From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-An update of the 1974 title (HarperCollins), not only in content but also in terminology. In the original, the narrator's grandfather buried their trash on his farm and fed garbage to the hogs. "Garbage and trash" were taken together to the dump, or, in the case of big cities, incinerated, resulting in air pollution. Separating trash for recycling was only a hopeful prospect. Gone is the family farm in the 1994 edition. Children learn in school about how things "used to be." They take a field trip to a landfill where garbage and trash (brought in from a nearby big city) are still being buried, but they refer to recycling as a commonplace activity in which the whole town participates. A pie chart breaks down the composition of a landfill by percentages. Showers mentions toxic ash and smoke generated from incinerators and the basic problem of too much trash. The pictures are also more sophisticated in content, if not style. How a landfill is built and how an incinerator works are more fully portrayed than in the previous edition, and more detailed drawings are used to show the processes involved in paper, glass, and plastic recycling. Suggestions for what individuals can do to help the environment are appended. Touches of humor are added via dialogue balloons, making this title an enjoyable and useful introduction to the subject.Judith V. Lechner, Auburn University, ALCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. The 1974 edition of this Let's-Read-and-Find-Out book began with a girl saying, "Everything goes into the garbage pail in our house." Showers suggested recycling as the solution to the problem of massive waste, but even he probably didn't expect that 20 years later the revised book would begin with a teacher telling her class about the "way things used to be" and contrasting it with current landfill and recycling programs. Clearly written and accessible to young children, the book explains what used to happen to solid waste, what goes into landfills, and how aluminum, newspapers, glass bottles and jars, and plastics are recycled today. Although Chewning's ink drawings are clear and appealing, his use of multicolor, hyper-bright washes sometimes distracts the eye and detracts from the pictures as illustrations. Given the usefulness of this book in the classroom, public and school libraries will want to have at least one copy of the new edition. Carolyn Phelan

Book Description
Follow that garbage truck!...to the landfill to see how trash keeps piling up...to the incinerator to see how trash can be turned into energy ... to the recycling center to see how a soda bottle can be turned into a flowerpot. Filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, Where Does the Garbage Go? explains how we deal with the problem of too much trash and provides ideas for easy ways to be a part of the solution.

Card catalog description
Discusses the growing garbage and trash problem in the United States and its possible solutions.

About the Author
Paul Showers has written
many of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science series' most popular titles, among them Where Does the Garbage Go?, illustrated by Randy Chewning. Mr. Showers lives in Palo Alto, CA.

Wendy Watson has illustrated numerous classic picture books, including A, B, C, D, Tummy, Toes, Hands, Knees by B. J. Hennessey. Ms. Watson lives in Groton, VT.

ANNOTATION

Explains how people create too much waste and how waste is now recycled and put into landfills.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Follow that garbage truck!

...to the landfill to see how trash keeps piling up...to the incinerator to see how trash can be turned into energy ... to the recycling center to see how a soda bottle can be turned into a flowerpot. Filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, Where Does the Garbage Go? explains how we deal with the problem of too much trash and provides ideas for easy ways to be a part of the solution.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin