Make a Splash! A Kid’s Guide to Protecting Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands

Make a Splash!
A Kid’s Guide to Protecting Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands

Minneapolis, MN (November 13, 2012)—From service learning expert Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A., and environmental advocate Philippe Cousteau with EarthEcho International, comes an opportunity for kids to shape the future of the planet. In their new book, Make a Splash! A Kid’s Guide to Protecting Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands (Free Spirit Publishing, $13.99), Kaye and Cousteau reveal facts about our waters, their inhabitants, and the threats they face, while presenting inspiring stories of kids in action around the globe and practical tips and ideas for making a difference.

“I believe that young people are the only ones who have the power to truly change the world,” says Cousteau. “And not just tomorrow—they have the power today to make a positive difference. Let’s prepare our youngest generation to get started right now on protecting our water planet and set them off on an exciting, lifelong adventure.”

Make a Splash! offers a global look at the issues our water planet is facing—trash, pollution, climate change, oil spills—as well as what kids can do, and are already doing, to help. “Wesee kids getting involved and taking action every day, all over the world,” says Kaye. “I’m amazed by what they’re doing—from helping preserve coral in the Florida Keys to learning about the importance of mangroves in our water systems in Singapore. Their stories give us all inspiration to take action for water and ideas for kids to make a splash of their own.”

In Make a Splash!, kids are introduced to the ideas behind service learning—a rapidly growing teaching strategy that combines academic learning and community service. Service learning offers teachers and students opportunities to connect science, math, history, and literature to environmental issues in their school and community. The book’s chapters are divided into the five stages of service learning: Investigate, Prepare, Act, Reflect, and Demonstrate, using a motif of scuba gear throughout to represent each stage. The chapters take kids on an exploration of our water planet—find out why water matters, dive in to discover the deeper story of water, get going and take action for water, think back and reflect on your actions, and show it and share your story with others.

Make a Splash! is the elementary-level counterpart to Kaye and Cousteau’s award-winning book Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands. The back matter in Make a Splash! includes a glossary and book and web resources. A free leader’s guide is available online.

Review copies of Make a Splash! are available on NetGalley or from Elena M. Meredith at Free Spirit Publishing (publicity@freespirit.com).