Register as an
EE Week Partner

Join millions of teachers and students in a week of educational preparation for Earth Day.

Subscribe Now

Register for our Free Environmental Education Week Newsletter today!

Green Reading for EE Week

One of the best ways to participate in EE Week is to incorporate environmentally-themed reading into classroom lessons and activities. Check out the list below to find some "Green Reads" for your students. Also see our list of green reading for educators.

Jump To: Middle School | High School

Elementary School

	The Armadillo from Amarillo Lynne Cherry ISBN# 978-0152003593 When an armadillo named Sasparillo wants to know where on earth he is, he leaves his home in San Antonio and travels north through the canyons and prairies of Texas. In Amarillo he meets an eagle and, with her help, finds the answer to his question-as well as lots of adventures.
	The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore) Stan & Jan Berenstain ISBN # 978-0679823513 When careless citizens pose a threat to Bear Country's environment, Brother and Sister Bear form the Earthsavers Club. Their spirited ecological efforts deliver a timely message about the urgent need to mend our polluting and wasteful ways.
	Brother Eagle Sister Sky Chief Seattle, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers ISBN # 978-0590466486 "How can you buy the sky? How can you own the rain and the wind?" So begin the moving words attributed to a great American Indian chief--Chief Seattle--over 100 years ago. They are words that eloquently capture the central belief of Native Americans: that this earth and every creature on it is sacred. It is this belief that inspired Susan Jeffers' extraordinary full-color paintings.
	Butterfly House Eve Bunting ISBN # 978-0590848848 After a girl saves a black creature from a greedy jay, she decides to raise it. With the help of her grandfather, the girl makes a home for the creature until it turns into a butterfly and must be set free.
	The Carrot Seed Ruth Krauss ISBN # 978-0590450928 When a little boy plants a carrot seed, everyone tells him it won't grow. But when you are very young, there are some things that you just know, and the little boy knows that one day a carrot will come up. So he waters his seed, and pulls the weeds, and he waits ...
	Diary of a Worm Doreen Cronin ISBN # 978-0439677745 This is the diary . . . of a worm. Surprisingly, a worm not that different from you or me. Except he eats his homework. Oh, and his head looks a lot like his rear end.
	The Dragon and the Unicorn Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0152241933 The Dragon and the Unicorn is an allegory about the Old Growth Forest of the Pacific Northwest. A princess learns about the important ecology of the ancient forest and teaches her father, the king.
	The Empty Lot Dale H. Fife ISBN # 978-0871568595 Harry Hale owns a vacant lot that he hasn't visited for years. "What good is an empty lot?" he thinks, and he makes up his mind to sell it. But when Harry visits his lot to decide on a price, he's surprised to find that it's far from empty. In fact, his little patch of land is bursting with life.
	Everybody Needs a Rock Byrd Baylor ISBN # 978-0689710513 Everybody needs a rock -- at least that's the way this particular rock hound feels about it in presenting her own highly individualistic rules for finding just the right rock for you.
	Flashy, Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs Dorothy Patent ISBN # 978-0590127493 This book describes the physical characteristics, behavior, reproduction, and habitat of frogs that live in the rain forest.
	Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0153143694 The story of a wood thrush's arduous first migration--across thousands of miles-from his nesting grounds in the Belt Woods of Maryland to his winter home in Costa Rica, and back again.
	Forests For All Melanie Richardson Dundy ISBN # 0-9674491-2-X This book uses animal characters and 2 ‘loggers' to introduce young children to the factors that are considered when managing a forest for all users... the needs of animals, recreational users and the forest sector must be balanced to ensure a healthy forest for the future.
