Even the littlest ones can help save the planet
By Luisa LaFleur, The Children’s Book Review
Published: October 7, 2009
Environmental awareness is on the rise and kids are taking notice. In school and on TV the calls to “reduce, reuse and recycle” are growing and there’s an increasingly large body of literature that purports to teach kids and parents how to save the planet.
OK Go: Carin Berger
Rickie The Raccoon Learns About Recycling: Giovanna Lagana
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 31, 2009
Rickie The Raccoon Learns About Recycling
Reading Level: 4+
Paperback: 36 pages
Publisher: Tabby Cat Press (June 28, 2009)
What to expect: Environmental Issues, Recycling, Raccoon, Cat
So you’re looking for a book to help teach and encourage your children to recycle? Perhaps you’re looking for a couple of tips to help improve your own “green power”? Rickie The Raccoon Learns About Recycling is an independently published book dedicated “… to every parent and child out there who is taking, or wants to take, the initiative step to help stop Global Warming.” With a simple story and additional tips and resources at the back of the book, children will be inspired and encouraged to learn this new task of recycling. The message of “how to” recycle is delivered loud and clear for readers of all ages, by fictitious characters that help to lighten up the learning experience. Reading this book can only add to the excitement that comes from taking care of our beautiful earth.
Publisher’s synopsis: Rickie the Raccoon thinks that a world full of rubbish would be a great place to live in – he would never be hungry again. It falls to his streetwise friend, Carmen the Cat, to teach Rickie the error of his thinking and the importance of recycling. The book also includes resource pages so that parents and their children can learn more about protecting the environment and saving energy together.
Add this book to your collection: Rickie The Raccoon Learns About Recycling
You may also enjoy: The Curios Garden by Peter Brown
For more information: http://www.giovannalagana.com/Rickie&Carmen.htm
Adventures of Riley: Amanda Lumry & Laura Hurwitz
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 7, 2009
The wonderful Adventures of Riley series is a smooth combination of fiction and non-fiction that is perfect for curious minds, young or old. Riley, who is perhaps 8- or 10-years-old, visits unique locations around the world with extended family members: Uncle Max, Aunt Martha, and his cousin Alice. At the beginning of each book Riley receives a letter from his Uncle Max; a scientist that studies animals, their habitats, and the environmental issues that impact them. The letter is always an invitation to study a particular animal and experience a different culture or way of living — an adventure that most young boys would jump at the chance for!
Like all good series, Amanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz follow a great format. For each story, they combine a believable fictitious story-line with real scientific facts. The likable characters are a wonderful medium to share and create a learning experience for the reader. Every book contains fascinating fact boxes, a glossary of terms, additional information at the back of the book, and a smart blend of illustration and “real-life” photography. The intelligent layout of this series means that it can be read and enjoyed by children with varied reading skills: younger readers can enjoy the adventure with a simple reading of the story with out being overwhelmed by too many facts, while older readers can enjoy the full experience with all of the additional facts and information. The books can be read over-and-over again and you’ll learn something new each time. This is a series that can only have admirable impact on our children.
Fun, educational, and environmentally aware — a must for all schools
and libraries, including your home library!
Below you will find the publisher’s synopsis of Riddle of the Reef, the latest edition to the series, and a few others:
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (July 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Journey to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with Riley and his family as they see what’s up down under! Large areas of the coral reef are dying and they need to find out why. Joined by world-renowned marine artist and conservationist, Wyland, the crew faces giant starfish, great white sharks, and even poachers in their search for answers.
Add this book to your collection: Riddle of the Reef
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (May 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Riley, Cousin Alice, Aunt Martha, and Uncle Max visit the Australian Outback where they research the local koala population, which has scattered and shrunk due to increased drought, brush fires, and farming in the Outback. While staying at a working sheep station, they see kangaroos, a platypus, Ayers Rock, and much more. Riley becomes an official Jackaroo (Australian cowboy) and helps save the sheep from a wild dingo, but can he find a way to save the koalas and the Outback?
