Keep Out!

Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children, views empathy and results-based action as keys in getting young people involved in philanthropic works. In a recent interview in CAA magazine, Kielburger said that youth are often confronted with “issues, but they don’t actually know how to express themselves.” The authors of

Keep Out!; The Good Garden: How One Family Went From Hunger to Having Enough; Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet and Yes You Can! Your Guide to Becoming an Activist help youngsters develop and express empathy, and show how they can act in age-appropriate ways to change their environment, either locally or globally. Keep Out! is an easy-to-read eco-adventure / mystery for Grades 4 to 6, the only fictional title of these four books, and the only one set exclusively in Canada. Twins André and Lucas are care-free bike and surf-loving boys. Their park warden mother engages her sons’ help to build an exclosure to keep invaders away from nesting piping plovers on the beach of Prince Edward Island National Park. Where they once saw cool waves for body-boarding, the boys come to learn about the importance of a peaceful beach environment for rare shore birds. When trespassers damage an unprotected piping plover nest, the boys take action. They piece together clues and successfully track down the enviro-offenders who must then face the wrath of Warden Hainey. The pleasant pencil illustrations by Diane Lucas give a good visual presentation of the characters and their actions. The book could have been extended with ideas for “Find Out More” section or a “You Can Help” section. This is Hélène Boudreau’s second middle-grade novel and it is a good way to help emerging readers understand the fragility of the parks they may play in and, by example, urges readers to protect special places in their areas.

As brothers André and Lucas help their mom, a park warden, protect piping plovers’ nests, they discover that someone has been sneaking onto the beach. When a nest is destroyed, the boys must do some detective work to help their mom find the culprit.