MARIO and the Hole in the Sky written and well-researched by Elizabeth Rusch and illustrated by Teresa Martinez is a lively picture book biography about Mario Molina, the chemist who helped solve the Earth’s ozone crisis.
The story starts when Mario, who was born in Mexico in 1943, shows an early interest in science. The first double page illustration delightfully depicts a bored eight-year old who at his own birthday party plays with his telescope rather than with the other children. He was curious, smart and completely taken with looking at all manner of things through his telescope. He even convinced his parents to turn a spare bathroom into his very own laboratory.
The illustration depicting his experiments at a boarding school in Switzerland is full of his joy for chemistry. By the time he left for college he began to worry whether chemicals such as CFC, used in refrigerators, spray cans, insulation and air conditioners, could be harmful once released into the air. Later, his experiments with F. Sherwood Rowland at the University of California, Irvine found that CFC, or Freon, would destroy the ozone layer that protected the Earth from deadly solar radiation. He went on television, he spoke in front of Congress and laid out his case at a conference in Montreal, Canada concerning the destruction of the ozone layer. In fact, a hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic had already been discovered by a British scientist. Over 190 countries signed the Montreal Protocol to stop producing CFCs. The hole will be totally healed by 2070.
There is a useful Timeline about Mario Molina’s life and an Epilogue about his work regarding climate change at the back of the book.
MARIO and the Hole in the Sky written by Elizabeth Rusch and illustrated by Teresa Martinez is a well told story also available in Spanish for readers 6-9 years of age (Charlesbridge, 2019).
The Children’s Bookshelf is a production of WCMU. A link to the podcast and activity questions can be found at Children’s Bookshelf dot org.
Activity questions for MARIO and the Hole in the Sky
At a very young age Mario became interested in looking at everything through his telescope. What are you super interested in? Think about it. Could it be drawing, model-making, collecting stamps, gathering and labelling shells, building structures, designing cars or collecting recipes? Now, design a room in which you can develop your interest. What would it look like? Would it need bookshelves or a kitchen or a drawing table or a perhaps a desk? Also, give your room a name for the door.
Have you ever tried to tell people something only to have them not listen to you just as Mario experienced when he tried to warn people about the hole in the ozone layer? If so, write a paragraph describing how it made you feel when you were ignored?
At the back of the book the author has included a list of things we all can do to combat another threat to the Earth, namely, global warming. Take a look at the list. Are you doing any of these things? Can you add something to this list? Have you ever recycled anything so as to make a new and useful item out of it?
