to buy or to make? what is your answer?

I just saw a review over on The Crunchy Chicken of a great-sounding book that's going on my next library order -- The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen's Guide to Saving the Planet. It must be synchronicity, since just this morning I watched the DVD of Kilowatt Ours: A Plan to Re-energize America, and am more determined than ever to reduce and reuse as the leading edge of my own family's battle to live as more responsible citizens. My summer employer found out just today that Jeff Barrie, producer and director of Kilowatt Ours, is available and will be coming to speak next week!

Recycling is a tricky third leg of the 3 Rs, because large-scale recycling depends on finding a market for recycled materials. That means somebody (= consumers = you and I) has to buy whatever the finished product might be. The recycling program where we are has been discontinued for the summer, because the guys that collected all the materials can't sell them anywhere that will pay enough to make it worth their while.

I'm happy to buy recycled when it's something I need and was going to buy anyway. But what about something that I could make myself? Enviromom was musing about the Mylar that comes into her house, and what to do about it now that it's not recyclable in her town anymore. TerraCycle is a company that collects consumer waste like juice bags (they call them pouches), chip bags and yogurt cups, and remakes them into consumer goods -- very cute tote bags, pencil cases, cardboard fire logs and other neat products. They even pay a small amount per waste item (2¢ per pouch, for instance) to schools and other organizations who collect and send them in (like the cereal box or soup label programs many schools use for fundraising).

Are you like me? When I see great ideas like this my first thought is -- I bet I could make that! So my question is, is it more responsible to send in my juice bags and buy a finished product, thereby supporting a good eco-company and large scale recycling? Or better to keep our (very few) juice bags out of my trashcan, not buy yet another thing at a big retailer, and save my own money, by making similar products at home? What would you do?

read to (or about) your chick

Life is full of unexpected paradoxes, both large and small. This one is pretty small, really, but in this season of lengthening and sunny days, I cannot find a single place in my house with enough light for decent pictures of the new Chix-themed t-shirts I've been working on. Maybe it's that the sun is higher in the sky, or angled less to the south.

In any case, while I work on pictures of "read to your chick," I thought I'd instead present a short roundup of poultried picture books. Check for them at your public library (even though the links are to book info at Amazon.com).


Tillie Lays An Egg by Terry Golson and photography by Ben Fink.
Tillie's an adventurous sort of hen, and rather than wait her turn for the nesting box, she explores Little Pond Farm and leaves her daily egg in some rather unexpected places. Photographs of real hens illustrate the story. The hens who star in the book (and their author) even have a website (including a blog and a hencam!).



Louise: The Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo and pictures by Harry Bliss.
Another adventurous white hen! Louise ventures even further afield, landing on a pirate ship, at the circus, and at an exotic bazaar. Like a little one who leaves the safety of Mama's circle to explore the world, Louise returns to her friends in the henhouse to tell her tales, rest, and dream of her next adventure. Louise is a 2009 E. B. White Read Aloud Award honor book, and Kate DiCamillo is the author of many wonderful chapter books, including the Mercy Watson series, Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux and others.


The Chicken Sisters by the hilarious Laura Numeroff; pictures by Sharleen Collicot.
Perhaps you're familiar with what happens If You Give a Moose a Muffin (or a Mouse a Cookie)? Numeroff's three chicken sisters are lovely eccentrics specializing in horrific shower singing, burned cookies and ugly knitting. They're also so generous and friendly with the offerings that the poor old wolf (who's just moved into the neighborhood) is so terrorized that he leaves to move in with his mother!


Chicken and Cat by Sarah Varon.
This wordless picture book tells of country Cat's discomfort and sadness when visiting friend Chickens's drab, urban (New York) neighborhood, and the pleasure of finding color and joy in a seemingly drab place.




Lottie's New Friend by Petra Mathers.
Lottie is the central character of the Lottie's World series, which begins with Lottie's Beach Towel. In this one, Lottie and best friend Herbie's friendship is strained when the exotic Dodo moves to town. Dodo is purple, Dodo has an accent and Dodo's been in the movies! Herbie is so sick and tired of hearing about the wonderful Dodo that he's sure Lottie isn't his friend anymore. Then one day Dodo is in trouble and Herbie can help. He not only becomes Dodo's hero, but also hears all the nice things Lotties's been saying about him, and he learns that you can make new friends and keep your old friends too.

Wow, that's a lot of white hens. Surprisingly, there are many many more chicken-themed picture books out there. I'll try to round up more in future posts; books are just so much fun. Do you have a favorite chicken book, either for children or grownsups, to recommend? Any about roosters?