Earth Day’s mission to increase environmental awareness means very little to young children, unless you make it relevant.
Fortunately, there are a slew of kid-friendly books available to drive home the importance of preserving our planet. The following affordable titles prove that you don’t have to spend a ton of green to go green:
The Berenstain Bears Go Green
“Going green
isn’t hard to do.
It’s good for the earth
and me and you, too!”
Who better to show kids how to take care of the earth’s precious natural resources than the Bear family?
After all, the cuddly clan not only hugs trees, they live in one.
In The Berenstain Bears Go Green Mama, Papa, Sister, Brother and Honey set out to enjoy a family picnic in the great outdoors. The crew loads up in Grizzly Gramps’ fishing boat and paddle past colorful flowers, gorgeous green grass and other serene scenes. Unfortunately, the peaceful voyage comes to a grinding halt when the Bears smell a foul stench and see ooey-gooey black oil from the town dump leaking into the creek.
An exasperated Mama Bear calls the sight a “disgrace” and rallies Bear Country’s furry residents to clean up the dump. The community effort inspires Papa to go a step further to preserve the planet. Your kids will delight in discovering what the bear of the house concocts to make his neck of the woods even greener. The book also features a list of simple ways kids can go green at home.
Little Sweet Potato
One way children can help the earth is to plant a garden, and there’s no better motivator than Little Sweet Potato.
The charming book teaches kids that potatoes weren’t invented by Ronald McDonald; nor is their sole purpose to be deep-fried until they are golden brown. Rather, they live in dirt and may have an interesting story to tell.
Little sweet potato sure does.
The baby spud inadvertently gets tossed from his patch and is forced to look for a new home. Along the way, he runs into a multitude of flowers and fresh produce including carrots, grapes, roses, and zucchini. Sadly, the crops are a bit crass and classify little sweet potato as “lumpy, dumpy, and bumpy.”
The vibrantly illustrated book follows the young tuber on his tumultuous journey which ends at the Hodge-Podge Patch. That’s where little sweet potato learns that he is actually “bumpalicious” and appreciated for exactly who he is thanks to a garden’s worth of other eccentrically shaped fruits and vegetables.
Kids will no doubt be intrigued by the interesting produce featured in this tantalizing tale. In fact, by the end of the book, they may even be swayed to plant a garden of their own little sweet potatoes.
You can get a sneak peek of Little Sweet Potato and The Berenstain Bears Go Green online at HarperCollins’ website. Both books can also be purchased at discount retailers nationwide.