The Last Plastic Straw

November 1, 2022
Sometimes you just have to suck it up. If you imagine drinking straws are a modern innovation, think again. This timely exploration of an environmental problem informs readers about the long history of the slender tube many beverage drinkers take for granted. Straws actually date back more than five millennia to ancient Sumer. When Sumerians needed to find a way to filter out thick substances from their home-brewed beverages, they ingeniously used thin, hollow reeds, enabling them to imbibe only liquids. Over the centuries, other civilizations developed similar drinking tubes made from various plants and other items, including straw, from which the implement we now use derived its name. In the late 19th century in Washington, D.C., Marvin Stone invented and patented the paper straw. In the late 1930s, another American, Joseph Friedman, developed and patented the "bendy straw," which was sold after World War II ended. In the 1950s, straws began to be manufactured from plastic; by the following decade, they were ubiquitous, ultimately contributing to environmental disaster. In direct, well-written prose, the author makes starkly clear how "single-use plastics," such as straws, water bottles, and plastic bags, harm the Earth, oceans, and sea creatures and offers easy, sensible, responsible solutions that everyone can adopt to help the planet while not having to abandon straws entirely. The bold digital illustrations are eye-catching and inventive and maintain high reader interest. Racial diversity is depicted throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An important topic gets a very appealing treatment. (author's note, sources, index) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

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Starred review from January 1, 2023
A fascinating history of straws morphs into a call to action. The first two-thirds of Romito's friendly text traces drinking tubes from the ancient Sumerian innovation of drinking beverages using a hollow reed, through many changes in materials and shapes over time, up to the development of the mass-produced plastic drinking straw we know today. Chen's crisp digital illustrations rely on vignettes to showcase the variety of materials tried, the beverages they were designed for, and the people who used them. The straws themselves are front-and-center in the illustrations, giving readers an insightful glimpse into how something familiar has changed over centuries. After the introduction of the plastic straw in the 1960s, Romito moves the focus to the effect of single-use plastics on the environment and a gradual shift in public opinion, with straightforward text identifying alternative materials (and their limitations for medical usage) and emphasizing actions young people can take. An author's note provides more context; a list of sources offers opportunities "to learn more about plastics and their effect on the environment." Laura Koenig

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2023
A fascinating history of straws morphs into a call to action. The first two-thirds of Romito's friendly text traces drinking tubes from the ancient Sumerian innovation of drinking beverages using a hollow reed, through many changes in materials and shapes over time, up to the development of the mass-produced plastic drinking straw we know today. Chen's crisp digital illustrations rely on vignettes to showcase the variety of materials tried, the beverages they were designed for, and the people who used them. The straws themselves are front-and-center in the illustrations, giving readers an insightful glimpse into how something familiar has changed over centuries. After the introduction of the plastic straw in the 1960s, Romito moves the focus to the effect of single-use plastics on the environment and a gradual shift in public opinion, with straightforward text identifying alternative materials (and their limitations for medical usage) and emphasizing actions young people can take. An author's note provides more context; a list of sources offers opportunities "to learn more about plastics and their effect on the environment." Laura Koenig

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

April 3, 2023
A breezy overview of drinking straw history builds to a conservation-minded message about the need to reduce single-use plastics in this fascinating and accessible picture book, part of the new Books for a Better Earth series. Opening, Romito frames straws as tools responding to specific problems, beginning with reed drinking straws in ancient Sumer and tracing the development of paper and bendy iterations. The introduction of plastic varieties provides a segue to the way these objects—now ubiquitous “forever” trash—have generated a new problem. Romito offers a ready solution, pointing to the real-world activism of the child behind the “Be Straw Free” campaign while acknowledging situations in which plastic may be necessary. Chen’s digital renderings of people of varying skin tones using straws across time have an informative, static quality that emphasizes the historical dimensions of their subject; a single real-life photo of microplastic reinforces the need for action. An author’s note concludes. Ages 6–9.

January 1, 2023
A fascinating history of straws morphs into a call to action. The first two-thirds of Romito's friendly text traces drinking tubes from the ancient Sumerian innovation of drinking beverages using a hollow reed, through many changes in materials and shapes over time, up to the development of the mass-produced plastic drinking straw we know today. Chen's crisp digital illustrations rely on vignettes to showcase the variety of materials tried, the beverages they were designed for, and the people who used them. The straws themselves are front-and-center in the illustrations, giving readers an insightful glimpse into how something familiar has changed over centuries. After the introduction of the plastic straw in the 1960s, Romito moves the focus to the effect of single-use plastics on the environment and a gradual shift in public opinion, with straightforward text identifying alternative materials (and their limitations for medical usage) and emphasizing actions young people can take. An author's note provides more context; a list of sources offers opportunities "to learn more about plastics and their effect on the environment."

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)