What better way to kick off #worldbookday than with a review about saving OUR world. The Charlie and Lola books and TV series are so universally loved by children and it's great to see this particular book following one of Charlotte's favourite episodes of the programme.
Charlie starts to teach Lola about 'going green' - no, not hulking out and smashing things but learning how to recycle, and how to respect and look after our beautiful planet. After all, it's the only one we've got.
Lola decides to send for a fabulous 'eco-tree' sticker and poster, for every piece of recycling the tree gets a leaf and soon the fun begins as Lola gets the whole class at school involved.
Without sounding too preachy or too much like an ecology pamphlet, it's an entertaining little story that has a huge amount of worth if used as the jumping-off point for classroom (or even home) activities based around green issues. It would be very easy to reproduce the idea of having a huge 'eco tree' for children to contribute to, and turn this into an activity for everyone to join in with.
We do our bit at home as much as we can (our recycle bin is always ridiculously full - which also comes in handy for those moments when you need to dive into it for crafty stuff!) Join Charlie and Lola on their eco adventures, and create your own too!
Charlotte's best bit: Lola going recycling mad, recycling things that haven't even been used yet!
Daddy's favourite bit: Quite inspirational for kids. There are a few bits where the book sounds a bit 'middle class' but as someone pointed out to me, Charlie and Lola ARE middle class kids.
(Kindly sent to us for review by Puffin Books)