There’s no pulling punches with kids. They can tell when grown-ups are sugarcoating things, and honestly, we haven’t exactly landed on any great G-rated versions of the climate crisis. In poring over a slew of beautiful, recently released books that aim to engage youngsters with the natural world, we were most drawn to those reads that managed to distill global heating and other eco hot-button topics into simple, impactful prose while also providing laughs and visual delights. It’s a tall order, but we landed on 16 titles that equip kids with the truth they really seek.
Especially in light of American culture’s current tendencies toward knowledge sabotage—evidenced in the rise of book bans, education defunding, and the demonization of environmental activism—we know many parents and stewards of youths who are hungry for frank, educative reads. They want books that can help kids see that they’re a vital part of nature and empower them to work toward solutions while reacquainting their caretakers with Mother Nature’s endless and infinite supply of marvels and wonder.
We Share This Earth: A Community Book by Dan Saks
Penguin Young Readers, ages 1–3
How to engage the youngest of readers in environmental concepts? This heartfelt little board book uses sweet, easy-flowing rhymes to show tots just how big, diverse, and interconnected our home planet is, helping to develop empathy and collective responsibility. Illustrations depict communities across 12 countries, inviting young readers to connect across borders, become curious about other cultures, and feel a larger sense of kinship.
When Water Flows by Aida Salazar
Penguin Young Readers, ages 1–3
Mexican Indigenous wisdom takes center stage in this latest installment of Salazar’s lush, lyrical series (we also adored When Moon Blooms and When Sun Rises). With vibrant, mystical art, and a few Spanish words interwoven throughout, this big-hearted board book shows babes that by feeding, cleansing, and healing all living things, water is, well, the interconnective and sustaining force of life.
When Tree Became a Tree by Rob Hodgson
Penguin Young Readers, ages 3–5
Any youngin who’s ever enjoyed playing in the woods will eat up this tale of an upbeat apple seed who becomes a seedling, then grows into the charming protagonist. “Tree” feeds herself through photosynthesis, interacts with her surrounding forest, and otherwise narrates her own life cycle in 11 short chapters. Text bubbles sprinkled throughout her forest and mycelial networks imbue this sweet story with even more wit and whimsy. The science is rigorous, yet this long-form board book is toddler-tested and toddler-beloved.
The Night Before Earth Day by Natasha Wing
Penguin Young Readers, ages 3–5
How to introduce the concept of Earth Day with Christmas-grade fervor? The Night Before Earth Day bursts with colorful art and follows a diverse cast of community gardeners as they plan and execute a butterfly release. Told in the classic, easy-to-follow style of Clement C. Moore’s iconic holiday poem, this quick, exuberant read will get visions of butterflies flapping in even the sleepiest and crankiest of heads.
A Cup of Quiet by Nikki Grimes
Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing, ages 3–6
This tranquil bedtime treat provides a meditative, sensory experience for kids and their grown-up readers too. Our narrator initially scoffs when her grandmother invites her to share “a cup of quiet” and fidgets when Grandma hands her a pretend cup. But she eventually leans into her senses and intuits how to collect sounds for her tired grandma, ultimately offering up a long, slow sip of a bee’s buzz, a leaf’s crackle, and raindrops tap dancing. Illustrator Cathy Ann Johnson’s illustrations are as lush as Grimes’s prose is arresting.
Worm Makes a Sandwich by Brianne Farley
Penguin Young Readers, ages 3–7
Starring fungi, fossils, poop, live bugs, dead bugs, garbage, and the unexpectedly charismatic narrator that is a self-deprecating worm, Worm Makes a Sandwich might be a tot’s perfect introduction to the ins and outs of composting. Kids and silly-goose adults alike will dig Farley’s funny spot art, which depicts garbage-gobbling critters, magnified images of microbes, soil, and the glorious sandwich ingredients that result. While delightfully silly, this book is also slyly instructive.
