Gr 5-8-This young readers' version of the recent documentary film's companion adult volume cuts the page count by about a third but preserves the original's cogent message and many of its striking visuals. After explaining that his interest in the environment predates even his mother's reading of Silent Spring aloud to him as a teenager, Gore proceeds to document steeply rising carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere, and then to link that to accelerating changes in temperature and precipitation patterns worldwide. Using easy-to-grasp graphics and revealing before-and-after photos, he shows how glaciers and ice shelves are disappearing all over the globe with alarming speed, pointing to profound climate changes and increased danger from rising sea levels in the near future. O'Connor rephrases Gore's arguments in briefer, simpler language without compromising their flow, plainly intending to disturb readers rather than frighten them. He writes measured, matter-of-fact prose, letting facts and trends speak for themselves-but, suggesting that "what happens locally has worldwide consequences," he closes with the assertion that we will all have to "change the way we live our lives." Like the film, this title may leave readers to look elsewhere for both documentation and for specific plans of action, but as an appeal to reason it's as polished and persuasive as it can be.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Much as Eric Schlosser revised his Fast Food Nation findings into the child-centered Chew on This, Gore produces a new edition of An Inconvenient Truth, "adapted for a new generation." "Earth is sometimes called the Goldilocks planet-neither too hot like Venus with its thick poisonous atmosphere nor too cold like Mars," Gore writes, then delivers resounding evidence that things are no longer just right. Captioned color photos compare thriving coral to bleached reefs-victims of rising ocean temperatures and pollution-and place images of former glaciers side-by-side with today's snowless plains or lakes. Where some images celebrate astronauts' views of the Earth from space, others show a refuse dump in Mexico City and Tokyo's astonishing urban sprawl; one startling snapshot shows dull brown, clearcut land in Haiti ("98 percent of their forests have been cut down") abutting the still-green, forested Dominican Republic. Although lighter on textual explication of climate change, this children's text hews closely to the original and to Gore's famous slide show; that said, the urgency of conservation fails to come across in the pedestrian prose, which might fail to inspire its audience. For all his subject's vital importance, Gore provides just two brief pages on ways to "Take Action." Readers will want to browse the amazing pictures, but will have to look elsewhere for ideas on making a difference. Ages 11-up. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

In this youth-focused adaptation of Gore's 2006 adult book and Oscar-winning documentary, Gore and O'Connor (credited as "adaptor") distill the material, creating an eye-opening story that targets kids' concerns. Gone are the political passages that begin with phrases such as "During the Clinton-Gore years . . ." The language is basic-- vector in the adult book becomes "life forms that can carry"--and offers clear definitions of such terms as greenhouse gases and persuasive, accessible arguments for how the climate crisis has developed and what can be done to address it. The sturdy pages are filled with color photographs and charts, and the images are riveting. Like the pictures, the personal stories bring the facts close, and in addition to the urgent science, Gore's book shows how mentors can change lives. In his moving introduction, Gore speaks about how reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring \b0 (1962) when he was 14 years old shocked him into environmental awareness, which developed further during his studies with pioneering scientist Dr. Roger Revelle at Harvard. Gore's research continues to raise controversy, but few, if any, books for youth offer such a dynamic look at the climate issues threatening our planet. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2007 Booklist