New York Times Praises Kid-Version of An Inconvenient Truth
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 05.15.07
We recently filled you in on the new young-adult book version of "An Inconvenient Truth" geared towards children 11 and up. Titled “An Inconvenient Truth: Adapted for a New Generation,” the 128-page book is 40 percent shorter and more organized than the adult book, which is the literary version of Al Gore’s Academy-award-winning movie. According to a recent review in the New York Times, “Much of what has disappeared is Gore himself." Reviewer Robert Coontz supports this move: “Readers who barely remember the 2000 election will care more about Gore’s message than about the personal journey that led him to spread it.” Still present are "the good parts," Coontz adds, a geoscience tutorial on the basics of climate change, polar bears, melting glaciers in Switzerland and atop Mount Kilimanjaro, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and deteriorating coral reefs.
But is the book really necessary with the availability of the movie? This is the big question, Coontz concludes. What is missing, he says, is what is missing in the movie: "The next generation has plenty of inspiration; what it needs now is nuts-and-bolts information for school reports and debates. Who is doing the science, and where and how? How do researchers analyze satellite data and computer models?" ::via The New York Times. Read more here: An Inconvenient Truth: Oscar Winner, An Inconvenient Truth Partners with MySpace, Roger Ebert Says: Go See An Inconvenient Truth.
Image left: China Photos/Getty Images, courtesy of the New York Times.
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
I agree completely that the movie and book are short on science specifics that would be useful in the classroom. And we've tried to address that a little bit by offering a free classroom curriculum that walks students through doing the science themselves, rather than telling them how it's done for a book report, as the author of the review seems to suggest is appropriate.
Participant Productions worked hard to make this available in conjunction with the DVD release. It's available to check out at the production company's activist site: http://www.participate.net/educators
it's our humble opionion that the doing is science is both more interesting and far more valuable for students than reading about the science.
thanks
josh