Earth Day 2023 Reading List for Kids
There is an amazing range of books for kids that celebrate the natural world and encourage environmental stewardship. Here are 8 new Canadian titles to foster a love and respect for the natural world, as shared on CTV Your Morning on Friday, April 14th.
Picture Books, Ages 3-7
Kids love identifying and finding patterns. Wings, Waves & Webs introduces kids to common patterns found in nature using a pair of large, bold images that share that pattern. For example, what do a sunflower seed and a skunk have in common? Stripes! Each spread is accompanied by a a sentence or two containing factual information. This is a great book for young children.
April is also poetry month, and Super Small is a collection of poems and mini comics featuring 14 ‘miniature marvels of the natural world.’ Even the most dedicated aspiring zoologist will find something new here, and the combo of rhyming verse and comics is unusual and engaging.
Water Love is dedicated to and based on the authors’ personal experiences with the North Preston Surf Program, which is an organization in Nova Scotia dedicated to increasing the participation of Black and Indigenous people in surfing and water sports. In this story, we are introduced to a young Black narrator who is drawn to the water, but is told that swimming is not a “Black sport.” I love the specificity and context the book provides for Black Nova Scotians, and the love of water and water sports sparkles in the spoken-word style prose.
It’s Time For Berries explores the seasons in the northern most part of Canada through the eyes and activities of two sisters and their ninguiq (grandmother). Each season is connected to an outdoor activity, including fishing, digging for clams, and in the summer, berry picking. A cozy story about family tradition and the gifts of the earth. Includes an Inuktitut glossary and a link to a pronunciation guide.
Iceberg: A Life in Seasons also explores the seasons, but this time from the perspective of an ice berg. We follow along as the iceberg shears, floats, melts and moves through the seasons in the Antarctic Ocean. The text is loving, poetic, and challenges the reader to ‘look closer’ at a world that many mistakenly view as barren or empty. A map, glossary of terms, and note about the effects of climate change on the Arctic and Antarctic regions is included.
Chapter Book, Ages 5-9
Bee & Flea and the Puddle Problem is the second book in the Bee & Flea series, featuring unlikely duo who solve mysteries that happen in the garden where they live. Anna Humphrey packs a ton of facts about water and the organisms living in and around water into a fast-paced and funny story. Kids will want to join F.LE.A. (Fenced-in-area Law Enforcement Agency) when they’re done!
Middle Grade, Ages 9-12
Rachelle Delaney writes cozy, comforting novels for young middle grade readers that address emotion and common childhood anxieties in a safe space. In The Big Sting, Leo, an armchair adventurer, decides to try the life of a risk-taker when he and his family travel to stay with his grumpy grandfather off the coast of the BC mainland. There, he finds himself not only in the middle of family drama, but tracking down a bee hive thief. Lovely family dynamics with themes of conservation and environmental stewardship.
Animal fantasy is always popular with kids- think Warrior Cats or Silverwing- and The Rabbit’s Gift fits nicely in this genre. The Rabbit’s Gift has the feel of a fairytale, in which a rich, privileged child and a starving rabbit find their two worldviews clashing. Though the world in this book is fantastical, Vitalis does a good job demonstrating concepts of interdependency and how perilous life can be when ecosystems are thrown off balance.