Add this book to your collection: Outback Odyssey
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (April 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Riley journeys to the Terai Arc region of India and Nepal in search of the elusive Bengal tiger. Riley’s research leads to exciting encounters with some weird and wild indigenous animals (an Asian rhino, a king cobra, langur monkeys and more!) as well as a better understanding of the local culture.
Add this book to your collection: Tigers in Terai
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (February 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Riley travels to the South Pacific island of Moorea with his Uncle Max, Aunt Martha, and Cousin Alice. Their mission is to study spinner dolphins while basking in the warmth and charm of Polynesian culture. However, things take a turn for the worse when several dolphins become trapped in a local lagoon! Riley holds the key to their survival, but between surfing lessons and close encounters with humpback whales, will he realize it in time?
Add this book to your collection: Dolphins in Danger
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (July 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: It’s “Panda-monium” in China when a rare giant panda mysteriously disappears from the world’s largest panda reserve! Riley and family must face remote mountain forests, snow leopards, red pandas, and more in their desperate search for clues. When disaster strikes, Riley must act fast to save the day, and the missing panda.
Add this book to your collection: Project Panda
by Amanda Lumry (Author and Photographer), Laura Hurwitz (Author)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 2009)
Publisher’s synopsis: Are the penguins of Antarctica getting their fill of krill, or has climate change reshaped the Antarctic food web? Riley joins Uncle Max on a voyage to the South Pole to find out! Home to whales, seals, penguins, and 90% of the world’s ice, Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. Will Riley be trapped by the fierce Antarctic winds? It’s an adventure like no other as Riley learns valuable lessons about survival and cooperation.
Add this book to your collection: South pole Penguins
Project Mortimer: Inspired by Karma Wilson
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: May 29, 2009
Hopefully you had the opportunity to read my review of Mortimer’s First Garden by Karma Wilson. Mortimer’s tale inspired me to do a little gardening with my 3-year-old — we planted some sunflower seeds.
Day One
Two Months Later
At the time of my review, I included this excerpt from the book not realizing that these words would actually save our little sunflowers:
In the morning Mortimer woke up to…
pitter, patter, pat, pat.
“Rain!” groaned Mortimer. Out in his garden he found…
brown, soggy dirt.
Mortimer stomped his paw. “Nothing! I knew the miracle wouldn’t happen.”
“I’m going to dig my seed back up and eat it!” Mortimer said. But then he stopped. “Maybe some miracles need more time.”
He looked up at the sky, and down to his seed. “Please grow and turn green,” he said.
Well, almost two months had gone past and we had seen no sign of anything green. We told ourselves maybe some miracles need more time. But how much more time? The instructions said we would see seedlings in around 10 days. So … we dug our seeds back up. To our amazement our seedlings were growing, they were just growing in the wrong direction. They had turned themselves upside down. We gently straightened them, packed the soil back around them, and gave them plenty of water for a couple of days. Now they are healthy and growing UP!
Photo Credit: Bianca Schulze
Now growing too tall for their little pot, we replanted our seedlings into the garden. We also gave them names: George and Martha. Grow George and Martha, grow! We promise to give you lots of water, and I know that you will see plenty of sun, so that you can blossom into beautiful bright-yellow flowers.
Photo Credit: Bianca Schulze
Earth Day, 2009
By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 22, 2009
Get your green on with Graeme Base. Uno’s Garden and The Waterhole are perfect reads for Earth Day. The illustrations are amazing and captivating. Click here to see more books suitable for our younger “green” generation.
by Graeme Base
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers (September 1, 2006)
Publisher’s synopsis: Art + Arithmetic + Environmental Awareness=Graeme Base’s latest masterpiece
From the creator of the international best-sellers Animalia, The Water Hole, and Jungle Drums
Once again, beloved author Graeme Base introduces readers to a new world. And again, he interweaves the story with hidden images and mathematical problems (and solutions!), creating a book that can be read over and over, and at different levels for different ages.