	The Gardener Sarah Stewart ISBN# 978-0374325176 Through her letters to her farm family, Lydia Grace tells how she brightens her uncle's dreary bakery and his disposition with a little dirt and a suitcase full of seeds.
	The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein ISBN # 978-0060256661 'Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy.' So begins this tender story about the capacity for unconditional love and generosity, written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein.
	The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0152026141 This best-selling classic is an inspired look at what the Kapok tree means to the creatures that live in it-and what rain forests mean to the world's ecology.
	A Handful of Dirt Raymond Bial ISBN # 978-0802786982 You'll never look at the ground you walk on in the same way after Raymond Bial, an award-winning photo essayist, takes you on this eye-opening, down-and-dirty tour of one of the earth's most precious resources.
	A Harvest of Color: Growing A Vegetable Garden Melanie Eclare ISBN # 978-1929927319 A group of neighborhood children transform a bare patch of earth into a vegetable garden, learning simple but important lessons in the process.
	How Groundhog's Garden Grew Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0439560658 Little Groundhog loves to eat his neighbor's vegetables until he makes a friend who teaches him the joy of planting a garden of his own. As squirrel introduces Little Groundhog to the cycle of an entire gardening year, children will learn about gathering seeds in fall; storing them in winter; planting in spring; weeding and watering in summer; and eating a delicious, bountiful harvest at Thanksgiving time.
	I Can Name 50 Trees Today! Bonnie Worth ISBN # 978-0375822773 While stopping to admire some of the world's most amazing trees, the Cat and Co. teach beginning readers how to identify different species from the shape of their crowns, leaves, lobes, seeds, bark, and fruit. Kids will learn about many trees common to North America.
	I Wish I Were a Butterfly James Howe ISBN # 978-0152004705 Perceiving himself ugly, a cricket longs to be a butterfly and seeks counsel from his friends at Swampswallow Pond.
	Just Us Two: Poems about Animal Dads Joyce Sidman ISBN # 978-0761315636 Eleven poems present life from the point of view of various animal fathers and their young, including Emperor penguins, Nile crocodiles, and giant water bugs.
	Lily's Garden Deborah Kogan Ray ISBN # 9780761326533 Lily's Garden creates a calendar of the year seen through the lens of things planted, grown, and harvested and dramatized in Lily's letters and phone calls to her far-away grandparents. The procession of months and the change of seasons, the holidays, and ultimately the passage of an entire year in the garden are celebrated in this picture book.
	A Log's Life Wendy Pfeffer ISBN # 978-1416934837 Through the simple yet dramatic story of a tree's life, death, and decomposition, A Log's Life illustrates the interdependence of living creatures.
	The Lorax Dr. Seuss ISBN # 978-0394923376 Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.
	Mammalabilia Douglas Florian ISBN # 978-0439329347 A collection of humorous poems about mammals such as the tiger, gorilla, and rhebok.
	Michael Bird-Boy Tomie dePaola ISBN # 978-0135797983 A young boy who loves the countryside determines to find the source of the black cloud that hovers above it.
	Miss Rumphius Barbara Cooney ISBN # 978-0440844112 As a child Great-Aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful--and she does all those things, the last being the most difficult of all.
	Mother Earth and Her Children Sibylle van Olfers ISBN # 978-1933308180 Deep below the ground, Mother Earth rouses her sleepy children. The little ones ready themselves for spring, then join a jubilant procession of bugs and beetles up into the summer meadows.
	Mrs. Spitzer's Garden Edith Pattou, Mary Beth Owens ISBN # 978-0152058029 With her sure, loving, gardener's touch, Mrs. Spitzer nurtures the students in her classroom each year.
