To celebrate Libraries Week 2021, we asked Katy Newnham, the co-Founder and Creative Director of Wastebuster, a not-for-profit environmental education company, to tell us her top five children’s books about the environment. Here they are:
- The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is perhaps the most well-known book on the environment and is fantastic because at its core there’s a great story that sneakily introduces the concepts of being eco, so sneaky that you don’t realise it until years later when you are working in an environmental company! It will have you announcing that you “speak for the trees” after the first read.
- Bugs! By Sam McBratney and Eric Smith is a lovely little introduction to micro-organisms and how they help rot unwanted food and plants as well as some more disgusting aspects (that all children love), all in poem form. It’s a fantastic book for those interested in composting and the little beasts that control everything.
- The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers runs along the lines of a ‘who done it’ in the middle of a forest as something starts happening to the trees. It’s a fantastic look into resources and the hunt for the perpetrator.
- Our next choice is a great book for the older ages. A Time-Traveller’s Guide by Isabel Thomas uses current research to predict what 2050 may be like. You are guided through life in 2050 with the impacts of climate change and other environmental impacts, and it gives a real sense of what we are driving for.
- Finally, we must put up our own book, You Can Upcycle and Craft, created to give young people and their families crafts to do with used materials. The book not only has crafts but also shows how to make them in an environmentally friendly way that can be taken apart when finished for recycling – no sticky back plastic here! Fun for everyone and hopefully some great techniques that can be used for many, many years to come.
Some of the above books are already available for loan from Surrey libraries. If not, they can be requested for order.