Celebrate our Earth with Kids!

This Earth Day, we want to help our readers feel more empowered than ever before to make our homes, communities, and planet a better, brighter place—today and every day. Here you will find books filled with interesting facts, fun and engaging stories about animals, plants, and conservation for Earth Day and beyond.

Nature's treasures

Hoare, Ben, author.

508 /Hoare

Nature is bursting with objects that are beautiful, useful, and intriguing. But where do they come from-- and what are they for? Hoare helps readers discover natural objects that have amazing tales to tell. From a delicate bird's feather to a glittering rock from space, readers will marvel at minerals forged through time, ingenious structures made by nature, and remarkable features that help animals and plants to survive and thrive. -- adapted from back cover

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Nature’s Treasures takes you on a tour of our planet through incredible objects made by nature itself. Objects are shown with truly stunning photography and colorful illustrations to help explain the science behind them. The lively descriptions explore the remarkable tales of each item, and all are packed with fascinating information. It’s the perfect first book about nature for inquisitive children ages 7 and up who love to spot things when exploring outside and want to know more about nature.
- Angie

Ducks overboard! : a true story of plastic in our oceans

Motum, Markus, author, illustrator.

jE Motum

Inspired by a real incident, this look at the pollution crisis in our oceans follows one of the ducks as it is washed away on ocean currents, encountering plastic-endangered whales and sea turtles and passing through the giant floating island of marine debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A picture book with an ultimately hopeful message about environmental issues and the state of our oceans. An end map documents the widely scattered journey of the real-life plastic ducks, showing where they have been found, as well as facts about the ways plastic is affecting various parts of the world.

If you take away the otter

Buhrman-Deever, Susannah, 1978- author.

jE Buhrman-Deever

On the Pacific Coast of North America, sea otters play, dive, and hunt for sea urchins, crabs, abalone, and fish in the lush kelp forests beneath the waves. But there was a time when people hunted the otters almost to extinction. Without sea otters to eat them, an army of hungry sea urchins grew and destroyed entire kelp forests. Fish and other animals that depended on the kelp were lost, too. But when people protected the sea otters with new laws, their numbers began to recover, and so did the kelp forests. The author offers an account of a trophic cascade, which happens when the removal of a single element affects an entire habitat.--Amazon.com.

Butterfly for a king : saving Hawaiʻi's Kamehameha butterflies

Roth, Susan L., author, illustrator.

j595.789 Roth

"A combined history of the Hawaiian islands and the native Kamehameha butterfly up to and including current-day efforts of Hawaiʻi's Pulelehua Project, a group of professional and citizen scientists working to restore the butterfly's declining habitats and population. An Afterword with additional information, photographs, and source list is included"--

Crossings : extraordinary structures for extraordinary animals

Duffield, Katy, author.

jE Duffield

"A non-fiction exploration of animal crossings built by animal lovers around the world to help animals cross over, under, around, and through human construction"--

The bat book

Milner, Charlotte, author, illustrator.

j599.4 Milner

Take an amazing journey through the upside-down world of bats with Charlotte Milner's The Bat Book. Bright, bold, and beautiful illustrations accompany fascinating facts about these furry flying mammals and their importance to the world we live in. From the way they fly, to how they communicate with each other, how they hunt, and why they sleep upside-down, each of the world's 1,300 types of bat is unique and utterly fascinating. Bats are also incredibly important to the environment. As well as gobbling up pests, and spreading seeds through the forests, they also pollinate over 500 different species of plants throughout the world, including some of our favorite fruits such as mangoes and bananas. Following on from The Bee Book and The Sea Book, Charlotte Milner continues to highlight important ecological issues faced by our planet to children, this time focusing on the world's only flying mammals. The Bat Book is perfect to teach little animal-lovers all about these clever creatures who do so much for our planet. Discover how much they matter, why they are declining, and what we can do to help. This charming celebration of bats shows children just how extraordinary these animals are, and is a reminder that it is up to us to care for our planet and its creatures.

We are water protectors

Carole Lindstrom

jE Lindstro
Picture Books, Kids

Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all... When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption.

Our house is on fire : Greta Thunberg's call to save the planet

Jeanette Winter

jE Winter
Kids, Picture Books

Tells the story of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish teenage climate activist who has sparked a worldwide student movement and is demanding action from world leaders who refuse to address climate change.

Saving Sorya : Chang and the sun bear

Nguyen, Trang, 1990- author, translator.

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Nguyen

"A young conservationist overcomes the odds to return a sun bear to its natural habitat"--Provided by publisher.

Baby loves green energy!

Ruth Spiro

jBOARD BOOK Spiro
Board Books, Kids

"Accurate enough to satisfy an expert, yet simple enough for baby, this clever board book explores the science of global warming and shows how we can use green energy to help combat climate change."--

The earth book

Todd Parr

jE Parr
Picture Books, Kids

Simple text and illustrations show how children can help protect the Earth.

Sydney & Simon : go green!

Paul A. Reynolds

jREADER Reynolds, Paul A.
Kids, Early Chapter Books

After discovering that a green sea turtle was harmed by plastic in the ocean, twin mice Sydney and Simon come up with a creative campaign to increase recycling and reduce the amount of trash created in their home, school, and town.

Forests

French, Jess, author.

j333.75 French

"Do you want to make a difference and help change the world? If the answer's yes then this book is for you! Turn the pages and discover everything you need to know about deforestation and the ways we can tackle it. From scientists and conservationists helping to protect forest creatures, to tech inventions like robot tree-planters, this book helps children aged 8 and up to discover the incredible solutions to deforestation that are being worked on around the world right now. Readers can begin by exploring different forest types around the world, discovering what makes each of them precious and unique, before taking a look at the causes, effects and solutions to deforestation. The final section explores what readers can do to help. Filled with guides, tips and lessons in how to use your voice and change your habits, these pages help readers learn how they can make a difference"--

Rocket says clean up!

Nathan Bryon

jE Bryon
Kids, Picture Books

While visiting her grandparents, who run whale-watching tours in Jamaica, Rocket sees first-hand how plastic is harming ocean creatures, and organizes a crew to clean up the local beach.

Our earth : how kids are saving the planet

Wilson, Janet, 1952-

j363.7 Wilson

Profiles twelve children who have had an impact on the environment, from a Canadian girl who gave a major speech to a Malawian boy who brought electicity to his village and a Chinese boy who works to keep endangered animals from the market.