I’ve compiled print and web resources as well as hands-on activities that may be useful for teachers using my books in their classrooms. Click on the title of a book to view the respective resource pages. If you know of additional relevant resources, please feel free to let me know; I’d be happy to include them here.
Tracking Trash
↑The Making of TRACKING TRASH
The research trips I took while preparing to write TRACKING TRASH can be found on the Research Trips page of my website. There are hundreds of photographs and paragraphs of commentary that will give student writers a sense for the research that went into the creation of the book.
Students and teachers can learn about the people and stories that shaped the book by reading a series of blog posts I wrote in 2007.
Hands-on Activities for Students
Teachers often ask me for ideas about hands-on activities they can do with their students while reading TRACKING TRASH or when preparing for a visit from me. My favorite recommendation is to get students involved in The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. This annual beach cleanup is held every September in over 75 countries around the world, including most states in the USA. Find cleanups near you is as easy as visiting The Ocean Conservancy’s ICC website.
Another great resource for hands-on activities is OCEAN CURRENTS, MARINE SCIENCE ACTIVITIES FOR GRADES 5-8, a teacher’s guide from Lawrence Hall of Science. You can order this book through your local independent bookseller or directly from the publisher.
Books with Related Themes
There are lost of great books for young people (and not-so-young people, too) that touch on the themes explored in TRACKING TRASH. Here’s an annotated list. Enjoy!
10 LITTLE RUBBER DUCKS, by Eric Carle (HarperCollins, 2005)
A picture book for your youngest readers; the book uses the ducky spill story to explore the concept of ordinal numbers.
DUCKY, by Eve Bunting (Clarion, 1997)
A fictionalized picture book account of the tub toy spill.
PETE PUFFIN’S WILD RIDE, by Libby Halton (Alaska Geographic Association, 2008)
The protagonist of this fictional picture book drops a favorite toy overboard while cruising in Alaska, and readers follow the adventures of the toy as it makes its way through the ocean.
DEXTER’S JOURNEY, by Chris d’Lacey (Crabtree, 2002)
This fictionalized ducky spill story is perfect for emerging readers.
SECRETS OF A CIVIL WAR SUBMARINE: SOLVING THE MYSTERIES OF THE H.L. HUNLEY, by Sally M. Walker (Carolrhoda, 2005)
Award-winning nonfiction for upper elementary and middle grade students with an interest in the ocean and scientists who study it.
SHIPWRECKS: EXPLORING SUNKEN CITIES BENEATH THE SEA, by Mary Cerullo (Dutton, 2009)
A non-fiction book for upper elementary/middle-grade readers who are intrigued with other aspects of ocean science.
FLUSH, by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, 2005)
Eco-fiction for older middle-grade readers.
WHO REALLY KILLED COCK ROBIN, by Jean Craighead George (HarperTrophy, 1992)
More eco-fiction for middle-grade readers.
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, by Jules Verne
A classic adventure novel set in the depths of the world ocean. What would Captain Nemo see through the windows of his Nautilus today?
THE HIGHEST TIDE, by Jim Lynch (Blomsbury, 2006)
A novel for adults and young adults that touches on issues of ocean pollution.
FLOTAMETRICS AND THE FLOATING WORLD, by Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano (Collins, 2009)
An autobiography of Dr. Curt Ebbesmeyer, the star of TRACKING TRASH.
Web Resources
Dr. Curt Ebbesmeyer’s Beachcomber Alert!
NASA on Curt Ebbesmeyer and ocean motion
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
Captain Charles Moore on the Colbert Report
* This documentary is stunning and speaks to the difficult-to-grasp concept that the garbage patch is not, in fact, an island of trash. It is a massive ocean area of accumulated plastic pollution the travesty of which is difficult to share in a single photograph or sound byte. PLEASE NOTE, however, that this documentary contains very strong language (lots of it, unfortunately) and adult themes that are not appropriate for younger students. I highly recommend teachers and parents preview the complete documentary before sharing it with students.