An Earth-Bot’s Solution to Plastic Pollution by Russell Ayto
Kids Can Press, ages 4–7
Junior video game aficionados might identify with this narrator. Neo lives by the ocean, but he’s too busy gaming to notice all its plastic pollution—that is, until a stream of quirky aquatic visitors help him see that the aliens on his screen are no match for the dangerous invasion taking place right outside his door. This snappy, offbeat read never makes light of the issue yet is somehow loads of fun (think Ready Player One for kids). Brimming with silly, one-of-a-kind illos, it also offers strong messaging around the power of teamwork as well as concrete suggestions for how picture-book readers can indeed become part of the plastic pollution solution.
Safe Crossing by Kari Percival
Chronicle Books, ages 3–8
Distinctively inquisitive and fiercely motivating, Safe Crossing is the story of a girl who becomes an amphibian crossing guard. When the narrator learns that new road development in her community is endangering frogs and salamanders as they undergo a crucial springtime pilgrimage from their native woods to the vernal pools where they’ll mate, she arms herself with amphibian habitat knowledge and rolls up her sleeves. A pat victory story this is not—young readers are privy to the ins and outs of how our young citizen scientist presents her proposal for a wildlife tunnel to City Council, coordinating with stakeholders including a herpetologist, roadway engineer, surveyor, contractors, reporters, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Transportation. The result is a fascinating glimpse into how local government works and how youth concern can catalyze real social change.
Bless the Earth: A Collection of Poetry for Children to Celebrate and Care for Our World by June Cotner and Nancy Tupper Ling
PRH Publishing, ages 3–8
It’s fitting that Earth Month coincides with National Poetry Month. After all, who’s inspired more poetic fervor than Mother Earth? For a chef’s kiss of an April bedtime celebration, check out Bless the Earth. Filled with a range of sweet and accessible original poems—as well as classics from the likes of Langston Hughes, Aileen Fisher, and Joyce Carol Oates—this is the kind of book that poetic, nature-appreciating kids will want to page through again and again. And a full section is devoted to environmental action! It’s an anthology perfect for spring, when flowers are budding and we’re reminded once more of the grounding, medicinal magic that can be found in the present moment.
How to Explain Climate Science to a Grown-Up by Ruth Spiro
Charlesbridge Press, ages 4–8
A newly released tongue-in-cheek read addresses the question that is the elephant in the room that is this roundup of kid climate books: What the heck, adults?! This book engages kid readers in some sad facts of life, like “some grown-ups think weather is the same as climate” and that learning about climate change can be “a little scary.” Cathartically, Spiro’s narrator starts by waxing nostalgic about his “why” phase, back when he still believed his grown-ups had all the answers. The playful prose encourages observation, introduces young readers to the scientific method, and acknowledges much of what they’ll come up against—but includes plenty of reassuring information about how we can repair the planet.
Looking After Our Planet by Katie Daynes
Usborne, ages 5–8
This punchily designed experience starts with the straight dope: “Earth is our only home, but we’re not doing a very good job of looking after it.” Through vignettes revealed via dozens of flaps kids can lift, Looking After Our Planet offers pithy yet comprehensive explanations of our home planet’s most pressing problems (fossil fuels, deforestation, and so on) along with plenty of actionable tips and facts (for instance, that we rely on plants for 40 percent of medicines). Rather than overwhelming readers with its breadth, the book deftly ties topics together, revealing that most solutions boil down to similar values (simply being mindful of other creatures and plants, using less, and exercising awareness of our carbon footprints without beating ourselves up). Ultimately, it leaves kid and grown-up readers feeling that a better future, overall, is doable. Truly empowering stuff.
