The Soda Bottle School: A True Story of Recycling, Teamwork, and One Crazy Idea

*2016 EUREKA SILVER*

*2016 LIVING NOW AWARD, Books for Better Living*

*RIF Multicultural Collection*

*Skipping Stones Honor Book*

*CBC Recommended Reading*

*Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize for Sustainable Literature*

In a Guatemalan village, students squished into their tiny schoolhouse, two grades to a classroom. The villagers had tried expanding the school, but the money ran out before the project was finished. No money meant no wall materials, and that meant no more room for the students. Until one boy got a wonderful, crazy idea. The idea not only solved both problems, but also inspired others. 

Why not use soda bottles, which were scattered all around, to form the cores of the walls? Never underestimate the power of an idea!

Laura Kutner, the real-life “Seno Laura” in The Soda Bottle School, wrote this book because she wanted to “inspire young readers to believe in themselves and work together to make the world a better place, and have fun at the same time.”

Sometimes thinking outside the box—or inside the bottle—leads to the perfect solution.