Learning from dolls.

A fun, creative approach to environmentally friendly architecture is what you'll find in Green Dollhouse, edited by Fred McLennan, Jill Boone and Jason E McLennan (Ecotone Publishing, $19.95). This colorful, unique book celebrates the fascinating ideas of the winning contestants to the 2005 Green Dollhouse Project competition, which was a national event sponsored by Sustainable San Mateo County in California. Each dollhouse depicts an actual scale-model home designed with sustainable features.

The book profiles selected dollhouses, with lots of close-up images, and includes instructions and lessons so readers can explore green building ideas on their own. Green Dollhouse also shows you how to take various materials from around the house and turn them into a lovely, vibrant model. For example, turn a spray bottle or baking tin into a miniature bathtub, or turn a shell and day into a bathroom sink. Reuse, energy and water efficiency and use of nontoxic materials are some of the many sustainable practices adopted by the creators of these dollhouses, making the ultimate goal the idea of a "green home" more acceptable and viable to the real world. The youngest contestant profiled is a sixth grader who built a colorful dollhouse called "The Patchwork Home" which includes three different types of renewable energy: wind, solar and hydropower.