A new school year often means new reading lists. Since we’re all about teaching kids on how best to protect the environment, we thought we’d share some great books for young readers about sustainability and the environment.

For the littlest readers: The Earth Book

The Earth Book by Todd Parr explores the subject of environmental protection in a fun and easy way that kids can understand. This book features lots of easy things we can do to make the earth a better place from planting trees to saving energy. It’s a great book for getting the message across!

The book itself is even printed with recycled materials and the ink is made from a nontoxic soy ink!

For The Classic Lover: The Lorax

The Lorax by Dr Seuss is a classic for a reason! If you’re not familiar with the story, it showcases the effects of treating our world badly and how important it is to love our earth. Paired with Seuss’ whimsicality, it makes for a great story!

The newer editions you buy today are now printed with recycled paper! But used bookstores are still a great way to find preloved books.

For Those who love pretty illustrations: My Friend Earth

My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLaghlan created a beautiful story to go along with these incredible illustrations. It’s made to be interactive to really enforce learning as kids read through it with you. It’s a celebration of all the things our earth does for us and it provides a great stepping stone to teach kids about why it’s important to protect her.

For those who want to get involved: 10 Things I can do to help my world

10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh is a great book for getting kids to think about their every day activities. These are easy, everything things kids of any age can do to be more involved in saving energy and recycling!

For Those Who Live in the City: THe Curious Garden

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown is a story about a boy who transforms his city, one garden at a time. It shows kids that there are things we can do even if we live a little farther from nature. It’s a great intro to starting your very own little garden that your kids can help you with!

For those Who Want a good story: We are Water Protectors

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom follows a young water protector as she watches over the earths water and protects it from the threat of a black snake threatening to destroy the world. Not only is it a great story, but it shines a focus on our water resources and why we should protect it!

For those interested in recycling: The Life of a Little Cardboard Box

The Life of a Little Cardboard Box is a great bedtime story to show kids what happens to boxes after we’re done with them and the importance of less packaging. Definitely a great book to start a conversation. Plus they also have a similar story about a plastic bottle!

For those who love animals: A Stone Sat Still

A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel tells the story of a seemingly ordinary rock. Except that to the animals around it, it’s their whole world. This book teaches kids to shift their perspective to the whole around us and see simple things as important to other animals. Plus it’s already been translated into a few different languages!

For those who want to build better cities: Soft Cities

Soft Cities by David Sim begins with the big ideas of happiness and quality of life, and then shows how they are tied to the way we live. It shows us not only how to build a city that’s best for its citizens but also how we build a city that’s better connected to the environment.

For the more mature readers: The Adventure Is Now

The Adventure Is Now by Jess Redman is for your more advanced kids. It follows Milton, who loves playing as a naturalist in his video games. His parents send him to an island for the summer where his uncle is an environmentalist researcher. He discovers a mystery on this island and has to use his knowledge about nature and the clues given by the island to solve it. We follow Milton and his new friends as he protects the island.