Acid Rain ¦ The Greenhouse Effect ¦ The Ozone Layer ¦ Tropical Rainforest

That short texts and basic vocabulary have not reduced the messages in these four 'Green for infants' titles below intelligibility level is a measure of this author's skill as an environmental interpreter. Each one takes a popular green issue and examines it by means of well-chosen example which leave ample room for the conversation so essential as an accompaniment to such texts.

Acid Rain's bird's eye view of our choking, smoking world is particularly effective in showing how atmospheric acid poisons the land it falls on, and the same aerial perspective adds the global dimension to Greenhouse. The paradox of ozone being poisonous at street level (where air pollution helps it form) but protective in the stratosphere (where pollution destroys it) is well handled and the image of rainforests being destroyed at the rate of one football pitch per second initiates a penetrative study of their virtual irreplaceability.

This is a very useful quartet around which to build the complex web of ideas and information that constitutes an understanding of current global eco-problems. It should be welcomed by teachers and school librarians catering for a wide age range, for the whole approach is, although simple, essentially mature and respectful of curiosity.