To paraphrase Greta Thunberg, we’re never too small to make a difference. As Time magazine’s youngest person of the year and a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, she’s one of the most inspiring young activists of our time, and a potent reminder that it’s important for human beings of all ages to champion sustainability.
There are numerous creative ways to nurture a love of the environment in children, from establishing good recycling habits, caretaking vegetable patch projects at a young age, to teaching the art of map reading and enjoying shared wildlife spotting adventures.
A 2019 Smart Energy GB study found that 77 per cent of children and young people describe climate change as their top concern. And a survey of more than 1000 eight to 16 year olds revealed that 68 per cent of them believe global warming is set to have an extreme impact on the planet.
The beauty of books? These thought-provoking titles tackle environmental issues in a way that may help address the underlying anxiety kids may feel about their future.
Baby books (birth to 2 years)
The Earth Book
Todd Parr is a best-selling American children’s author and illustrator known for happy illustrations drawn in simple black outlines with bright, bold colours. His books overflow with positive messages and are enjoyed by millions of children (and their reading assistants) all over the world.
The Earth Book takes a lighthearted, loving look at the true meaning of conservation and protecting our environment, picture book-style, with a novelty earth cut-out front cover.
It is, of course, printed on recycled materials, with the added touch of non-toxic soy inks used to pen thoughtful suggestions to use both sides of the paper, repurpose creatively, and plant new trees whenever (and anywhere!) you can.
If you’re a new parent setting up baby’s first library, this book should absolutely be on the list.
Big Ideas for Little Environmentalists
Big Ideas for Little Environmentalists is a set of board books “perfect for little hands and big hearts”. The overarching theme is caring for our planet and everyone who lives here, with a focus on featuring high-profile environmental activists and their work. Writer Maureen McQuerry has written four books in total: Ecosystems with Rachel Carson, Restoration with Wangari Maathai, Preservation with Aldo Leopold, and Conservation with Jane Goodall.
Each book is illustrated by Robin Rosenthal and shares the story of the eponymous hero and how they turned their childhood passions into the activism we celebrate them for today. For little kids, it’s an important reminder that they have the potential to create meaningful change – a powerful message to have on high rotation from birth.
What Do You See?
No baby book library is complete without a lift-the-flap book and author Stephen Krensky‘s ticks the baby-friendly rhyming box too, with melodic clues encouraging young minds to guess which endangered species is hiding under each flap.
Krensky was a kid with a vivid imagination. He finally breathed life into his stories in his 20s, by putting 90 of them down on paper throughout his career. What Do You See? gently teaches the next generation that conservation is how we secure a safe and happy home for everyone. It’s also printed on 100 per cent recycled material, so it’s as eco-friendly as it is engaging.
Toddler books (3 to 5 years)
Charlie and Lola: We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers
Their adorable tv show may have ended in 2008 but the legacy of ever-curious and imaginative Lola and her kind and infinitely patient older brother Charlie lives on through author Lauren Child’s books.
For this adventure, Charlie helps Lola recycle old toys rather than sending them to landfill. That characteristic curiosity leads Lola to a recycling competition where she’s challenged to recycle 100 items in two weeks.
Inspired by the chance to plant her own tree, Lola gets her classmates involved for a heartwarming story that’s ultimately about how much more we can change when we work together.
The book is printed on FSC-approved paper and includes recycling tips and a replica of Lola’s tree poster, so readers can create their own recycling project and play their part – just like Lola.
Life in the Ocean
This story of oceanographer Sylvia Earle takes our tiny activists underwater. Author Claire Nivola, who also wrote Planting the Trees of Kenya (a picture book about Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai), introduces the book with her own inspiring note to young readers.
The book is a love letter to the ocean, as readers explore the deep blue sea alongside this modern-day mermaid and scientist – an activist and oceanographer who fell in love with the water as a child.
Sylvia Earle now spends her days swimming with the whales, deep-water walking, designing submersibles, and spreading the word about protecting “the blue heart of the planet”.
Compost Stew
Author Mary McKenna Siddals‘ words and Ashley Wolff’s vibrant collage-style illustrations are the perfect recipe for an educational compost stew of fruit scraps, food waste, coffee grounds and rhyming life lessons about how making small changes at home has an impactful ripple effect across the planet.
There’s a compostable item for every letter of the alphabet, which is winning format for this age group. Plus, a note at the end about what not to compost which is a handy go-to for parents too.
The book’s a fun way to get readers of all ages into preparing food, as well as composting the scraps, making it a great gift for little ones with grown-ups who are looking to start their composting journey.
What Does It Mean to be Green?
As the title suggests, author Rana DiOrio’s picture book is a great place to start an environmental conversation with kids. Chris Blair’s illustrations of the lighthearted guessing game around whether the answer to this question is green skin, green thumbs, or anything else green make for a colourful story that explores how we “live green” through the choices we make every day.
It’s an empowering book for kids, letting them take the lead on their part of the puzzle. Simple ideas encourage them to see their everyday tasks with fresh eyes and question the why and the how and the impact for the planet.
