We found your Earth Day read.
I remember doing an Earth Day walk in Central Park when I was in fifth grade. (This was many decades ago.) Back then, I had a Greenpeace bumper sticker on my school assignment book and spent time at the kitchen sink in the afternoons cutting the six-pack plastic sleeve from my daily Diet Cokes to avoid strangling creatures in the ocean.
I asked my mom back then, “How does what I do, just one person, make a difference for the whole planet?!” And she said, “What if everyone thought that way?” So here we are, years later, with even more environmental issues to contend with. If only everyone had heard my mom’s advice back then.
These books highlight some of the climate issues facing our world today and draw us in with their excellent writing and provocative ideas. We’re all in this together. Let’s hope that in another 30 years, things have drastically changed course.
Climate Change Books for Grown-Ups
Migrations: A Novel by Charlotte McConaghy
In this beautiful novel, Charlotte McConaghy’s main character Franny Stone heads to Greenland to follow the last arctic terns in the world on their migration to Antarctica. From a fishing boat, Franny’s own love life unfolds as she depicts the changing landscape and disappearing earth ahead.
Nobody Gets Out Alive: Stories by Leigh Newman
Author Leigh Newman grew up in Alaska, which she wrote about in her debut memoir, Still Points North, and now in a series of literary short stories Nobody Gets Out Alive. While many stories take place in the past, Newman addresses the changing landscape, how there is now spring in Alaska when that season never used to exist, and just how quickly her homeland is sliding away.
The Unsinkable Greta James: A Novel by Jennifer E. Smith
A rock star daughter grieving the recent loss of her mother heads off on a cruise to Alaska with her aging dad and some family friends, the trip her mom had dreamed of taking. While sailing through bumpy waters, emotionally and physically, guitarist Greta James finds a love interest, an academic obsessed with The Call of the Wild by Jack London. Nature themes run rampant in this thoughtful, beautiful story of love, loss, and starting over.
Climate Change Books for Grown-Ups and Older Kids:
Paradise on Fire by Jewell Parker Rhodes
A young Black girl, mourning the loss of her family members in a horrific fire, heads out west on an outdoor adventure program only to be confronted by flames again. She realizes that she has the tools to escape given her fascination with landscape and maps and can even lead others to safety in this reflection on environmental hazards. Another message from bestselling author Jewell Parker Rhodes is the tragic lack of exposure to nature and wildlife in the Black community.
I Survived the California Wildfires by Lauren Tarshis
Set in Northern California, a New Jersey boy, Josh, visits cousins only to be faced with a fast-moving wildfire, the biggest in 100 years. As he and his cousins try to find a way out, they have to navigate the greatest threat to their existence — and the existence of the entire landscape.
Climate Change Books for Grown-Ups and Little Kids:
Fancy Nancy: Every Day is Earth Day by Jane O’Connor
In this sweet story starring the beloved character Fancy Nancy, we see the importance of treating the world with respect from the earliest age possible.
The Earth Book by Todd Parr
He isn’t “just” a children’s book author. Todd Parr’s books on family, home, feelings, and the planet are for all of us, short but sweet, notes that make us think and feel. The bright illustrations and stick characters seem simple and yet they contain powerful messages like in The Earth Book, which gives families simple ideas that will make a huge difference.
