The Green Team’ of Fern, Verdun, Jade, Silas and Selva the toucan puppet visit Unity Street school and talk to the children about climate change. The children are inspired and decide to take action themselves to help look after the planet. In the old playground there is an area of has been neglected. The Green Team and Mr Moss the caretaker help them to transform it into a wild green space that they will look after. The children clear it of all sorts of rubbish. Almost everything can be recycled. They plant beans and hedge saplings that the Green Team have provided. Mr Moss plants a cherry tree and he and some children make a pebble pond. The children plant beans in old jars. After the holidays almost all the beans have gown. They hold a school-yard sale of old books and toys. The money raised is used to buy wild-flower-meadow seeds which are planted along with the beans and the hedge saplings. Finally the Unity Street Meadow is opened. I love the way the book ends with “Now it’s your turn!” as readers are invited to think about and are given suggestions of small ways in which they too can save the planet.
Beautiful illustrations enhance the story. I enjoyed the way the pictures become greener as we move through the book. My favourite picture is the evening scene where we see foxes, frogs and an owl enjoying the environment the children have created.
This is a charming, uplifting story that helps children to see that their actions can play a part in saving the planet.
Brenda Marshall
Unity Street School Saves the Planet by Sheena Davis
Otter-Barry Books
ISBN 9781915659613
£13.99
Published 2025
