PROJECTS FOR A HEALTHY PLANET: SIMPLE ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIMENTS FOR KIDS Shar Levine and Allison Grafton Illustrated by Terry Chui Rexdale (Ont.), John Wiley & Sons Canada, 1992. 96pp, galley, $12.95 ISBN 0-471-55484-7. CIP Professional Reviewed by Fred Leicester Volume 20 Number 3 1992 May Here is a book designed, as the introduc­tion tells us, to help children understand some of the causes of pollution, to examine alternatives to the use of non-renewable resources, and to help create environmentally friendly products. Another stated intention is having readers learn a lot about the science involved in the natural world as well as in manufactured products. Well, maybe. What is more certain is that kids are going to love most of the twenty-five experiments described in the book. In the name of science, your child gets to keep a box full of earthworms under the kitchen sink ("Composting with New Pets") complete with spiders to keep the fruit flies at bay. Then it's off to the blender to make a flea repellent out of orange peels, which, naturally, in the name of good science, must be rubbed into Fido's fur to see if it works. Later, after a busy day making scratch-and-sniff paper, blowing giant soap bubbles, constructing a portable refrigerator, and digging holes in dad's flower bed to test the biodegradability of mom's shopping bags, it's off to the shower to scrub down with home-made shampoo. Sure, the book simplifies complex en­vironmental problems, and, yes, there is a fair amount of eco-preaching, and, yes, there are some terms undefined, and, OK, there are some scientific half-truths. But I sure wish these experiments had been around when I was a kid. Recommended. Fred Leicester, Golden School District, Golden, B.C.