	Once There Was A Tree Natalia Romanova ISNB # 978-0140546774 An old stump attracts many living creatures, and when it is gone, a new tree attracts the same creatures, who need it for a variety of reasons.
	Our Big Home: An Earth Poem Linda Glaser ISBN # 978-0761316503 In this illustrated poem for children, the author presents a broad vision of home as the planet Earth.
	Owl Moon Jane Yolen ISBN # 978-0590420440 A young girl and her father take a nighttime stroll near the farm where they live to look for owls.
	A Place to Grow Stephanie Bloom ISBN # 978-1931969079 No matter where it lands or how desperately it hopes, the tiny seed can't find a place to grow. Will the tiny seed ever find its home, or will it keep searching and floating forever?
	Pumpkins Mary Lyn Ray ISBN # 978-0152013585 This is a story about a field and a man who loved it enough to do something to save it from development.
	The Salamander Room Anne Mazer ISBN # 978-0679861874 A boy finds a salamander in the woods and imagines the many things he can do to turn his room into a perfect salamander home. \
	The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0374364823 In this richly illustrated chronicle of the life of one mangrove tree, Lynne Cherry details the abundant wildlife that depends upon its unique and wonderful ecosystem, one that is beneficial to so many, but one that also faces many dangers.
	Stellaluna Janell Cannon ISBN # 978-0590483797 After she falls headfirst into a bird's nest, a baby bat is raised like a bird until she is reunited with her mother.
	Sunflower House Eve Bunting, Kathryn Hewitt ISBN # 978-0152019525 A young boy creates a summer playhouse by planting sunflowers and saves the seeds to make another house the next year.
	To Every Thing There is a Season Leo & Diane Dillon ISBN # 978-0590478878 An award-winning team brings exquisitely to life the most famous verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes, each spread rendered in an historical style of a different world culture.
	The Ugly Vegetables Grace Lin ISBN # 978-0881063363 A neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetables soup, and the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose.
	The Very Busy Spider Eric Carle ISBN # 978-0399211669 Various farm animals try to divert a busy little spider from spinning her web, but she persists and produces a thing of both beauty and usefulness. This book's tactile element makes it especially well-suited for the visually-impaired.
	When Winter Comes Nancy Van Laan ISBN # 978-0439288743 What happens to fish, flowers, field mice, and other living things when ponds freeze and the air turns blustery? Walk with a curious child and his parents as winter's first snow falls and find out....
	Where Butterflies Grow Joanne Ryder ISBN # 978-0140558586 Scientifically accurate drawings show the metamorphosis of a Black Swallowtail butterfly from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.
	Where Does the Garbage Go? Paul Showers ISBN # 978-0060210571 Follow that garbage truck...to the landfill to see how trash keeps piling up...to the incinerator to see how trash can be turned into energy ... to the recycling center to see how a soda bottle can be turned into a flowerpot. Filled with graphs, charts, and diagrams, Where Does the Garbage Go? explains how we deal with the problem of too much trash and provides ideas for easy ways to be a part of the solution.
	Where the River Begins Thomas Locker ISBN # 978-0803700895 Two young boys and their grandfather go on a camping trip to find the source of the river that flows by their home.
	Where Once There Was a Wood Denise Fleming ISBN # 978-0805037616 Inspired by events in her own backyard, award-winning author and illustrator Denise Fleming teaches children how to make a more "creature friendly" backyard and includes information about what types of food, trees and flowers attract different kinds of animals. Where Once There Was a Wood also includes an informative bibliography for budding environmentalists, and suggests various projects that families can do together.
	The Wump World Bill Peet ISBN # 978-0590617239 The Pollutians invade the Wump World and turn the green meadows into a concrete jungle.

