Middle Grade Environmentalism
As a self-proclaimed tree hugger, there is nothing I love more than getting cozy with a good book that sings with love for our planet and all the creatures we share it with. Choosing books with a focus on environment is a great way for young readers to gain an understanding of and grow their own opinions on topics of natural disasters, animal rights, global climate change, and more. And as much as we love our fantasy adventures, there is something special about environmentally focused survival stories that always makes us want to get outside, take action, and discover our own bravery within.
Even if you don’t live in an area that’s been impacted by the increasingly yearly wildfires, we’ve all seen the horror on the news. Paradise on Fire will have you at the edge of your seat, wondering if you could ever be as courageous as Addy.
Addy is haunted by the tragic fire that killed her parents, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Now, years later, Addy’s grandmother has enrolled her in a summer wilderness program. There, Addy joins five other Black city kids—each with their own troubles—to spend a summer out west.
Deep in the forest the kids learn new (and to them) strange skills: camping, hiking, rock climbing, and how to start and safely put out campfires. Most important, they learn to depend upon each other for companionship and survival.
But then comes a devastating forest fire…
Addy is face-to-face with her destiny and haunting past. Developing her courage and resiliency against the raging fire, it’s up to Addy to lead her friends to safety. Not all are saved. But remembering her origins and grandmother’s teachings, she’s able to use street smarts, wilderness skills, and her spiritual intuition to survive.
Watched WALL-E 10 million times? Okay cool, same, because who doesn’t have a soft spot for loveable robots? And on the list of favorite robots, Roz hits #1.
Can a robot survive in the wilderness?
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is–but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island’s unwelcoming animal inhabitants.
As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home–until, one day, the robot’s mysterious past comes back to haunt her.
From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.
Attention pet lovers: Here is your chance to impress your friends with the wildest and wackiest animal facts in whole history of animal facts!
Did you know that 32 pigeons have received medals for wartime valor? And a dog named Laika was the very first creature to orbit the Earth? Did you know that there is an island in Japan entirely overrun by bunnies? And — for a brief time — rats adorned with ribbons were a popular lap pet in upper-class London?
In Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets, you can find out more than you ever thought possible about creatures both cute and weird, both large and small, while discovering new stories about human history from the perspective of our animal companions.
Did you know that bees communicate with each other using special dances? Or that a popular anime called Rascal the Racoon may be largely responsible for Japan's huge raccoon population? Packed with incredible facts and charming stories like these, this is the perfect book for curious readers.
Max finally meets her hero, Albert Einstein, as she dashes across glaciers, visits the Great Barrier Reef, and flies a solar-powered jet in a race to stop Global Warming—before it’s too late for Planet Earth.
World Champions . . .
GET OUTDOORS
From racing across glaciers in Greenland and flying in a super fancy solar-powered jet to Hawaii, to visiting the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia and hanging out with a robot named Leo, twelve-year-old genius Max and her friends live for adventure.
TAKE ACTION
Whenever there's a problem to solve, the kids work better together. So does an evil group of the rich and powerful, who will do whatever it takes to split the kids up—even as the planet is changing before their eyes.
NEVER GIVE UP
Max has one more surprise in her playbook, and if she's going to pull it off, she needs her team around her. Whoever said that kids can't save the world?
Pull out your tissues... Pighearted will have you sobbing, laughing, and cheering, all while asking yourself tough questions about our relationship with animals.
Jeremiah’s heart skips a beat before his first soccer game, but it’s not nerves. It’s the first sign of a heart attack. He knows he needs to go to the hospital, but he’s determined to score a goal. Charging after the ball, he refuses to stop…even if his heart does.
J6 is a pig and the only one of his five brothers who survived the research lab. Though he's never left his cell, he thinks of himself as a therapy pig, a scholar, and a bodyguard. But when the lab sends him to live with Jeremiah's family, there’s one new title he’s desperate to have: brother.
At first, Jeremiah thinks his parents took in J6 to cheer him up. But before long, he begins to suspect there's more to his new curly-tailed companion than meets the eye. When the truth is revealed, Jeremiah and J6 must protect each other at all costs—even if their lives depend on it.
After over a year of being cooped up in our homes, away from friends, school, and many of the things that make us happiest, The Ice House will feel wholly relatable and reassuring on a number of levels.
Spring has arrived, and yet an unyielding winter freeze has left Louisa snowed into her apartment building for months with parents coping with extreme stress, a little brother struggling with cabin fever, and—awkwardly—her neighbor and former close friend, Luke. The new realities of this climate disaster have not only affected Louisa's family, but when Luke's dad has an ice-related accident and it's unclear if he'll recover, both families' lives are turned upside down.
Desperate to find an escape from the grief plaguing their homes, Louisa and Luke build a massive snow fort in their yard. But their creation opens up an otherworldly window to what could lie ahead, and sets them on a mission: to restore the universe to its rightful order, so the ice will melt and life will return to "normal".
With a deft combination of heartfelt prose and a touch of magic, Monica Sherwood's affecting debut novel is a relatable story of families grappling with—and emerging from—a different kind of quarantine.