good use and saves the day.

Trouble on Earth Day is a simple book that is easy for very young children to understand and for early readers to read themselves. Kurt Wilcken's bright cartoon images have lots of fun detail (like a baseball cap on the guitar playing bird), and children will relate to the vivacious young animals. The first half of the book features the story, and the second half is activities that kids can do around Earth Day. These include word matches, a sing-along, discussion points, games, and lots of crafts, both indoor and outdoor. Homeschoolers and pre-school teachers will particularly enjoy using this book, and the lesson plan in the back makes it easy.

This is a lovely, valuable offering that will help turn ecological interest into real learning, fun activities, and environmental activism that will grow with children.