"Just a Dream"-Chris Van Allsburg

This is a fantasy/science fiction book. A boy named Walter spent most of his life not caring about the environment or where he threw his trash. One day he saw his neighbor planting a tree that she got for her birthday and he told her that was so dumb to want a tree for your birthday. Walter had always dream of the future and how there would be robots to take his trash out. That night Walter dreamed of the future, just not the future he imagined. During his dream Walter sees mounds of trash on the street he grew up on. Boats overjoyed by catching one small fish. He also saw a hotel on Mt. Everest and highways all over the place. This was not the future keep telling himself, there are no robots and no flying space ships. Walter finally wakes back up in his room and realizes that was the future unless he does something about it. So Walter goes outside to sort the trash and pick up his liter, he even asks for a tree on his birthday. The next night he dreams of the future and he is lying in between his tree and his neighbor’s tree, then he says “now this is a good future.”
This is a great book for students to read and they are really interested in because of the fantasy aspect of the book. This book can be used for so many lessons on the environment. I would have the students discuss how they help the environment, what do they do to keep our future looking as wonderful as Walter see’s at the end of the book.