From the Publisher
"Bookless and Deeptown return with this lively follow-up to Captain Green and the Plastic Scene (2018), starring the same environment-loving protagonist. . . . A spread of backmatter includes concept amplification and reasonable suggestions for helping save forests. A child-friendly environmental message with an emphasis on teamwork." —Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
06/01/2021
K-Gr 2—Captain Green arrives on the scene again, this time to tackle deforestation. When three different creatures found in Southeast Asia—a hornbill, an orangutan, and a pygmy elephant—call out for help as their trees are cut down or destroyed by fire, Captain Green, a white boy with blond hair, flies in to find them new shelter, but he knows more is needed. He has been working on an invention that shoots saplings into the ground, which works great—until it falls apart. He plunks down on a freshly cut tree stump and bemoans a sudden and somber realization: "It seems easier to ruin a forest than to grow one!" More help is needed, and he knows just where to go to get it: a school where the children have been learning all about trees. Together, Captain Green and the children, a robustly diverse crew, set out to plant seedlings wherever they can. It is a straightforward story with a simplistic answer to a complex problem, but young children will enjoy Captain Green's superhero energy and enthusiasm as well as his urgent message. With large, noisy words ("ZOOOP!" "WHOOSH!" "BANG!") spread across the pages full of lively, colorful details, it will be easy to engage listeners.The back matter contains a page of "Captain Green's Green Facts" about the role trees play in the planet's health and a page of suggestions for what can be done to reduce our dependence on products made from trees. VERDICT The story exudes a cartoon-like playfulness but with a serious intent to educate and inspire children about the need to keep our world green. Those who loved Captain Green's approach to solving the plastics problem will no doubt take to this title as well.—Maggie Chase, Boise State Univ., ID
Kirkus Reviews
2020-11-20
The tree-planting machine a young superhero invents explodes with the effort, but he discovers that children working together can help save animals and their forest homes.
Bookless and Deeptown return with this lively follow-up to Captain Green and the Plastic Scene (2018), starring the same environment-loving protagonist. Readers meet him happily inventing something. But, like many young inventors, he’s not sure what it will do. Fate intervenes with calls for help from Hornbill, Elephant, and Orangutan. Trees are being cut, harvested, and burned, and they have no food or homes. The caped, masked hero tweaks his invention to plant trees—but how can he plant so many? His invention blows up with a “BANG!” but the sight of a classroom full of students studying trees reminds him that teamwork can also become a Tree Machine. Captain Green’s language is appealing: “Oh, green gravy!” he expostulates, and “My green-ness, this is fun!” he says as they all plant trees together. Deeptown’s cartoon illustrations show an engaging small White hero, a diverse classroom, and animals that look like animals but whose body language and expressions carry emotion. Most environmental educators would prefer not to burden preschoolers with the issue of environmental destruction, but if it seems necessary, this is lighthearted enough to fill the bill. A spread of backmatter includes concept amplification and reasonable suggestions for helping save forests.
A child-friendly environmental message with an emphasis on teamwork. (Picture book. 3-7)