For more green reading suggestions, visit the comprehensive Children's Environmental Literature Bibliography, courtesy of Wisconsin's Project Learning Tree, Project Wild, and Project Wet programs. Also see our list of green reading for educators.

Don't see one of your favorites listed? Suggest that it be added to this list.

Middle School

Jump To: Elementary School | High School

	The Big Book for Our Planet Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0525451198 Nearly thirty stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces by such notable authors as Natalie Babbitt, Marilyn Sachs, and Jane Yolen, illustrated by the likes of Steven Kellogg and Susan Jeffers, demonstrate some modern environmental issues, e.g. overpopulation, tampering with nature, litter, pollution, and waste disposal.
	Bird Boy Elizabeth Starr Hill ISBN # 978-0374307233 Chang, a mute Chinese boy whose father uses cormorants to fish, is pleased when he is finally old enough to help with the Big Catch and the raising of a new bird.
	The Case of the Missing Cutthroats: An Ecological Mystery Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0064406475 This mystery begins when Spinner, a New York City native who would rather pirouette than fly cast, catches the family prize--much to her boy cousins' dismay. The prize fish, a huge cutthroat trout, had been thought to be extinct in the river, and Spinner and her cousin set out to solve the mystery of how this one spectacular cuttroat survived until Spinner reeled him in.
	The Dynamic Great Lakes Barbara Spring ISBN # 978-1588517319 A critically acclaimed book about changes in the Great Lakes.
	The Earth is Painted Green: A Garden of Poems about Our Planet Barbara Brenner ISBN # 978-0590451345 This anthology of over 90 poems from around the world devotes itself entirely to celebrating the wondrous planet on which we all live. Environmental poems from both writers for children and adults are seamlessly blended together.
	The Fire Bug Connection: An Ecological Mystery Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0064404747 In this environmental whodunit, 12-year-old Maggie can't figure out why her exotic and beautiful new fire bugs are dying so suddenly. Is it climate change, acid rain, or murder? With the help a young computer whiz, Maggie tracks down each ecological clue.
	How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch ISBN # 978-1584691037 Two leading environmental authors, Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch, have come together to produce a new book for middle school-age children that explains climate science. How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate presents clear science and outstanding photos of the evidence gathered by leading scientists all over the world. View sample pages from the book and the corresponding lesson plan from the book's Teachers' Guide.
	Into the Deep Forest with Henry David Thoreau Jim Murphy ISBN # 978-0395605226 Using Thoreau's words as much as possible, Jim Murphy invites young readers to experience the thrill and adventure of struggling against rapids, pushing through dense forest undergrowth, and finally reaching the mountaintop. The highly illustrated format brings the wilderness to life, introducing young children to an important American and his writing.
	John Muir: My Life with Nature Joseph Cornell ISBN # 978-1584690092 An immigrant from Scotland, Muir today is remembered as the father of America's national parks. Born in 1838, Muir is considered by many to be the most influential conservationist of modern times. His love of nature continues to inspire people everywhere to take up the cause of preservation.
	Keepers of the Earth Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac ISBN # 978-1555913854 Beginning with Native American stories, this resource provides readers with an abundance of hands-on activities that will inspire children to understand and appreciate Native American cultures and the Earth.
	One Day in the Alpine Tundra Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-1555913854 A one day account of life in the Alpine Tundra. The text introduces the animals and plants who call that place home and also describes the area's climate and geological features.
	One Day in the Prairie Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0439099172 The animals on a prairie wildlife refuge sense an approaching tornado and seek protection before it touches down and destroys everything in its path.
	One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0590379465 The future of the Rain Forest of the Macaw depends on a scientist and a young Indian boy as they search for a nameless butterfly during one day in the rain forest.
	One Day in the Woods Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0590379441 Rebecca discovers many things about plant and animal life when she spends the day in Teatown Woods in the Hudson Highlands of New York looking for the ovenbird.
	Paddle to the Sea Holling C. Holling ISBN # 978-0395292037 A young Indian boy carves a little canoe with a figure inside and names him Paddle-to-the-Sea. Paddle's journey, in text and pictures, through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean provides a geographic and historical picture of the region.
	A River Ran Wild Lynne Cherry ISBN # 978-0153021930 This book provides an overview of environmental history and a history of technology. It was written to aid in the teaching of values and philosophy (i.e. Are humans part of nature? Are they apart of the food chain, or separate and independent from nature?)
	The Secret Language of Snow Terry Tempest Williams ISBN # 978-0394965741 This book examines over a dozen different types of snow and snowy conditions through the vocabulary of the Inuit people of Alaska. It discusses the physical properties and formation of snow and how it affects the plants, animals, and people of the Arctic.
	There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars Bob Crelin ISBN # 978-1931559379 The first of it's kind, a beautifully-illustrated, lyrical bedtime story which helps children discover the magic of the night sky, and explains why many of them can't see the stars from home anymore.
	There's A Hair in My Dirt: A Worm's Story Gary Larson ISBN # 978-0060932749 Gary Larson, of The Far Side fame, offers the tale of an earthworm who is sick and tired of being a worm. The final straw is a hair in his dirt dinner! The ecological tale that ensues, incorporating environmental lessons and a less-than-intelligent maiden, shows that nature is something to be preserved, enjoyed, understood, and respected.
	There's an Owl in the Shower Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0060248918 Because protecting spotted owls has cost Borden's father his job as a logger in the old growth forest of northern California, Borden intends to kill any spotted owl he sees, until he and his father find themselves taking care of a young owlet.
	Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City Barbara Bash ISBN # 978-0316083065 This book describes the birds that make their homes in the heart of the city and examines how they have adjusted to the urban environment.
	Who Really Killed Cock Robin? An Ecological Mystery Jean Craighead George ISBN # 978-0064404051 Eighth-grader Tony Isidoro follows a trail of environmental clues to try and figure out what ecological imbalances might have caused the death of the town's best-known robin.
	The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame ISBN # 978-0721407579 This book chronicles the escapades of four animal friends who live along a river in the English countryside--Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger. Originally written as stories to amuse the author's only son, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows became a children's classic.
	The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ISBN # 978-0020449317 A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet.