School age books (6 to 8 years)
The Everything Kids’ Environment Book
If you want to give kids a manual they can make their own author Sheri Amsel’s book is for you. The premise is that every choice we make – food, sport, clothes, transport, travel – impacts the planet. This means we need to make smart choices, and The Everything Kids’ Environment Book has all the information necessary to do just that.
If you’re a grown up unsure of how to explain issues like extinction or the importance of the rainforest, this book has the language and resources to help guide the conversation.
Marty McGuire Digs Worms
New York Times-bestselling author Kate Messner invites young readers into Marty McGuire’s third-grade class for yet another adventure with her beloved nature-loving character. This time for a special assignment: to save the earth. Marty has an idea good to go and she’s confident that recruiting the worms in her grandma’s garden to turn garbage from the school cafeteria into fertiliser is the winning formula.
Illustrator (and also author of other children’s books) Brian Floca has fun with an escaping worms fiasco and, as well as the environmental lessons, the whole story is a subtle life lesson in how we handle ourselves when things don’t go to plan.
Follow the Moon Home: A Tale of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles
An inspiring story of environmental activism, written by an acclaimed environmental activist. Author Philippe Cousteau Jr. makes magic with Deborah Hopkinson through this story of the big impact even small people can make as Viv leads her new classmates on a mission to save local sea turtles.
Philippe is the grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, co-inventor the first successful Aqua-Lung, and the son of French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director, environmental cinematographer, and his namesake, Philippe Cousteau. Philippe co-founded EarthEcho International to “empower youth to take action that protects and restores our water planet”.
Pre-teen books (9 to 12 years)
The Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Ecology for Kids
Tempt pre-teens away from screens and into a world of science experiments, inspired by ecologists of the past paving the way for ecologists of the future.
This is a truly interactive workbook, digging into Eunice Newton Foote’s carbon dioxide traps and Rachel Carson’s pond and lake water clarity tests.
As well as the knowledge from these fun experiments, it’s the gift that keeps giving, leaving kids with 25 aspirational new role models – half of them women.
Ecology for Kids is the fifth book in author Liz Lee Heinecke’s The Kitchen Pantry Scientist series.
How to Speak Dolphin
Author Ginny Rorby’s inclusive book tackles tough questions about the ethics of animals in captivity in the context of autism and the emotional support animals can offer.
Further reading: The best alternative pets for people with disability
Lily loves her brother Adam, but feels the impact of his autism diagnosis on her ability to make new friends or hang out after school. When he bonds with a local dolphin things start looking up, but should a dolphin spend the rest of her life in captivity and away from her own family to keep Lily’s happy?
Ginny’s a Schneider Family Book Award winner and she describes this book as “perfect for readers looking for a book about animals in captivity or tweens making a difference”.
Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet
Author Harriet Rohmer’s ode to unsung heroes eschews the popular icons we’re familiar with and instead pays tribute to 12 people working hard to do amazing things for the environment. Most of them are notably young and stories range from a teenage girl who figured out how to rid Ohio River of industrial pollutants, to a popular local Mexican wrestler gently protecting turtles and whales.
Real stories tackling real environmental stories and backed up with the question ‘how can you get involved?’
Teenager books (13+ years)
Dry
Neal and Jarrod Shusterman’s dystopian futuristic novel about life after severe drought is the perfect way to connect teenagers with the potential effects of climate change and environmental damage.
Dry tells the story of a drought — referred to as the Tap-Out. Life revolves around water, or the lack of it, and is a series of rules around what people can and can’t do in order to preserve it. Until the day it runs out and the streets become a war zone.
Hot tip: it’s been sold to Paramount as a major motion picture.
Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions Around The World
If the teenager in your life prefers to keep it real, they’ll immediately connect with this collection of 30 stories about brave young heroes and activists, both famous and lesser known.
11-year-old Tilly saved lives in Thailand with her clever knowledge of tsunami warning signs. 10-year-old Jean-Dominic won a battle against carcinogenic pesticides during his cancer battle. Six-year-old Ryan raised $800,000 to drill water wells in Africa. And 12-year-old Haruka invented a new environmentally friendly way to scoop dog poop.
Author Garth Sundem has done the research to show that, if they dig deep and live courageously, any child can be a hero, including the reader.
How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other
As the title suggests, Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff have written a book that focuses on the human element of environmental chaos. The nature of these issues raises some very real questions for our teenagers, around mental health, kindness, compassion, community, responsibility and accountability.
Other texts focus on fighting the good fight by making changes and doing our bit to stem the causes of environmental issues. This book focuses in the power of community and more humane motivation for doing the right thing – to protect each other and to protect our future.
“It shows us that this moment of danger is also a moment of great opportunity – an opportunity to change everything.”
Books can be such powerful instruments of positive change. When we teach kids about the environment, we nurture a love of nature and the outdoors that can shape the young adults they’re growing into. If we want environmental education to be more than just sharing facts and figures about what’s happening in the world, we need books, art and music, to create the full, vibrant picture.
Our choice of books matters from day one and when we get it right we pave the way for smart, informed conversations, critical thinking, and the well-rounded, considerate young change-makers of tomorrow.
