Pedro Loves Saving the Planet - Jess French - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR: Jess French

ILLUSTRATOR: Duncan Beedie
GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Environment. RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: Full of information and practical tips about how to live a planet-friendly life.

Just a few days ago, I had read a beautiful story titled Ava loves Rescuing Animals. When I realised that it was one of a four book series, I went searching for the other three titles. Imagine my delight when I found one of them ready to read on Netgalley! This is Pedro's story.

Pedro loves planet Earth. To protect our world and the animals and plants that share the planet with us, Pedro has joined his school’s eco club. Through a day’s outing with this club, Pedro (and his friends) educate us on how we can change our habits and make them more planet-friendly.

Just as in Ava’s story, the book is chockablock with ideas and themes. There are so many excellent points explored in these pages: the role of the atmosphere, the danger of increasing greenhouse gases, renewable energy, water conservation and recycling, opting for a veggie-intensive diet instead of a meat-dominated one, not wasting food, plastic pollution, purchasing sustainable products, the seven Rs of waste management, and a lot more! It might feel a bit too much. Then again, it also serves as a one-stop resource for everything connected to the topic.

Pedro is also accompanied by Buzz the bumblebee, who inserts his witty remarks on many pages.

The book ends with a practical list of easy tips that child can follow to become a ‘Planet Hero’.

This book is a part of the Nature Heroes series that focuses on a group of friends who are passionate about nature. Each book features a different child who has a favourite topic that they are fascinated by: ‘Billy Loves Birds’, ‘Bella Loves Bugs’, ‘Ava Loves Rescuing Animals’ and ‘Pedro Loves the Planet’! The other children from this series – Ava, Bella and Billy – also make an appearance in this book.

The vocabulary is manageable for older kids in the target age group of 4-7 years. Some of the words such as sustainability are inherently tough, but the book does provide a simple definition wherever it is needed.

The illustrations are shaded in muted earth tones reminding us on every page that this is a book about loving nature and planet Earth. Once again, I found them somewhat on the duller side, so this is a book I would recommend for the content and not the sketches.

Definitely recommended to homes, schools as well as libraries. I hope adults also read this book so that they can change their habits and ensure a better, safer future on this planet for our children.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Pedro Loves Saving the Planet”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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