Our World Out of Balance ecologically nails climate change for kids

Just yesterday we reviewed a climate change book aimed at early elementary-aged readers. That book was the opposite of Our World Out of Balance, Understanding Climate Change and What We Can Do by Andrea Minoglio and Laura Fanelli. That’s a scary title, isn’t it? Our World Out of Balance sounds like it would be an alarmist, riot grrl, worst case, handbook for skipping school on Friday and blaming the environment for it. Instead, Our World Out of Balance is a STEM-focused, scientific-minded, cause and effect illustrated book that will make kids think and want to solve, instead of panic and freak out.

One big difference between this book and the other one we reviewed recently is that Our World Out of Balance has a slightly older demographic. This book is perfect for those advanced middle elementary school students all the way through middle school and up. The illustrations in the book are realistically presented but are warm enough so that those younger readers will be able to enjoy them.

It’s the content in Our World Out of Balance that will keep readers engaged and draw in those eco-curious students. Simply put, the book presents the what’s, why’s and how’s about various angles of the climate and the impact that people have on it.

Every four pages a different aspect of the climate is presented. Rising sea levels, wildlife, plastic in the oceans, coral, food, fire, garbage, and activism are just a handful of the 17 topics covered in the book. The playbook for the concerned issue is similar. What is the issue, what’s its problem, why does it happen, and how people can help. That sounds like a simple breakdown and to an extent it is. However, what readers of any age will appreciate is how it takes a complex problem and makes it simple, accessible for any upper-elementary-aged student to understand and enjoy.

Ironically, our 11-year-old thought Our World Out of Balance was gloomy and akin to the-sky-is-falling pessimism. He thought that, much the way I did, simply by the title of the book. He said that he didn’t want to read something that was all doom and gloom. I assured him that it wasn’t, showed him the way that the book presented problems in a fact-based manner, and followed that up with some history or ways that you can help. He normally appreciated facts, logic, and things that make sense without hyperbole or too much emotion.

On this occasion, it was close to bedtime and he wasn’t having any of dad’s book suggestions. When he’s wide awake and curious about an environmental book that’s age-appropriate, educational (but don’t tell him that), and entertaining then Our World Out of Balance is just what he’s looking for. Look past the book’s initial title and dig down to the subtitle, Understanding Climate Change and What We Can Do to understand what the book’s all about. It’s a realistic and hopeful way for kids to look at many of the environmental issues that they’re being taught about in school.

Our World Out of Balance, Understanding Climate Change and What We Can Do is by Andrea Minoglio and Laura Fanellia and available on Blue Dot Kids Press.

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