Celebrate Earth Day Today With These 10 Books!
Milk and Juice: A Recycling Romance
When Milk and Juice first find one another, it is love at first sight, but that love is tested as Juice is sent to be recycled. Over and over, Milk and Juice look for one another as they are continuously turned into new containers until they find one another in the most unexpected of places.
Written and illustrated by Meredith Crandall Brown
Reading Age: 4-8 years
Zonia’s Rain Forest
Written and illustrated by Jauna Martinez-Neal
A little girl moves through her home in the Amazon rainforest, greeting the animals as she travels, until she is stopped by an unexpected clearing caused by deforestation.
Reading Age: 4-8 years
We Are Water Protectors
Written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade
Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal, this beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of a black snake threatening to destroy the Earth and the young water protector who stands beside her people to stop it.
Reading Age: 3-6 years
Miss Rumphius
Written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney
Telling the tale of Miss Rumphius, this book follows her through her childhood, and her journey to make the world more beautiful. Along the coast of Maine, her legacy can still be found in the beautiful lupine flowers that bloom where she once walked.
Reading Age: 3-8 years
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
Written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon
When empty plastic bags begin to overfill Isatou Ceesay’s home of Njau, Gambia, she takes a stand by creating something beautiful out of the discarded garbage.
Reading Age: 5-9 years
The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever
Written by H. Joseph Hopkins and illustrated by Jill McElmurry
Learn about the true story of a young woman who changes her dry, barren town of San Diego by creating a movement to plant trees, and ended up turning her new home into a green-filled town.
Reading Age: 4-8 years
Outside In
Written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Cindy Derby
Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Honor, explore the ways that the outside comes inside and impacts our lives in this vibrant and beautiful picture book.
Reading Age: 4-8 years
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
Written and illustrated by Lynne Cherry
Exhausted from his efforts to cut down a massive kapok tree, a man takes his rest, and while he sleeps the animals of the forest whisper to him about the importance of trees, and nature.
Reading Age: 4-8 years
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya
Written by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Read about Wangari Muta Maathai who was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement in 1977. The Green Belt Movement sought to combat deforestation, soil erosion, and environmental degradation. More than 30 million trees have been planted in Kenya due to Mama Miti’s efforts and the organization she created.
Reading Age: 4-8 years
The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng
Written by Sophia Gholz and illustrated by Kayla Harren
Learn about the inspiring story of Jadav Payeng who witnessed the destruction caused by deforestation and decided to take a stand against the damage before it ruined his island home.
Reading Age: 5-8 years