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.
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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.
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.
McDarkly lives alone in the swamp, happily tending his neat garden of orchids in peace. But then, one day, in rides the pompous and rather rude King, who wants to turn McDarkly’s peaceful (if slightly dank and dark) home into a roller skate park!
Luckily, the young princess is a botantist at heart, and manages to win the swamp a reprieve – the King and his retinue of minions will return in ten days to see the orchids bloom. McDarkly believes that with hard work, and a LOT of shovelling, he can be ready….that is, until the orchid-munching caterpillars descend!
King of the Swamp is a lovely picture book to read aloud – the lilting, rhyming text just begs to be read out loud in a sing-song voice. The watery colour scheme of the swamp has the perfect balance of dripping weeds and big-eyed critters peeping from behind reeds and logs. With a gentle happy ending, as the swamp becomes a nature reserve, the book would link well in the classroom with units on things that grow and care for the environment. Catherine Emmett’s text and Ben Mantle’s illustrations are a successful pairing and I hope to see them working together again soon.
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…
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.
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.
review
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
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Curriculum links (if relevant)
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