Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion (Scientists in the Field Series) by Loree Griffin Burns                                    Published by Houghton Mifflin: New York, 2007

Tracking Trash follows two oceanographers, Curt Ebbesmeyer and his colleague, W. James Ingraham, Jr. They use trash to track ocean currents and patterns.  The idea to track trash came about when Ebbesmeyer’s mother showed him an article about sneakers washing up on shore from a spill.  The scientists used beachcombers to record data of trash that washed up on shores all over the world.

• Appropriate target audience: Children ages 8-12

• Strengths:  The book has vivid detailed photographs of ocean life and the trash found within.  It also has many text features to aid the reader: captions, maps, a glossary, and an index.  Burns uses an interesting hook into oceanography by focusing on trash collection by non-scientists on beaches around the world.  This would be a useful resource for a student researching oceanography, specifically, involving flotsam and jetsam.

• Weaknesses: The text could be used for beginning research but because it jumps from the topic of studying the ocean through trash to discussing the scientists, it is often confusing.  The reader would need to be fairly sophisticated to read the text and use the text features comprehensively.
• Meaningful/creative uses: Use bottle caps from soda bottles to make art.  Mount the bottle caps onto a recycled piece of cardboard.                                                                               2. Visit a recycling center and discuss what can/cannot be recycled in your area.  Find out where the recycling goes and how is it used again?

• Awards: . A 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book                                                                Winner of the 2008 IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Award

• Read- a-likes:  

  Plastic, Ahoy!: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch  by Patricia Newman and  Illustrated by Annie Crawley                                                               Published by Millbrook Press: Minnesota, 2014
  This book explores the North Pacific Central Gyre also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  It investigates the massive amounts of plastic waste produced and disposed of improperly.  This garbage, as damaging as it is to the environment of the ocean, helps scientists study the ocean’s currents.
  

  The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling (Little Green Books)                            by Alison Inches and illustrated by Pete Whitehead                                                             Published by Little Simon: New York, 2009

  This is a recycling story told through the perspective of a plastic bottle.  It is told in an easy to read diary format.

  Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95                   by Phillip Hoose                                                                                                                                        Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2012

  This is a documentation of a shorebird, named Moonbird or B95.  This is a species that has greatly declined in numbers over the years due to human activity disrupting their migratory pattern.  This book encourages readers to get involved in environmental issue, particularly from human impact.