Monday, March 9, 2009

Monday's green books series: The Adventures of Nick the Ecologist and his Robot O-Zone (and a giveaway!)

Can a story about disappearing trees be both educational and fun? Well, with a robot named O-Zone that is traveling in the galaxy with his friend Nick in a solar powered spacecraft called the Gazoom everything is possible!

Our book for today is:

The Adventures of Nick the Ecologist and his Robot O-Zone: The Mystery of the Missing Trees

Author: Kevin J. Villeneuve

Kevin J. Villeneuve has been writing short stories since the age of 10. His passion for writing short adventure stories led him to the creation of Nick and O-Zone's universe at a very young age. Villeneuve is currently working on the second and third books of the adventure series, where once again, the dynamic duo will fight evil throughout the universe in their ultimate goal to preserve the environment. Villeneuve lives in Ottawa, Canada.

Publisher: iUniverse - Indigo

Published on: October 2007

Reading level: Ages 7-11

What it is about (from Amazon.com):
Nick and his best buddy, O-Zone the Robot, are both junior ecologists learning all about the delicate balance between living things and their environment on Earth. But Nick and O-Zone are also able to explore any galaxy they want through the amazing Gazoom, a solar-powered spaceship invented by Nick’s father.

Nick and O-Zone put their talents to use when they join the Galactic Science Squad, a secret team of astronauts and ecologists working to neutralize interplanetary evil forces. Far across the Universe, trees are suddenly disappearing from Planet Bark at an alarming rate, and Nick and O-Zone have only three days to solve the mystery before all the trees are gone forever. The daring duo must outsmart a group of no-good grown-ups, find the culprits behind the malicious plot, and return safely back to Earth before O-Zone’s power runs out!

Follow the adventurers to the end as they fight an intergalactic battle for the sake of all planets—and the future of children and robots everywhere.

Why you should get it:
1. Somehow I never got connected to adventure stories with robots and other sci-fi characteristics, but O-Zone is a different story. My age is not between 7-11, but I really enjoyed the story and found myself following the adventures of Nick and O-Zone the robot with great interest, not to mention my interest with the subject of the mystery - the disappearance of trees..

2. This book is both educational and entertaining and it's also an adventure with an environmental theme - can you ask for more?

3. The book is filled with great illustrations that complete the text beautifully and helps you for example to envision how a happy robot looks like.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!
We are giving away our review copy of the book, and of course a tree will be planted for the copy. It will also come with our sticker (made of recycled paper) saying "One tree planted for this book."

How you can win? please add a comment below with an answer the following question: if you had a robot like O-zone and it could help you with one environmental issue you're having, what would it be? Submissions are accepted until Sunday, March 15, 12PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day.

If you're looking for other interesting green-themed books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant a tree for every book you read!

6 comments:

Heather said...

I would use the robot to follow my kids around and make sure they are not wasting water!

KR said...

I'd have him follow each students in my classroom for a day and report back to me!

Anonymous said...

Save our coral reefs!

treflea4 at gmail dot com

Abby said...

I would love the robot to show all my friends and family how easy recycling really is!

ajcmeyer AT go DOT com

ms.clark said...

I would have him come up with a way to further reduce the amount of garbage and trash we produce.

Unknown said...

I would have to say helping me separate my waste - telling me about additional things I could be recycling.