Finding Home: Amazing Places Animals Live by Mike Unwin
Bloomsbury Children’s Publishing, ages 5-8
Offering more fresh and startlingly beautiful portraits of animal life, Finding Home introduces readers to 20 different animal habitats ranging from polar bear dens deep beneath the Arctic snow to eagles’ treetop (and car-size) nests, all of which “fit together like jigsaw pieces to make up Planet Earth.” Illustrator Jenni Desmond renders each species’ home with breathtaking realism (almost all these animals’ eyes carry Mona Lisa magic), and grown-ups will pick up plenty of trivia too. Did you know three-toed sloths give birth upside down, or that a given beaver’s lodge features specialized quarters for sleeping, feeding, and nursing? Wild.
21 Things to Do With a Tree by Jane Wilsher
Quarto, ages 5+
There’s nothing like learning something you’re glad to know while reading to a youngster. This delightful activity book is jam-packed with genuinely surprising tree trivia—did you know “susurrate” can be defined as the “whispering sound of wind dancing in tree branches,” or that Lapland hosts an annual Tree Hugging World Championship? As advertised, 21 Things is also chock-full of accessible, mostly zero-cost activities—like making bark rubbings, “swapping gases” (taking deep breaths alongside oxygen-emitting trees), guesstimating arboreal ages, playing “tree tag,” and making “forest pictures,” “leaf banners,” or other ephemeral artwork from twigs, leaves, and stones. By highlighting the reciprocal relationship we share with trees (even dead ones), this pretty read boosts gratitude for and kinship with nature. It also encourages budding artists—“Does your tree have a floppy hairdo?”—and arms adventurous tykes with safe-tree-climbing tips.
Mimic Makers by Kristen Nordstrom
Charlesbridge Press, ages 7–10
This book masterfully introduces kids to a concept sure to set their imaginations caterwauling: biomimicry. Nature, after all, has already mastered the best designs. And Mimic Makers shows that simply by paying its details close attention, everyone from architects to engineers to zoologists can unlock ingenious inspiration. While illustrator Paul Boston’s bold, contemporary aesthetic couldn’t be more appealing, there’s much more to this book than its good looks. In introducing 10 real-life mimic makers—like the engineer who shapes the nose of his train like a kingfisher’s beak and the inventor who designs a bottle to collect morning dew for clean drinking water (thanks to his muse, the Namibian beetle’s butt)—and their unique journeys to that eureka moment, Nordstrom reveals the power of noticing patterns, asking questions, and being unafraid to fail. Whether your kid is currently digging in the dirt or building a robot, this book will fire up the mind and make just about anything feel possible. And it’s all thanks to nature.
The Strangest Thing in the Sea and Other Curious Creatures of the Deep by Rachel Poliquin
Kids Can Press, ages 7–10
How to intrigue those with more of a spooky penchant? The Strangest Thing strikes a great Halloweeny vibe in its exploration of 12 bizarre sea animals. Via an interactive question-and-answer approach and surreal-looking gatefolds—illustrator Byron Eggenschwiler’s work conjures Edward Gorey (and would probably impress Tim Burton too)—kids can manually unveil quirky intel about gothic underwater oddities such as the goblin shark and vampire squid. With its otherworldly feel and deliciously eerie prose (the pygmy seahorse, for instance, describes her home as “covered in candy balls”), this read is bound to pique curiosity and encourage further inquiry into the life sciences.
The World’s Most Marvelous Ridiculous Animals by Philip Bunting
Quarto, ages 7-10
This book also harnesses kid humor masterfully, using absurd animal facts to inspire wonder, and respect, for evolutionary adaptation. Did you know that manatees sport a built-in “fart fan,” or that burrowing owls create dens out of poop to attract their fave snack (dung beetles)? Part of Bunting’s Quirky Animals series (fans of this 80-page tome should also check out The World’s Most Pointless Animals and The World’s Most Atrocious Animals), this meaty read is as witty and fun as it is scientifically rigorous. It also serves as a powerful reminder that it takes all types to survive and thrive—and might even remind young readers that they, too, are pretty marvelous (if marvelously ridiculous) in their own particular ways.