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Books About Caring For The Environment

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top five recommended children's books about caring for the environment

Catherine Emmett – author of King of the Swamp (available here) – has picked out her top five recommended children’s books about caring for the environment.

Katie Cottle
Picturebook

You’ve met the Iron Giant, the Big Friendly Giant and the Selfish Giant. Now meet the Green Giant! A young girl, Bea, and her dog, Iris, are staying with her grandad in the country. Bea is bored, but Iris’s adventures lead them to the small and rusty old greenhouse next door. Inside the greenhouse, Bea finds… a giant. A giant made entirely of plants and greenery. Bea is scared, but the giant reassures her and explains that he has escaped from the grey city. Bea and the giant become friends, and together they try and find a way to make the grey city a greener place. This is a lovely picture book and Katie has recently released a follow on, ‘The Blue Giant’, which addresses issues of plastic waste in the oceans.

Catherine Emmett
 & Ben Mantle
Picturebook

I’m going to have to include ‘King of the Swamp’ here as McDarkly would be so upset if he wasn’t included and he holds such a special place in my heart!
McDarkly lives quietly all on his own, growing orchids in his dank, stinky swamp, until one day his peace is disturbed by the arrogant king who wants to turn the swamp into a roller-skate park! McDarkly has ten days to prove that the swamp isn’t damp and dark, but an enchanted world. Can he do it, or will he risk losing his home forever? A unique story about finding beauty in unexpected places.

Emma Read
Chapter book

Emma Read’s ‘Milton’ series really is just fab! My kids loved the first in the series, ‘Milton The Mighty’, and are really excited to read the second one! The first book introduced us to Milton, a very small spider with very big plans to protect his species. In this second book, Milton and his friends fly to Hawaii! There Milton encounters an endangered spider species and an unscrupulous ‘golf-course-building billionaire’ who is intent on building his golf course- whatever the environmental cost…

Nicola Penfold
Chapter book

Where the World turns Wild is a stunning and thought-provoking dystopian novel with a message for our times. The story follows two children who leave a protected, walled city to venture through the wild world beyond on a brave adventure. This is an ecological thriller with a powerful impact.

Nicola Skinner
 & Flavia Sorrentino
Chapter book

Hilarious and truly original, here is a book with all the ingredients to take root and blossom wildly among the imaginations of young readers! We immediately loved the premise of the ‘surprising seeds’ that lead to an epidemic causing people to grow flowers out of their heads.

Sorrel Fallowfield is a rule follower. Never wishing to cause trouble for her overworked Mum or to break the strict rules of a perfection-demanding headteacher, Sorrel knows that she is in with an excellent chance of winning when school announces a competition to find the most perfectly-behaved student. Even better, the prize for the winner is a family holiday – which is exactly what Sorrel thinks her Mum needs the most.

Sorrel’s luck changes when a mysterious packet of seeds appears in her garden that have the most surprising effects. Before she knows it, the power of the seeds have taken root not just in Sorrel’s life but also in her whole community. Could nature be fighting back against a town that has eradicated all of its green spaces?

A stand-out story full of humour and heart.

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