Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands

by Cathryn Berger Kaye, Philippe Cousteau, EarthEcho International

Written by service learning expert Cathryn Berger Kaye and celebrity ocean spokesperson Philippe Cousteau, Going Blue educates young people about the earth’s water crisis and gives them tools and inspiration to transform their ideas into action. With lively photos and practical suggestions, the book helps teens plan and do a meaningful service project that benefits our planet’s water system. Along the way, readers learn about issues such as clean water access, coral reef damage, runoff pollution, trash islands, factory fishing, bottled water, and much more. This combination of academic learning and community service is at the heart of the fast-growing teaching strategy known as service learning.

Going Blue is divided into the five stages of service learning: investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration. Special sections include a history of ocean exploration with a profile of Jacques Cousteau; an interview with Philippe Cousteau; stories of young people around the world addressing water issues; book and Web resources; and an afterword for adults.
 

Genres: Nonfiction

151 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2010

About the author

Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A., is an international service learning consultant and a former classroom teacher. She works with state departments of education, university faculty and students, school districts, and classroom teachers on a variety of education issues such as service learning, civic responsibility, student leadership, and respectful school communities.

Reviews

[Nemo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going blue by Cathryn Berger Kaye, in this story is talking about a teen guide to saving the oceans, lakes, rivers, wetlands and water, and some introductions about waters. In the beginning is introduced the ocean and the water, and the author ask a question, is what do you know about ocean. In the middle is talk about the pollution, trash, and how bad is the ocean now, and also say the water is very expensive and we need to Cherish the water. In the end, they made a plan to saving the water, if you do a good choice make big splash, like if many is not throw trash into the ocean than will make the ocean better, and take a action, you can do change of make the ocean better and also can be a message maker, like use the media or technology to telling the people to Cherish the ocean. I think the author try to tell us the water is very bad now and water is very important and expensive, we all need to Cherish water.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, and Wetlands / by Cathryn Berger Kaye, Philippe Cousteau, and Earth Echo International -- Minneapolis, MN : Free Spirit Publishing, c2010. (152 pages) RANGE 7 -- TEEN / YOUNG ADULT

SUMMARY: Going Blue educates young people about the earth’s water crisis and gives them tools and inspiration to transform their ideas into action. With lively photos and practical suggestions, the book helps teens plan and do a meaningful service project that benefits our planet’s water system. Along the way, readers learn about issues such as clean water access, coral reef damage, runoff pollution, trash islands, factory fishing, bottled water, and much more. This combination of academic learning and community service is at the heart of the fast-growing teaching strategy known as service learning.

Going Blue is divided into the five stages of service learning: investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration. Special sections include a history of ocean exploration with a profile of Jacques Cousteau; an interview with Philippe Cousteau; stories of young people around the world addressing water issues; book and Web resources; and an afterword for adults.

REVIEW: Although I didn't actually read the book, I did study its format and content. I was impressed at the presentation that it made -- stating a problem, showing how to look at the problem, how to use critical thinking, create an action plan, carry out the plan, and then share the information with others. I would have read in more depth but I don't have the time at the moment to focus in on this one issue. So I'm bookmarking it to return at a later date.

[Kristel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nonfiction, call-to-action book is slick, interesting and commendable for its well-researched content. As someone who wanted to be a marine biologist in the 5th grade and did a report on Jacques Cousteau, it is interesting to see that the co-author of this book is Cousteau’s grandson, Philippe Cousteau. The table of contents shows that the book is divided into instructional stages, from helping readers discover their community of water to ending with how readers can tell your story about trying to preserve that community. At less than 200 pages, most of which are text frequently interspersed with graphs, pictures, anecdotes about kids around the world making a difference and colorful arrows and captions, this book is not taxing for average middle-schoolers in the slightest. This book could be a useful resource for a report on oceans or rivers and perhaps Cousteau, as there are good historical references and facts littered throughout the book. Will this book be a successful call to arms in defense of the world’s waterways for eleven year olds? Doubtful. It’s colorful, certainly not a reader's typical dry textbook, and is very simple to read. As a call-to-action text it lacks the ability to reach teenagers; very few teens are looking for a 200 page guide to help them figure out how to solve the plastic water bottle problem.As a reference text, this definitely belongs in a public library’s nonfiction collection, especially if libraries have a tween or teen specific collection.

