This oversized book accommodates clear illustrations as well as plenty of text, and it doesn't sugarcoat the problems plastic presents to our environment. Wisely, it introduces the topic with a story: the escape of thousands of plastic bath toys from a cargo ship in 1992, and how they began washing up all over the world. "What would have happened if the toys had been made out of a different material?" Wood would have crumbled, glass would have shattered, metal would have sunk and rusted.

Next, readers take a "walk" through a diagram of a house and look for things made of plastic; see how plastics are made; learn how plastic is used, and the history of plastic; and learn about the problems of plastic waste and its effect on the environment, especially the ocean and ocean life. "What can we do about plastic pollution?" Reduce, reuse, recycle. The final pages offers a summary:

Plastics have helped to improve our lives in many ways.
But they also pose a serious threat to the environment.
What can you and I do to use plastics more responsibly?

No table of contents, index, or any back matter.

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