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 Book Recommendations February 24, 2005 6:03 AM

Feel free to list your favorite childrens books that teach love and respect for the earth and her creatures.

Here are a few of my favorites.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky message from Chief Seattle, paintings by Susan Jeffers
Grover's 10 terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful World.  by Anna Ross (Sesame Street)
The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (anymore) by Stan and Jan Berenstain.
Barbapapa's Ark Annette Tison and Talus Taylor
Imagine by John Lennon, illustrated by Lynn Lancaster-Poh and Tilman Reitzle
Keepers of the Earth - Native American Stories & Environmental Activities for Children  by Michael J. Caduto & Joseph Bruchac
Eco Art by Laurie Carlson- Earth friendly arts and crafts experience.
Dear Children of the Earth: Remember by Schim Schimmel




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books February 24, 2005 4:13 PM

Right now one of my daughter's favorite stories in The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers. She has been calling out to the forest, talking to the root children, waiting for them to come out for spring. It is a simple story of nature and the change of seasons with the most beautiful illustrations. It was originally published in 1906 !! We also love the books by Elsa Beskow. Children of the Forest, Peter in Blueberry Land, and The Flowers Festival are the ones that we have. All of these books show a magical world were children live with the animals, trees, and flowers in the beautiful world around them.  [ send green star]  [ accepted]
 
 February 26, 2005 6:09 AM

Renee,  thanks for your book suggestions! These sound wonderful i will have to look for them.
  One of our favorites right now is the Barbapapa's Ark.  The copy i have is actually mine from childhood.
    In the story the world becomes polluted and the animals become sick and so the barbapapa family (similar to the schmoo)  Build a space ark and take all the animal away to a new planet.  The people all miss the animals, so they begin cleaning up the earth.  planting trees, recycling..turning it green again. 
   It's a really lovely story for younger children.  It was one of my favorites as a child.
 
i really love the Giving tree too, but i can't read it without getting all weepy. i have a soft heart.
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books February 26, 2005 9:14 AM

I love The Giving Tree also. Even though it is pretty sad. My mom, actually step-mom, got it for us when we were little. I don't know what happened to that copy but she bought it again recently for my daughters. I agree that The Great Kapok Tree is another great one. The ones I mentioned in my first post may not have a particularily strong educational message, but I think they help children develop a special relationship with the natural world around them. And that will help teach them to love and respect the earth and to appreciate the beauty and wonder of it all.  [ send green star]  [ accepted]
 
 March 03, 2005 5:44 AM

i just came across another book at the library book sale that i had to list.

The Berenstain Bears: Grow-It! Mother Nature Has Such a Green Thumb.
by Stan and Jan Berenstain.
  Very cute book, along the top half of the pages is a regular Berenstain bears story, where the kids learn about growing plants.  Along the bottom of the page is all kinds of information about the importance of plants, ecosystems and do-it-yourself activities for growing your own veggies. 

Renee, i totally agree that books that show the natural world as being alive and help children identify with it and develop a special relationship are super important.  It is so important for children to understand that everything in nature serves a purpose, the tree produces oxygen and is home to bird and bugs and maybe even a squirrel or two.  i love books that create a magical world showing that animals and plants really are alive.  Have you seen the movie FernGully?  This is great cartoon showing the importance of nature and damage that can be done by polluting and clear cutting forests.  Maybe a little scary for younger kids.  Still has a great message.
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book recommendations March 16, 2005 6:27 PM

I have 2 that we are currently reading about 2x a day at least! The first is
All In The Woodland Early- An ABC Book written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Jane Breshkin Zalben and the other is Mother Earth written by Nancy Luenn and illustrated by Neil Waldman. I got both of these from Amazon. Both are just great!!!

Sarah
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books March 19, 2005 2:52 PM

Amelia and I found a pretty cool book at the library called The Forgotten Forest by Laurence Anholt. It's pretty short which helps when we read it 10x a day It's actually a Sierra Club Book. Amelia loves it, check it out.

~Jess~

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 April 01, 2005 3:41 PM

i just came across a couple of great books at our local Goodwill.

They are both by the Author Frank Asch. The first one is called The Earth and I. The illustrations in this one are wonderful! The is a simple story about a boy and his relationship with the earth.
The second one is called Moon dance. It's another great story about a bear who wants to dance with the moon. He danced and he danced and he danced.
These are both simple stories, probably best for preschoolers and early readers.

i just looked up the Author and came across his site, with a list of all his books and info. He seems to have a lot of nature based books. The site is www.frankasch.com  [ send green star]
 
 April 01, 2005 9:10 PM

Some of the best books I've found come from a publishing company called Barefoot Books (they have a website of the same name). Everything I've seen from them is wonderful, good stories and great illistrations.There mission statement is nature and world culture friendly.

The first book I found was called Herb, The Vegetarian Dragon. Now I've added a couple collections of stories as well. I have such fun buying books for my son I have to stop myself but I'm looking forward to when he is a little older and buying a collection they have of mother and son stories.

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A couple of our favorites June 09, 2005 1:19 AM

My daughter is into Saving Samantha: A True Story, by Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen. The chronicle of how this couple saved a young fox who had been caught in a trap tresspassers had placed on their land.

A favorite of mine is, All I See is Part of Me, by Chara M. Curtis. A simple story of connectedness to the universe, and wonderful illustrations.

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anonymous Two June 14, 2006 12:44 PM

WHO REALLY KILLED COCK ROBIN by Jean Craighead George (for older readers) and Dr. Seuss' THE LORAX are two important books to me.George, Jean Craighead  [report anonymous abuse]  [ accepted]
 
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