Don't see one of your favorites listed? Suggest that it be added to this list.

High School

Jump To: Elementary School | Middle School

	Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness Edward Abbey ISBN # 978-0345326492 Edward Abbey's account of two summers spent in southeastern Utah's canyonlands tells of his stint as a park ranger at Arches National Monument, of his love for the natural beauty that surrounded him, and of his distaste for the modernizing improvements designed to increase visitation to the park.
	Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists Jeannine Atkins ISBN # 978-1584690115 Six girls, from the 17th to the 20th century, didn't run from spiders or snakes but crouched down to take a closer look. They became pioneering naturalists, passionate scientists, and energetic writers or artists.
	Lewis and Clark: Pioneering Naturalists Paul Russell Cartright ISBN # 978-0803263345 The Lewis & Clark Expedition was a scientific accomplishment with legacies that remain with us today. This book highlights the scientific details of the journey.
	The Norton Book of Nature Writing Robert Finch (Ed.) ISBN # 978-0393027990 This anthology contains 124 pieces by classic and contemporary nature writers.
	Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard ISBN # 978-0553137064 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Blue Ridge valley. Annie Dillard sets out to see astonishing incidents of "mystery, death, beauty, violence."
	Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature Linda Lear ISBN # 978-0805034271 A definitive portrait of the woman who redefined the way humans look at their place in nature.
	Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert Terry Tempest Williams ISBN # 978-0375420771 This book explores naturalist Terry Tempest Williams's lifelong love of, and commitment to, the desert. It combines her best writing on the terrain she knows so well with a collection of new essays of great originality and influence.
	A River Runs through It Norman MacLean ISBN # 978-0939643417 Based on Norman Maclean's childhood experiences, A River Runs Through It contains vivid descriptions of life along Montana's Big Blackfoot River and the intersection of fly fishing with the troubling affections of the heart.
	The River Why David James Duncan ISBN # 978-0553340969 Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus embarks on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery along his beloved Oregon rivers. What he unexpectedly finds is man's wanton destruction of nature and a burning desire to commit himself to its preservation.
	A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold ISBN # 978-0195007770 Here we follow Leopold throughout the year, from January to December, as he walks about the rural Wisconsin landscape, watching a woodcock dance skyward in golden afternoon light, or spying a rough-legged hawk dropping like a feathered bomb on its prey.
	Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions David Quammen ISBN # 978-0684827124 In this book, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species.
	Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist William A. Sipple ISBN # 978-0967302805
	Walden; Or, Life in the Woods Henry David Thoreau ISBN # 978-0486284958 Thoreau's classic account depicts the solitary life, describing his attempts to simplify his life and sort out his priorities by living alone in a cabin beside Walden Pond for nearly two years. A key text of the environmental movement, Walden vividly portrays Thoreau's reverence for nature, and his understanding of the idea that nature is made up of crucially interrelated parts.