Earth Day is April 22, and this year’s theme is “Our Power, Our Planet,” asking everyone to take action to protect our planet right now. The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970, and now events are celebrated nationwide. These five children’s books celebrate nature and invite children to notice and fall in love with the planet and every living thing on it. They’re perfect reads for Earth Day and beyond.
History Smashers: Earth Day and the Environment by Kate MessnerThe 10th book in the History Smashers nonfiction middle grade series not only describes how Earth Day began, but also the centuries of environmental activists who predated it, and the activists who have followed. Using a combination of illustrations, comic strips, and photographs, Messner’s approach is both accessible and comprehensive. I especially enjoy the emphasis on how BIPOC communities have been disproportionately affected by environmental issues. It’s an excellent nonfiction read for ages 8+, both in and out of the classroom. |
Black Beach: A Community, an Oil Spill, and the Origin of Earth Day by Shaunna & John Stith & Maribel LechugaPicture book readers wanting to learn more about the origins of Earth Day should read Black Beach, a fictionalized account of the events leading up to Earth Day. Young Sam and her class are devastated watching their parents and community try to clean up after an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara. It feels like no one cares about environmental disasters like this, but then people outside their community take notice, including Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day. Back matter includes a timeline and more details about how Earth Day came to be. |
Wilder Child by Nicolette Sowder & Myo YimThis picture book is a simple, lyrical ode to nature-loving children, the “glorious mess makers” that play in the rain, watch worms and spiderlings with wonder, and climb trees and rocks and anything else they can find. It’s also a call to action, for the wild children will become wild adults who understand why it’s so vital to protect the environment, and will call on others to do the same. The illustrations are gorgeous: warm, joyful, and inviting. |
We Leap Together by Christopher Silas NealMany of Christopher Silas Neal’s picture books celebrate nature, but his newest takes a unique approach by showing the interconnectedness between human and animal life, encouraging empathy and imagination. Neal depicts two mothers and two children in side-by-side illustrations: one human, and the other a humpback whale. The whale and human children both pass busy lanes (of fish and cars), dive deep (in water and underground to a subway), and, always, stay close to their mamas. Their parallel lives converge in the end. The writing is sparse yet poetic, and the blue-toned illustrations expressive. It’s a very neat picture book. |
Bird Nerd by Jennifer Ann RichterThis sweet middle grade novel shows that even city kids can love and appreciate nature. Nyla loves birding, and can hardly keep her cool when her teacher announces the class’s next big project: a birding competition with a suburban school, The City Birders vs The Burb Birders. Whoever spots the most birds wins, but Nyla, a Philly girl, is worried about her class’s chances. How can they compete with kids surrounded by nature, when her class is surrounded by concrete? |
Here are some additional book lists for nature kids!
- Children’s books about hiking
- Even more Earth Day kidlit
- Books for the budding naturalist
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
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Source : Celebrating Our Planet: Children’s Books for Earth Day
