Harriet Rohmer

In my opinion this is a great book for people to read if they are trying to learn English or trying to learn Spanish because the book is written in both! Each page has the English and Spanish words on them, even the speech bubbles are written in both languages, making this book bilingual. I found that not only the English and Spanish words matched but also the illustrations. The illustrations could be used to tell the story, which now makes this book bilingual and great for people who may show more not know how to fully read but can decipher pictures because the illustrations were made to fit what each page was saying and each illustration was set for the proper mood and tone of the story! The writing in the book was engaging because it made you want to see what was going to happen to Uncle Nachos hat next! As I read, I found myself making predictions about the hat without even realizing it. I really enjoyed the book although it was short and I loved how Uncle Nacho came to the realization at the end that he just needed to stop worrying about his old hat that was "not good for anything anymore" and show off his new hat, never forgetting the old, but enjoying the new:) I think Uncle Nacho was worried no one would recognize him without HIS hat, but in the end he discovers it's not the hat, it's him! show less

A collection of interesting stories about kids and adults who are involved in the environment. They recycle junk, create gardens, install solar energy, and more. What makes this book a little different is most of the environmental issues these people deal with aren't just one-time problems or activism issues, they're part of their lives. Several have invented machines and/or processes to safely and responsibly recycle materials and these inventions are part of their careers. Others are show more campaigning to improve and save the places where they live. The stories are written in an engaging, brisk style with plenty of illustrations and explanations of the various processes involved.

Verdict: I enjoyed this book, but I'd recommend this for a school library, especially if there are units on ecology or environmental issues planned. A larger library might want to have this on hand, but I can't see kids at our library picking it up to browse and I've never had anyone asking for environmental biographies for school assignments. Sigh. Probably why I had to borrow this via inter-library loan from a school library.

ISBN: 978-0811867795; Published August 2009 by Chronicle; Borrowed from the library show less

True profiles of everyday people who are making a difference. Will Allen, the Milwaukee farmer is one I've met before, but I was startled to hear about Kalydra Welcker from Parkersburg, WV, who developed a method to remove APFO contaminant from water (think C-8) But the one who really made me smile is Debby Tewa, a solar electrician on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. She has a small solar array on a trailer for people to borrow and try. The book calls her "light-bringer."

I really liked this book for two main reasons. I thought that the language and writing are organized, descriptive, and patterned well. The author wrote the text in English on the top half of the page and on the bottom half of the page it was the same text but written in Spanish. I thought that this was very well written because it gave the reader a way to see the same text but in Spanish. Also, this would be good for an English Language Learner because they are able to see both languages, so show more they will not fall behind when reading the text. I also really liked the plot of this book. Even though the book was so short I did not know how it was going to end, and I did not know what was going to happen to his hat. This made the book very interesting and I wanted to keep reading. The uncle tries to get rid of his hat so many times and it just kept finding its way back to him. The message of this story is don't let the past define you and be open to what can happen in the future. Uncle Nacho was very worried about his old hat and he was not able to see his new hat for what it was worth. show less