Green Living, Guest Blogger
Guest Post: Great Green Reads for Little Minds
To celebrate Earth Day today, I thought I’d share some excellent children’s books our family has read lately so you can try to make every day Earth Day in your household (we all know how little ones like to hear a story over and over again…).
We don’t often buy books, as we take regular trips to the library near our house, are lucky to often receive new books as gifts, and our boys have two grandmothers who keep them regularly stocked with amazing literary finds from second-hand stores. But recently I realized I had an unused gift card kicking around in my wallet. One day earlier this spring I escaped for a bit of rare “me-time,” and headed to Chapters downtown, sans enfants. I scored several charming books for toddlers and preschoolers that I thought my two little green stars might like. Perhaps yours will, too.
1) Why Should I Protect Nature? by Jen Green, illustrated by Mike Gordon (Barron’s Educational Series)
I bought this for my youngest son, age 2, but my four-year-old liked it too. It introduces the concept that we can harm, or help, the environment by what we do via the simple story of a little boy who used to think nature was pesky (bees) or creepy (slimy snails), but then went on a class trip where he looked in tidal pools and had a picnic in the park and learned the consequences of cutting down trees, killing all of the bees, and littering the landscape. The book’s focus is on the joys of nature, such as the salty smell of the sea, and splashing in puddles, and simple things kids can do to protect it: planting flowers for bees and butterflies to feed on, cleaning up litter and planting trees. The illustrations are colourful and cute and at the end of the book there is a guide for parents on how to read the book and activities to do afterwards.
2) Ready-to-Read Earth Day by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Mike Gordon (Aladdin Paperbacks)
This book is actually for older kids learning how to read (my two aren’t at that stage yet) and so the text is very very simple. But what attracted me to it was the message: that even small steps—things a child can do at home—can make a difference in protecting the planet. Plus, the illustrations (by the same illustrator as Why Should I Protect Nature?) are lovely. Emma’s class is getting ready for Earth Day and Emma feels intimidated by the ideas of her classmates: planting a forest, saving the dolphins etc. “I cannot save the earth,” she says to her dad. “I don’t have any big ideas.” So Emma’s dad encourages her to start small and in the week leading up to Earth Day they shop at a farmer’s market, sort the recycling, turn the water off while brushing their teeth, etc. On Earth Day she shares her list of small ideas with her class, and her teacher pronounced: “Emma’s small ideas are pretty big.” Indeed.
3) The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle by Nuria Roca, illustrated by Rosa M. Curto (Barron’s Educational Series)
This one was my favourite, and my four-year-old really liked it too. Aimed at preschoolers and up, it was too long and complex for my two-year-old, although he liked the charming illustrations. It basically explains the three R’s, with lots of examples about how they work and why they are important. But it was the details that fascinated Kai: where garbage trucks take garbage, what happens when they run out of room, what an incinerator does and why no one wants to live near one, how to make recycled paper. Along the way, Paul, the protagonist, learns lots of tips on how to conserve water and electricity, reduce garbage, make compost, sort the recyclables, and dispose of used batteries. This book engages with some interactivity: every few pages it will ask the reader to guess how many objects on the page can be used over and over again, etc. Plus, at the back of the book there are some fun activity pages where kids and parents can follow instructions to make a birdhouse from an empty milk carton, and a notebook from scrap paper.
All three books are under $9. Unfortunately, unlike some others I saw at the bookstore, none of these are printed on recycled paper. But if you read and enjoy them and then pass them on, at least they’ll get reused!
Happy Earth Day everyone!
~Nancy
Nancy DeHart is a journalist and mother of two boys under four. She and her husband own Kai Kids, a Canadian online boutique specializing in ethically-made, eco-friendly clothing and accessories for babies, toddlers, new moms and moms-to-be at kaikids.com. She also writes a blog on her adventures in green parenting at blog.kaikids.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/greenmum.
Tags: Ages 1 to 2, Ages 3 to 5, Books, Eco Living
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