By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: March 31, 2010
Earth Day will be upon us soon, April 22, 2010. It’s a great day to place emphasis on environmental awareness and to explore new-and-improved solutions for being “green” the other 364 days of the year. Many children’s book authors are embracing this topic with enthusiasm and dedication, producing some eye-opening and encouraging literature for kids of all ages—some of the books even manage to arouse the “green” within us grown-ups.
For the youngest set, reading books that feature trees and plants is a great way to raise their level of awareness of the world that surrounds them. As their awareness grows, books that introduce ideas on taking care of the planet through gardening, recycling, and water conservation are a natural progression. As readers mature, they will be much more able to grasp and digest the concept of global warming. With all of these topics in mind, the following books, no matter how simple or complex, have been selected to motivate the earth-conscious spirit within all of us.
- Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Ages 2-6)
- Wonders of Nature (Little Golden Book) by Jane Werner Watson (Ages 2-5)
- Tess’s Tree by Jess M. Brallier (Ages 4-7)
- Here Comes the Garbage Barge! by Jonah Winter (Ages 4-8)
- The Inside Tree by Linda Smith (Ages 4-8)
- We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow (Ages 5-8)
- The Smash! Smash! Truck by Aidan Potts (Ages 5-8)
- Global Warming by Seymour Simon (Ages 5-9)
- The Magic School Bus And The Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole (Ages 7-10)
- EcoMazes: 12 Earth Adventures by Roxie Munro (Ages 7 and up)
- Nature Girl by Jane Kelley (Ages 8-12)
- The Solar Car Book: A Complete Build-It-Yourself Kit (Klutz) (Ages 8 and up)
- Good Growing: A Kid’s Guide to Green Gardening (Klutz) (Ages 8 and up)
Check out our Environment and Ecology Category!
Leave us a comment: What’s your favorite book for raising environmentally aware children? Do you have any good tips for going green?
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3 Comments
Thank you for this resource. Your readers might also be interested in Bag in the Wind, written by Ted Kooser and illustrated by Barry Root. It is a thought-provoking story about an empty plastic bag. Although still usable, it has been discarded. It is subsequently unearthed at a landfill and is blown back into a world of plants, animals and people.
Beautifully written and illustrated, Bag in the Wind is a picture book that will challenge older readers to think about ways to reuse resources.
Best suited to children in elementary school.
Thanks for sharing. It sounds like a neat concept for a book.
A great picture book has just been released this summer called “Harriet’s Home at Sea”. It’s a super powerful tale of a young girl who saves the day after an oil spill devastates the shores of her home! Check out the website to take a look at the illustrations in the book at:
evelyn-wang.com