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Making Waves: Change the World

Non-fiction
 
Extend the life and value of household objects, and find new uses for worn-out items. 
 
 
Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer tracks trash in the name of science. From sneakers to hockey gloves to toys, Curtis monitors the watery fate of the ocean.
  
Explains the benefits of involving students in community service projects, and suggests projects involving social services, community needs, safety and the environment.
 
D’Aluisio, Faith.           Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
A photographic collection exploring what the world eats featuring portraits of 30 families from 24 countries surrounded by a week's worth of food.          
 
Explores volunteering in the United States, including an overview of what volunteering is, the range of opportunities available, the benefits of participating, how to get started and organizations to contact.
 
Gore, Al.          An Inconvenient Truth
Explains what global warming is, what causes it, and how to take action.  
 
Whether at home, in school or in the community, you have the power and the ability to create change.
 
 
Describes how teens can identify volunteering opportunities and create a grass-roots non-profit organization. Features ten teen organizations and what has made them successful, using each to illustrate a topic on how to structure a project.
 
 
Follows the author's family's efforts to live on locally- and home-grown foods, an endeavor through which they learned lighthearted truths about food production and the connection between health and diet.
 
 
A look at author and marine biologist Rachel Carson’s efforts to protect the environment.
 
 
Describes a variety of opportunities to participate in successful community service. 
 
 
Easy suggestions on how to conserve natural resources and practice “green living” in your day-to-day life.
 

MySpace community with Jeca Taudte.         MySpace OurPlanet: Change is Possible

This book by the MySpace Community uses facts, true-life stories and practical suggestions from MySpace friends to inform and encourage readers to actively promote environmental causes.
 
 
Volunteer opportunities for children and young adults, including caring for animals, caring for the sick, participating in government, promoting arts and sciences, protecting the environment, and serving on rescue squads.
 
 
Provides information on issues such as global warming and overflowing landfills; offers tips on how to shop, dress, eat, and travel the green way; and shows that being environmentally conscious can be a natural part of life.
 
 
A practical handbook for young women with tips for eco-friendly living with style, including hundreds of ideas on how to be environmentally smart and trend-setting at the same time, from purchasing vintage and recycled jewelry, to wearing "green" organic fabrics, to using recycled paper products at home and in the workplace.
 
 
Zeiler, Freddi. A Kid’s Guide to Giving
Provides kids with a “how to” way to give their time, talents and money to their favorite charities, including over 100 different organizations to choose from.
 
 
Fiction
 
Cowan, Jennifer. Earthgirl.
After a minivan driver throws trash at Sabine and their confrontation is captured on YouTube, Sabine joins the eco-evolution. Her first-person narration and thought-provoking "earthgirl" blog (with actual statistics and links to environmental and anti-consumerism websites) describe working at an organic food co-op, becoming a vegetarian, organizing a clean-up day and other modes of social awareness. When asked to cross an uncomfortable line in the name of saving the planet, Sabine realizes that real change starts with oneself.
 
 
Dahl, Leslie.    The Problem with Paradise.
14-year-old Casey dreads leaving her friends and boyfriend to spend a boring summer on a Caribbean island with her naturalist father, stepmother, and brothers, but she has life-changing experiences that include learning to sail, helping with turtle conservation, surviving storms, and romance.
 
 
A young teen, coasting through life just waiting for his family's plumbing fortune to come to him, is forced to volunteer at a local soup kitchen when he gets into trouble, and gets a life lesson he'll never forget.
 
 
Hiaasen, Carl. Scat
Nick and his friend Marta decide to investigate when a mysterious fire starts near a Florida wildlife preserve and an unpopular teacher goes missing.
 
 
Kephart, Beth. The Heart is not a Size
15-year-old Georgia learns a great deal about herself and her troubled best friend Riley when they become part of a group of suburban Pennsylvania teenagers that go to Anapra, a squatter village in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, to undertake a community construction project. 
 
 
Margaret Rose Kane spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers in her grand-uncles’ backyard.
 
 
Levithan, David. Wide Awake
When a gay Jewish man is elected president of the United States the governor of one state decides that some election results in his state are invalid, awarding crucial votes to the other candidate, and his fellow party member. Couple Jimmy and Duncan lend their support to their candidate, taking part in rallies and protests leading to exploration of their relationship, their politics, and their country,
 
 
McDaniel, Lurlene. Kathleen’s Story.
Kathleen tries to balance her summer volunteer work at the hospital with her responsibilities caring for her mother.
YA P MCD
 
Moore, Perry. Hero
Thom is the son of one of the greatest superheroes of all time. He keeps his own special powers secret until he decides to join the League, an organization of superheroes that has its own secrets
 
 
Nelson, Blake. Destroy all Cars
Through assignments for English class, 17-year-old James Hoff rants against consumerism and his classmates' apathy, puzzles over his feelings for his ex-girlfriend, and expresses disdain for his emotionally-distant parents.
 
 
Reinhardt, Dana.         How to build a house
17-year-old Harper Evans hopes to escape the effects of her father's divorce on her family and friendships by volunteering her summer to build a house in a small Tennessee town devastated by a tornado.

 
 
Sonnenblick, Jordan.   Notes from the Midnight Driver
After being assigned to perform community service at a nursing home, sixteen-year-old Alex befriends a cantankerous old man who has some lessons to impart about jazz guitar playing, love, and forgiveness.
 
 
 
Compiled by Jeri Cohen, June 2010

 

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