"Being stuck in traffic, waiting for a parking spot and ordering at a drive-through restaurant have something in common. They all mean your car is idling, which is where it burns fuel but isn't moving. Millions of cars and trucks idle every day. It's bad for the planet and our health."
This book about traffic and its effects on all of us is the 23rd addition to the Orca Footprints series of books that deal with questions kids have about the natural world. They help provide answers for those concerns, and offer ways for kids to get involved and take action to make the world a safer and better place.
It is a worthy introduction for middle grade readers. Ms. Silver discusses some of the problems faced when we use automobiles as the main way to move from one place to another. People living in large places with dense populations know what traffic jams are like. That congestion causes untold problems because of time issues, accidents, and construction.
Following an explanatory introduction, the author divides her text into four timely and informative chapters: Collision Course, Go With the Flow, Driving Into the Future, and How Kids Can Help Drive Change. She provides a short and welcome history of North American transportation which begins with canoes, and ends with what we have today, and how that growth necessitated changes in how traffic has been controlled.
Because of the ever-growing number of cars being built, the number of vehicles on roads which stands at over one billion today is expected to double by 2050. It is hard to imagine how that will impact people everywhere. Time spent in traffic is not only frustrating, it is contributing toxic gases into the environment and resulting in global warming.
As I have mentioned when talking about previous books in this fine series, the design of the series is conversational, the photos contribute to the reader's understanding of the issues being discussed, and charts help create a clear understanding for the unfathomable numbers shared. Some cities are working hard to come up with viable solutions to handle the difficulties faced. Some are easier than others. All are worth discussing. She discusses things that have been tried, other means of travel, and the unique development of 20-minute neighborhoods - 'livable neighborhoods in which people can live, work, and play within a 20-minute walk from home.' It is a very interesting concept.
There are many suggestions that are sure to interest and intrigue her target audience. In the final chapter, she shows kids how they can help make the changes needed. They can model behaviors for their parents and other adults. It's not going to happen with one person in one day, one month, one year; any positive step forward makes a difference and working together for the greater good is certainly a worthy goal.
A glossary and index are included in back matter, as well as a list of resources for further study.
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