[Taylor Valencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want students (or if you want to personally) read this book to learn about the environment and the different approaches you can take to save it, then this is the perfect book for you. This book offers different ways to help save our oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water by doing stuff at home, in our community, and a national level. The book offers websites, facts, and so much information, you are guaranteed to walk away with some newfound knowledge! The pictures are also amazing and it coincides with the reading well. Overall, this book is a must read!

The point of informational text is to give the reader new information about the natural and social world, which this book does a great job at that. It is broken up into three parts, which I think is great and makes it easy to follow. Also, unlike a normal text book, this book is specifically catered to young readers, which is great because it allows students and young people to engage in the book, therefore, allows them to really have an understanding of the book. Also, accuracy is a plus, as well as the flexibility with the ages it ranges from. Anyone can read it, which is great!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello, "Going Blue" by Philippe Cousteau and Cathryn Berger Kaye, is a wonderful book. Like it's says on the cover it's a "teen guide to saving earths bodies of water." It explains how to protect of bodies of water. It's got lots of charts, grids, and more explaining how much water each country uses and how much is wasted. It gives you projects that you can do to help protect our bodies of water, for teens just like you! Philippe Cousteau is the cofounder of a marine biology group called "Earth Echo," which is a marine biology program that enforces teens to project and save our water. I would recommend this book to anyone with the following interest marine biology, marine life, science, biology, and pollution, I gave it 5/5 stars.

[Michele Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very visually appealing to preteens and teens. It can be used by students independently or is a great resource for teachers. It walks through the different phases of service learning to help benefit our world's water.
I plan on using this book as a basis for my service-learning project for my 5th grade class. Our curriculum includes a social studies year long global awareness project and a science unit on Oceans in Fairfax County.
I plan to study our water issues in our local area and then link up with students and classrooms around the world to compare water issues.

[Kelli Howell]

Going blue by Cathryn Berger Kaye is an informational text book written for teens to learn about the water pollution and the environment. it contains text that is easy to understand and is filled with lots of graphics and photographs to make the text more relate-able to teens. I enjoyed reading this book because it opened my eyes to issues in the environment and I think it is a great way to teach teens about the environment.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nicely done book, but I felt it didn't connect the dots sufficiently for teens. And in the opposite direction, it slightly talked down to them in terms of overly fancy language for researching, planning, and taking action on things that teens find important. A lot of the individual stories of teens taking various actions to help clean our water were really absorbing reading.

[Oceanscape Network · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is divided into seven parts, each color-coded: Introduction; five stages…Investigate, Prepare, Act, Reflect, Demonstrate; plus resources and an index. It contains numerous colored photographs and illustrations, sidebars, graphs and diagrams. “The Story of Tar Creek” (in Oklahoma) introduces each stage and follows efforts to clean up a polluted stream.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A must for any environmental collection. Colorful with stories of how real teens made a difference for the planet. I don't think it will go with my reluctants, though.

[BCPL Youth Services Librarian]

Click to see book in BCPL's online catalog

[Andi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Guess I need to be a teen to enjoy this one.

[Christina Heredia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at what teens can do to save the planet. This book gives an action plan for how to really get involved.

[Rachel Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going Blue is an incredibly enlightening text. I call it text because it is an informational text for grade 6 and up. This book is written by Cathryn Berger Kaye an international service learning consultant and Philippe Cousteau, Jr. an avid spokesperson for environmental education. These two created an inspiring and action evoking text. One of the neat things about this book is you can read front to back, back to front, or open it up anywhere and begin reading. There is a service learning suggested guide, however it is clear that regardless of how you read the book, action is strongly suggested. This book shared experiences of youth around the world in action to clean up their environment or help bring clean water to their communities. The stories were awe inspiring. I would recommend this text to anyone interested in our planet, and the rehabilitation of it. Education is the key to change and this book is incredibly educational.