The Eco-Diary of Kiran Singer

Alderson, Sue Ann. The Eco-Diary of Kiran Singer.
Orca, 2007. 66p $15.95 978-1-896580-4-70

Kiran writes to her grandmother worrying about the disappearing rain forests, pollution, terrorists, and other man-made and natural concerns. She says, “We have to do something. Sometimes I’m scared. But what can I do? I’m just a kid.” Grandma replies with an invitation to join her work party for a “bit of the planet right here practically in our backyard that needs looking after – it’s a little bog.” She also gives Kiran a diary for her twelfth birthday. Kiran replies that she will use the diary for poems she writes at the bog.
Following the table of contents the rest of the book is written in verse. Each section opens with a small picture of the diary open to a new page with just the day of the week written on it. Four, five, or six poems follow, each is accompanied by a soft painting that illustrates something mentioned in the poem. Many of the poems are about animals or plants that live in the bog; others are about the sounds heard or the people in the work party.
The introduction tells us that the bog and the “Crazy Boggers” working on the restoration of the bog are real. “Camosun bog is an unusually small bog in an unusual locale at the edge of a public park in the middle of Vancouver, British Columbia.”
A web site for more information about the bog is included. Readers interested in a similar environmental project are told to contact their local natural history or Audubon Club. MT