When Uno arrives in the forest one beautiful day, there are many fascinating and extraordinary animals there to greet him—and one entirely unexceptional Snortlepig. Uno loves the forest so much, he decides to live there. But, in time, a little village grows up around his house. Then a town, then a city . . . and soon Uno realizes that the animals and plants have begun to disappear.
Uno’s Garden is a moving and timely tale about how we all unknowingly affect the environment around us, just by being there—and how we can always learn from our mistakes and find ways of doing things better. It’s an illuminating blend of storybook, puzzle book, and math book.
by Graeme Base
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 1, 2001)
Publisher’s synopsis: In the tradition of his best-selling alphabet book, Animalia, author and illustrator Graeme Base takes young readers on an exhilarating journey of discovery with an ingenious fusion of counting book, puzzle book, storybook, and art book. From the plains of Africa and the jungles of the Amazon to the woodlands of North America and the deserts of outback Australia, the animals come together to drink from the water hole. But their water supply is diminishing. What’s going on? Each sumptuous landscape illustration conceals hidden animal pictures for readers to find as they count the animals that visit the water hole and try to solve the mystery: will the animals come back or is their water source gone forever?
Earth Day Book Picks, 2009
Earth Day, April 22, is a wonderful opportunity to bring awareness of our world and the environment to our children. In preparation for this great day, I have selected some newly released books that I believe will help spread the word about ways in which we can work together to make our world a better place.
by Thom Wiley (author), Kate Endle (illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 3 – 8
Paperback: 16 pages
Publisher: Cartwheel Books (April 1, 2009)
BIG EARTH, Little Me had me at the cover. The title is a great representation of what is inside, the illustrations are “earthy”, and the words printed with soy ink bring home the message that this truly is an earth conscience book.
The text is loud and clear:
Reading level: Ages 3 – 8
Paperback:
Publisher: Freckle box
Jennifer Saves the Planet, and Maya, or anybody for that matter, because this book comes personalized from www.frecklebox.com. If ever there was a book that could encourage your child to take action in “saving the planet”, this is it. What child can resist a book in which they have the leading role? I know my daughter can’t. We received a copy of this book about a week ago, Maya Saves the Planet, and it has been read every single day, at her request. The very young will enjoy hearing the sound of their name. Children a little bit older and recognizing the letters of their name will be astonished by the clever images — every page contains your child’s name. Early readers will be excited to read their own name, and will undoubtedly enjoy this environmental rhyming treat.
just do what Maya did…
Make changes in your habits
and be a real live super kid!
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press (February 1, 2009)
I can’t resist saying that this charming book titled Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring Earth to Life is heart-warming! Who knew that learning about how life works, including photosynthesis, could be so moving. The authors, Bang and Chisholm, have created this book with the purpose of bringing attention to the cycle of life and how everything and everyone is connected — “unity of all life”. The simplicity in which they explain this cycle makes the book a great introduction for little scientists and harvests an awareness that every child should be exposed to. I would go as far as saying that all elementary and middle school classrooms should have this book shelved for easy access. I’m impressed and I haven’t even mentioned that this book was printed on paper containing 55% recycled content and 25% post-consumer waste.
Inside front cover jacket:
we would have no oxygen.
Without plants,
we would have no food.
Without plants,
we could not live.
Without plants,
there would be no life on Earth.
Read this book –
and find out why.
For more environmentally aware books check out our Environment & Ecology: Earth conscience category.
What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?: A Green Activity Book About Reuse: Anna Alter
By Amanda Lynch, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 6, 2009
What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? An Activity Book About Reuse
By Anna Alter
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (March 31, 2009)
April, as mentioned earlier, is National Poetry Month. It is also Earth Month, which is why I was excited to find that What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? contained tips on how to recycle objects around the house, as well as a cute poem featuring a different animal character at the start of each activity. Has your favorite shirt gotten too raggedy? Ben the Badger turns his into a pillow! Accidentally tear down a shower curtain? Fred the Gator turns his into an art smock! And who among us hasn’t experienced the plight of poor Jack the Bunny:
it was damp,
it was done–
a mere ghost of a blanket
made pale from the sun.
