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Children's Nature Books That Don't Induce Ecophobia

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 11 months ago

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I am of the vintage of Americans that was given the recently-published The Great Kapok Tree to read in my childhood. Some things about it I just loved. But while beautifully illustrated, I want to find other books than that for my little girl to read, books that will inspire her to appreciate and work with nature without being too hurt, at this phase of her life, about what is going on in the world. Rainforest devastation is a problem to confront, but...when you are a teenager, I think. I myself didn't have the tools or social environment at age 9 to do anything about what I read there, and it just made me so sad.

So what books can I give Miss G that will help her be part of a joyful, optimistic wave of problem-solvers and solutions-builders in the next generation?

We have really enjoyed this beautifully-illustrated series, Smithsonian's Backyard:

And the similar Oceanic Collection:

I'd love to get a list going of good books of any vintage we can read with our children that will inspire them and give them love and hope as they begin to head into the future!

“Upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I have thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it is better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them." –Abraham Lincoln

Melissa Ferrin

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posted 11 months ago

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You asked for eco books, but seeing as your little is a "miss" I give you the The Mighty Girl Reading List
Within "social issues" there is a subcategory for "environmental issues"

Also, you must play your little all the songs by the Aussie group Formidable Vegetables

pax amor et lepos in iocando

Heather Sharpe

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posted 11 months ago

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I absolutely love the book, "The Other Way to Listen" by Byrd Baylor. As the title suggests, it's about all the ways we can listen to nature. I enjoy reading it as an adult and don't think I could ever tire of re-reading it. The illustrations are gorgeous too. She has other books also.

Seconding the suggestion to share the music of Formidable Vegetable with her! Super fun, good vibes and has helped me learn permaculture in a much deeper, more embodied way. Can't imagine how much I'd have learned if I'd heard it starting as a kid.

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

Douglas Alpenstock

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posted 11 months ago

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I confess I am thoroughly puzzled by the term "ecophobia." Can someone explain?

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 10 months ago

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Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I confess I am thoroughly puzzled by the term "ecophobia." Can someone explain?

As I understand (and use) the term, "Ecophobia" is the depressing, hopeless fear of the natural world being destroyed while simultaneously feeling powerless to do anything about it. It is the exact feeling I want to avoid creating in my child, particularly since I was always a very sensitive type and developed some of it in elementary school. (More about this meaning of the term here)

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 10 months ago

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I have read many of Jan Brett's books with my daughter, and you can't believe the incredible, detailed artistry on every page.

This book, Mossy, was Miss G's very favorite Jan Brett book as a toddler, hands down. I loved that the illustrations were creatures we could observe in nature in our part of the world (the story is set in North Carolina/Appalachia).

Douglas Alpenstock

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posted 10 months ago

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Rachel Lindsay wrote:As I understand (and use) the term, "Ecophobia" is the depressing, hopeless fear of the natural world being destroyed while simultaneously feeling powerless to do anything about it. It is the exact feeling I want to avoid creating in my child, particularly since I was always a very sensitive type and developed some of it in elementary school.

Ah! Thanks, I understand. Children don't yet have a centre to weigh the media screaming matches surrounding predictions of climate doom and economic doom. They can't see the politics and machinations; all they process is the deep sense, the meta-message, that "we are doomed." You are wise to steer your child away from anger, fear and paralysis, all of which are counterproductive.

Julia Megan

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Location: Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Zone 3b

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posted 10 months ago

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I totally agree, in the (paraphrased because I'm too lazy to go find the book) words of Naomi Klein, we must first teach our children to love nature, before we ask them to save it.

Not sure if you're set on non-fiction, but here are a few I love!
Fiction:
Stand Like a Cedar - by Nicola I. Campbell
On the Trapline - by David A. Robertson
Wild Berries - by Julie Flett
Girl and the Wolf - by Katherena Vermette
Leo Lionni - Swimmy, Fish is Fish, A Color of His Own, Inch by Inch, Frederick and many more (less "nature" specific, but all full of wonderful art and animals!)
Melanie Watt - Scaredy Squirrel, Leon the Chameleon (same as above - Scaredy Squirrel is a lot of fun, but it can also be good for anxious kiddos who need a plan before they venture out! Her Chester books aren't nature specific, but they are always well loved by my students)
Big Al - by Andrew Clements
Picture a Tree - by Barbra Reid

Non-fiction:
Kate Messner - Over and Under the Pond, Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and the newer ones I haven't read yet, Over and Under the Rainforest and Over and Under the Canyon
Dianna Hutts Aston - A Seed is Sleepy, A Nest is Noisy, A Rock is Lively, An Egg is Quiet, A Beetle is Shy, A Butterfly is Patient (I haven't read them all, but the ones I have are good!)

