Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy

Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy
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Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Margaret Young
Summary: A beautifully illustrated children's storybook with a very strong environmental message about global warming.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: April 2013
Publisher: Phoenix Yard Books
ISBN: 978-1907912221
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This is a story with an environmental message, but at times it seems more like an environmental message with a story. The story itself is terribly limited. It begins with the ice caps melting, the sun growing too hot and drought. There are no humans in this book, so the animals get together to find out what the problem is. They decide that cows are the reason the world is growing warmer and try to find a solution.

That isn't to say it is not entertaining. It does have some amusing sections and the illustrations are both beautiful and unique. My son did enjoy the fish doctors, and the fart factories, but this does come across a bit strong in some ways, and does appear to condemn carnivores. I was of course aware that beef production would be an issue in the story, but I didn't expect it to be the only one. In the UK cattle and sheep produce 3% of the green house gasses emitted into the atmosphere, and 30% of the methane, but reading this book, one would assume that cattle are the sole cause of global warming, and unless everyone becomes vegan, the polar ice caps will completely disappear and there will be worldwide disaster. According to the book If the cows don't stop grazing, it's only a matter of time before we all become extinct. It was this single sentence which gave me the most concern.

I did not read this book to my youngest child. He has expressed concern about the five previous mass extinctions in earth's history, and I don't want to give the child nightmares of a sixth, nor do I wish to attempt a vegan diet, for both practical and medical issues. This is a book that I feel requires parental discretion with younger children, but it also does have a lot of value for educational purposes with older children. I'm sure it would be an lovely addition to a completely vegan household - assuming you do not have a dinosaur mad child with far too much knowledge of mass extinction events. What concerns one child will not trouble the next, so this is simply a matter for parental discretion with the very young.

I did ask my oldest to read this, and found it a very educational experience, but not entirely as I think the authors would have envisioned. We used this as a starting point to discuss climate change and the possible causes of global warming. We then did further research into various causes of global warming. The authors did lose credibility with him as he researched several other theories, but I am quite pleased with the way this encouraged him, not just to accept the facts from a book, but to think for himself and learn more.

My son also mentioned dinosaur farts, so we looked this up online, and scientists do believe the dinosaurs - which we believe would have produced far more methane than cattle also created a warmer climate. I think this book would be an excellent choice for schools studying climate change, or for use by home educators such as myself. I do feel that this draws attention to a very important issue as well, because while cattle are not the only cause of global warming, they do appear to be part of the problem. It also highlights the dangers of only presenting one side of the story, which can lead to a loss of credibility in general, and shows children how many studies will focus only on the facts they wish to highlight, ignoring the rest. This is very valuable lesson. Sadly, while the topic might be very educational, I don't think this is the type of book that will be read time and time again, and as such I can not give it top rates. But neither can I condemn the book. It serves as brilliant starting point for both scientific and philosophical discussions, but I do feel a child will not get the full benefit of this without adult interaction.

I also feel that I must go into detail on the artwork. There are times the pages are busy, even jumbled, but this suits the tone of the text at that time. If you insist on pictures looking just like the animals they are meant to represent, this book is not for you. But if you can enjoy a beautiful patterned gecko with something between a floral and tribal design, a green fox and a psychedelic flower child of an elephant, then this book will delight you. The artwork can be a bizarre hodgepodge of colours and prints, but it always seems to work and I believe this book would be wonderful in teaching art classes. Our absolute favourites are the fish, and I am already planning an art project of our own based around this page. I do go through an incredible number of children's books and I can honestly say, I have never seen anything like these illustrations.

I'm torn a bit on how to rate this book. My son has suggested 3 stars, which seems fair enough on the surface, but I feel that it doesn't take all factors into account. I most certainly would have preferred something a bit less preachy, and which took a more even handed look at the problem, giving even the briefest of mention to other causes of global warming. I appreciate that this could have been difficult withing the context of this book, but even a note at the end would have sufficed. But despite these issues, I can see this book would be much more warmly recieved by those with a different lifestyle and a vegan diet. This also might be far more interesting to another child, but while my son found a few bits amusing, he would not read the book again. If you child is still in the stage where any mention of bodily functions results in hysterical laughter, this may very well prove more popular. My son does agree with me on the artwork though and thinks it is brilliant. I also feel that it provided and excellent educational opportunity, and the unique nature of the artwork means that I will be using this book as inspiration for art projects for years to come. As such, I am going with 4 stars, and a firm recommendation for teachers, artists and home educators. I will give this a more limited recommendation for every day reading, and advise parental discretion.

You might also like to look at Planet In Peril by Anita Ganeri and Mike Phillips or Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Hot Air by Sandrine Dumas Roy at Amazon.com.

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