Save Our Planet

Aimed primarily at junior high students, Save Our Planet uses the framing device of a young boy at school named Todd who, after seeing a classroom slide show chronicling our steady destruction of the environment (the Greenhouse Effect, oil spills, pollution, etc,), decides to enlighten his family and friends. Basically, Todd goes around expounding advice on everything from turning off the TV when it's not being used to avoiding disposable diapers. While Save Our Planet serves well as a primer which outlines practical suggestions for people to become more environmentally conscious, the format doesn't quite work. Todd goes from basic kid to environmental authority and much to quickly, and then has the nerve to put a little sarcastic spin on his comments to mom and dad (which, of course, they gratefully take to heart, rather than asking who died and made Todd God?). Good information; inappropriately presented. Not a necessary purchase. (Available from: Bennu Productions, 165 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016.)