And some bonus urban wildlife/garden books:
Rose's Garden, Peter H. Reynolds
Flowers on the Roof, Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir
My Garden,Kevin Henkes
The Tiny Seed, Eric Carle
Growing Vegetable Soup, Lois Ehlert
I've also heard good things about The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

Many of these books should be available at your local library or independent book store! If I think of any other great ones when I'm at school tomorrow, I'll add them. I hope this helps! I love good books. I'm a fan of many of Jan Brett's books as well, and I'm pretty sure I had Seal Pup Grows Up as a child!

- Julia -
Written from Treaty 1 Territory, the Traditional Lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and the Homeland of the Métis Nation.

Douglas Alpenstock

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posted 10 months ago

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Julia Megan wrote:I totally agree, in the (paraphrased because I'm too lazy to go find the book) words of Naomi Klein, we must first teach our children to love nature, before we ask them to save it.

I have always felt that having a gut-level sense of agency -- the ability to reach out, take action, and see local results is much more important than large virtual movements. Virtuality is the cause of this stress; the solution must be tangible. If a child plants a wildflower garden, waters it, and watches all the local pollinators coming to feed, they know in a real sense that they can pick up a shovel and fix the world. This is the regulating pendulum to the howling barrage of blah blah from all sides. My 2 cents'.

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 9 months ago

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Edna Miller's vintage books are wonderful, if your library still has them or if with very good luck you can find one in a thrift store:

At first they seem reminiscent of Beatrix Potter's works, but although the watercolor art of Miller's books is similarly detailed, attentive to nature, and beautiful, the animals in these stories are not made to seem human-like at all. When reading them, children get to observe North American animals "in situ" with real-life situations occurring to them, and responding in ways that real animals would actually do. As a mother I found them very re-readable to my eager toddler, and now that Miss G can read herself, she enjoys pulling them off the shelf on her own. Two thumbs up for this author, too!

Note: we have avoided "Mousekin's Lost Woodland" due to my original concern when starting this thread!

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 2 days ago

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Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush, written and illustrated by Lynne Cherry.

So first of all, this book is by the author of The Great Kapok Tree, which is mentioned in the first post in this thread as the first book that ever gave me ecophobia. Tentatively and hopefully I read this to my daughter this evening, and it was borderline, in that regard. But Miss G is old enough to deal with it at the level it was presented. There are several mentions during the narrative (of the life of the migratory bird) of things that humans do--such as spraying lawns and clear-cutting forests--briefly showing how these things affect the bird and other creatures of the ecosystems. However, since the birds are able to survive and overcome, the story is ultimately hopeful.

In the story there are also natural predators, such as a hawk and a cat that the wood thrushes must survive. So it is a very honest book, a realistic look at how birds in the Western Hemisphere live nowadays. The illustrations are very very detailed and beautiful: both those of the ecosystems of Maryland and other North American locations, where the bird begins his life and lives half of the year, and also of the Costa Rican landscape where the songbirds overwinter.

To sum up: lavish illustrations and good information told in story form about the life of a bird from egg to winter habitat, then back home again to raise his own family. Overall I think it was an excellent reading experience, and allowed G via a story form to see why I am constantly objecting to people spraying, building subdivisions, and various other non Permie things that I explain to her in our daily lives. In that regard, this book was a wonderful way of showing rather than telling why I do what I do in urban Permaculture. I give this children's book 4 out of 5 acorns, but parents' discretion strongly advised.

Rachel Lindsay

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Location: Tennessee

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posted 1 day ago

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Frightful's Daughter Meets the Baron Weasel by Jean Craighead George
For children too young for My Side of the Mountain ( same author), this charming picture book is a wonderful way to introduce the chapter book’s setting and characters, particularly the animal characters. Vividly illustrated, it is a fun book showing the balance struck between predators and prey in the natural world, and told from a youth’s perspective as he lives among them and observes them in the Catskills of New York. Highly recommended.

Anne Miller

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posted 1 day ago

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There are so many great books mentioned.

Here are some other suggestions:

https://permies.com/t/172223/Children-Books-Infect-Permaculture-Minds

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Jeremy VanGelder

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posted 1 day ago

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Thornton Burgess wrote a number of children's novels about the day-to-day lives of different animals. He was a conservationist in the early 1900's and his writing is always a pleasant surprise with how gently he brings a conservation ethic into the stories. Dover books sells many copies for a few dollars each.

Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.

Here. Have a potato. I grew it in my armpit. And from my other armpit, this tiny ad:

Tiny House Magazine (Issue 121)

https://permies.com/wiki/208685/Tiny-House-Magazine