This book inspires creativity and the appreciation of environmental and other art forms. Absolutely fantastic!
The brilliant photos and illustrations by Jarett Sitter are meaningful, imaginative, clear, and with brilliant colors.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, and especially to a school or teacher or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Orca Book Publishers via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available May 14, 2024
Book 14 of Orca Think
Canadian

There is no question that creating art makes our lives better. Its a good book to read and should keep at your bookshelves for references. Just think about how happy you feel when you are being creative and make the world brighter.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own

Inspirational and fascinating. Every chapter has something that I had to share. I love all the instalations and the ideas on how you can do your part at home. For example I has no idea we had a re-use supply centre in my city

Wonder book .

This book really helped to answer the question we ask so often, “But what can I do?”
Many times we feel so small in the vastness of the environmental issues of our day so it was wonderful to read so many practical ideas that everyday people can use to make a difference in the world around us.
This book did a wonderful job of explaining the problems and offering common sense solutions that anyone can do.
This is the kind of educational material we need right now.
I received an advanced copy in order to provide an honest review.

I appreciated the examples and artist profiles included in the text! Made me feel inspired, and I could see building lessons or field trips from this. It also made me want to check out more environmental or climate-justice work. Thanks for the ARC!

Let's Get Creative is part of the Orca Thinks series, a series of books aimed at middle school readers which deal with issues of our time. As an artist, arts advocate, and (retired) teacher, I am very glad to see this book. It approaches art at the intersection of science, community and creativity, and even starts by pointing out that if readers thought that art just lived in museums, they were in for a treat as there is so much more to explore - and to do!

The essential message of this book is that in addition to making people happy, art can also help make the earth happy. Several themes are explored: reducing waste by recycling, upcycling and using materials creatively so that they don't have to go into the landfill; protecting animal habitats (I adored the example of the beehive habitat sculpture); protecting various ecosystems including coral reefs and rainforests, and even raising awareness of ecological issues. Since many eco-art works are public art, they can make a great difference because they will be seen by many more people than are able to view works in museums and galleries. And although many eco-art works are produced by professional artists, many are also made by community members, students, and others working collaboratively.

I loved that the book gave concise descriptions of ecological challenges, and shared several wonderfully creative ways that artists and communities are contributing to improving these. It seems to be most appropriate to be read in a classroom setting, so that teachers can answer questions and plan projects around the various themes. I heartily endorse its use!

Many thanks to Orca and NetGalley for allowing me to review this advance reader copy.

This was such a fun and creative book, filled with information and ideas for crafts. I really enjoyed it and would love to try some of them!

This started as an interesting read but the information overload made me start to lose focus. I was expecting an easy-flowing informative book but this book read more like a textbook and I was left thinking about when class would begin. There were explanations and focus on how art is used, how some of it harms the environment and how some artists are taking a greener approach.

This was interesting to read but I felt the text parts took away from the visuals.

I loved everything about this. The book is obstensibly about art, but it's really about how anyone can help save the world.
There are a lot of great examples of art using recycled products, but there is also information on how to become a person who repairs and reuses and donates instead of constantly creating trash.
Information about architecture shows how to keep birds safer, and some art can be used for practical purposes (like the artwork that provides WiFi and can charge cellphones). There are just so many great ideas in this little book!
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Let's Get Creative by Jessica Rose is a book that celebrates the planet and all the beautiful ways we can be sustainable through STEAM concepts. By looking at art and finding a way to create art sustainably can start a long term partnership between art and science. I love how colorful this book is and the wide range of topics it covers.

This book is a colorful and eye catching way to inform young readers about how art can both hurt and help the environment. There were many real life examples of how people are changing the world with recycling and up cycling materials and using art to help both plants and animals. There were also suggestions for kids on little things they can do to contribute.

The use of second person pronouns in the beginning is distracting from the authoritative tone of the text, making it sound approachable but perhaps unreliable. There was an unexpected heavy focus on the text over the artwork with a layout that made it come across like a textbook. I'm confused about the focus of this book. Is it about conversation? Art? The mixture of cartoon drawings with photography was unbalanced and I would have preferred more relevant photos to the art described on the page with bigger features rather than a text-heavy focus.
That being said, the text was very informative and seemingly accurate. It was interesting to read!