The fabric had worn,
a soft gauze to the touch.
Jack gave it a squeeze
for he loved it so much.
Unlike some craft books which contain activities that are a bit daunting, these are all simple and fun. Some do require the help of an adult, which is a great way to get the whole family involved in recycling. At the end of the book is a list of tips for recycling, all of which are kid-friendly. The last activity struck a chord with me as well: it suggests socially conscious ways of recycling “too many toys” by donating them.
Anna Alter is an art teacher, and was inspired to write this book based on her experiences with too much waste in the classroom. Her book is a great way to introduce young children to recycling and reusing!
Bird, Butterfly, Eel: James Prosek
by James Prosek
Reading level: Ages 6 – 10
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing (February 24, 2009)
What to expect: Monarch Butterfly — Migration, Butterflies — Migration, Birds — Migration, Eels — Migration, Fiction
Another glorious book by James Prosek. Bird, Butterfly, Eel is an inspiring story of the change of seasons and the journey animals must take as the weather changes. Between the masterful watercolor illustrations and lilting text, I floated my way from beginning to end without even realizing that I was learning some very interesting facts. James’ intentions of introducing young readers to the basic elements of bird, fish, and insect migration, are delivered in a beautifully clear manner that will undoubtedly appeal to its audience — it reads like a well-done documentary. Satisfaction guaranteed for all nature and animal lovers.
Link: Listen to the NPR story, Creative Spaces: James Prosek’s Studio
Spring Pick: Mortimer’s First Graden by Karma Wilson
Mortimer’s First Garden
by Karma Wilson (Author), Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (February 24, 2009)
What to expect: Gardening and Mice
Don’t you just love the smell of Spring? I do. Every house I stroll pass on my morning walk for preschool drop-off is landscaped with different flowers. Almost every step and breath allows me to inhale a different and intoxicating bouquet, all of them sending me into a zen-like-state so that I almost don’t notice any snotty noses, leg clinging, or tearful goodbyes. By the time I reach home again, I am reminded that I may just be spending a little too much time on my computer, and not enough time in my garden. Where are all the flowers?!
So you will be happy to know that today, after reading Mortimer’s First Garden to my three-year-old, we planted our first flower seeds together, sunflower seeds to be exact. You see, Mortimer is a mouse who is tired of the winter and the “brownness” it brings. But desperate to see something green, when he overhears some children planning to plant some seeds, Mortimer decides to plant his very last sunflower seed. He plants, waters, and weeds until a wonderful story of patience, God’s help, and the miracle of nature unfolds. Dan Andreasen’s use of color in the illustrations creates a warming effect in all of the right places, and Karma Wilson’s smooth bestselling writing skills (I hope you have had the opportunity to read Bear Snores On) make this a good choice for spring.
Excerpt from the book:
In the morning Mortimer woke up to…
pitter, patter, pat, pat.
“Rain!” groaned Mortimer. Out in his garden he found…
brown, soggy dirt.
Mortimer stomped his paw. “Nothing! I knew the miracle wouldn’t happen.”
“I’m going to dig my seed back up and eat it!” Mortimer said. But then he stopped. “Maybe some miracles need more time.”
He looked up at the sky, and down to his seed. “Please grow and turn green,” he said.
Activity: I highly recommend the activity of planting seeds to gain the full effect of this book — perhaps try it in the classroom. I’ll keep you updated with photographs of what I am officially calling “Project Mortimer”.
Day One
The seed is best sown in March-April. Push the seeds into the compost to about half the compost depth and gently firm down. Put the pot on a small saucer, cover with a clear plastic bag and keep in a warm place out of strong sun. Keep the compost moist at all times.
I hope you will share pictures and updates with us of your own “Project Mortimer”. Or maybe you just want to share some other spring story-time activities with us?
Add this book to your collection: Mortimer’s First Garden
Link: Journal Now has a fun little list of some other spring time books.
