Books for earth conscious kids

This selection of beautiful books – from wildlife bedtime stories and magnificent trees to amazing plants, tigers and a book inspired by David Attenborough's Planet Earth III – are perfect gifts for the earth conscious child.


Secret Stories of Nature: A Field Guide to Uncover Our Planet's Past by Saskia Gwinn & Vasilisa Romanenko (illus.)

This beautifully illustrated field guide explores the histories and mysteries hidden in the wild, just waiting to be shared. Readers are invited on a journey around our wonderful world, through wild forests, over mountains high, to the bottom of our oceans and the earth beneath us.

Each chapter investigates a different environment, and within, the pages tell the secret stories of the animals, plants, and natural phenomena of these habitats. Readers will come away with a wealth of knowledge and discover how looking at nature today can help us understand and unlock mysteries from long ago, from bygone weather to the dinosaurs.


Once Upon Our Planet: Rewild Bedtime with 12 Stories by Vita Murrow & Aitch (illus.)

Explore 15 different water worlds and discover the incredible wildlife living there. From seagrass nurseries to the open ocean, from deep-sea vents to tropical coral reefs, from mangroves to coastal estuaries, 15 different habitats – both freshwater and saltwater – are brought together in this beautiful book, which includes an in-depth review of the key species making up this environment.


The Tigers' Tale by Catherine Barr & Tara Anand (illus.)

Magnificent, powerful and mysterious, the tiger is one of the world’s most iconic animals. It is also one of most endangered. For hundreds of years, these exceptional beasts have been hunted, pushing them to the brink of extinction. How can we save them?

This compelling tale tells the turbulent true story of the tragic disappearance of tigers from Panna Tiger Reserve in India and, finally, their heroic return. We follow a group of tigers, each with their own individual traits, on their adventures. Together, we learn how the tiger experts introduce tigers to the reserve and track them as they explore, hunt, play, swim, mate and make the forest their home. However, all is not as it seems – and there is danger lurking in the shadows of the emerald forest …


Plants to the Rescue! by Dr Vikram Baliga & Brian Lambert (illus.)

In the ongoing fight against climate change, plastic pollution and diseases, scientists are turning to an unlikely ally - plants! Everyone knows plants are pretty cool. They create oxgyen for us to breathe (fairly essential) and provide us with trees to climb. But it turns out that plants can do a whole lot more than that too! Get ready to be amazed when you find out about the spinach that can detect landmines AND send emails and the glow-in-the-dark plants that might one day light your home.

Perfect for anyone who loves nature and wildlife, as well as the scientists of the future – you won't look at plants and trees in the same way again!


Nature in a Nutshell: Watch 40 Natural Wonders Unfold by Carl Wilkinson & Grace Helmer (illus.)

A guide to exploring, understanding and appreciating nature like never before. From a star being born to a fossil starting to form, discover the stories and science behind 40 wonders of the natural world.


Ultrawild by Steve Mushin

Join maverick inventor Steve Mushin as he tackles climate change with an avalanche of mind-bending, scientifically plausible inventions to rewild cities and save the planet. Jump into his brain as he designs habitat-printing robot birds and water-filtering sewer submarines, calculates how far compost cannons can blast seed bombs (over a kilometre), brainstorms biomaterials with scientists and engineers, studies ecosystems and develops a deadly serious plan to transform cities into jungles, rewilding them into carbon-sucking mega-habitats for all species, and as fast as possible.

Ultrawild is an optimistic book about creative thinking, science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and the potential for massive change.


The Witness Trees by Ryan G. Van Cleave & Đốm Đốm (illus.)

In evocative verse and stunning artwork, The Witness Trees is the story of the world’s most enduring witnesses: the trees. From the Flower of Kent apple tree still standing in Sir Isaac Newton’s yard, to the English oak given to Jesse Owens after facing down Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the California redwood saved from destruction by July Butterfly Hill, to the Callery pear tree still miraculously alive after the World Trade Towers fell, The Witness Trees is a moving tribute to the world’s most famous trees, many of which still need humanity’s protection.

Be moved, be inspired, be amazed by the quiet, reverberating voices of nature’s sentinels: the witness trees.


Planet Earth III by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe & Kim Smith (illus.)

Discover the amazing story of Planet Earth, its inhabitants, and how we can work together to protect it, in this beautifully illustrated guide inspired by the ground-breaking BBC TV series – Planet Earth III.

From the highest peaks to the mysterious seafloor, almost every habitat has been impacted by humans. In this book you'll see our interconnected natural world as never before. You'll meet venomous snakes that are welcomed into people's homes, tiny treehoppers that form an alliance with bigger bugs and crabs who like to hitch a ride on turtles' shells. You'll travel around the globe, from massive caves to the depths of the ocean, and from snowy mountaintops to magnificent desert plains.


Flight by Mya-Rose Craig & Lynn Scurfield (illus.)

Look around you, whether you live in a city or the countryside, whether you’re standing in a field or peering out of a window. If you wait a few minutes the chances are that you’ll see a bird. But did you know that many of these creatures go on epic adventures every single year?

Millions of birds travel on bird highways across countries, continents, and even over oceans. The journeys of birds were secret for so long that we used to think barn swallows buried themselves in mud for all of winter, when really they were flying halfway around the world to South Africa. World-renowned young activist, Mya-Rose Craig shares her love of birds and reveals some of their astonishing secrets.


Secrets of the Forest: 15 Bedtime Stories Inspired by Nature by Alicia Klepeis & Kristen Adam (illus.)

Every forest contains a thousand secrets... In this charming anthology of stories readers will be guided into forests to meet the amazing animals that live there. In one story a squirrel hunts for an elusive acorn it buried earlier in the year, while another looks at an Alaskan wood frog as it freezes itself alive to survive a harsh winter.

Other stories feature wild cats, pangolins, badgers, foxes, monarch butterflies, walking fish, and even forest-dwelling penguins! Each story is based on the real behaviour of these amazing wild animals, and at the end of each tale readers will find out more about the science that inspired the story.


Return of the Wild by Helen Scales

Discover the extraordinary ways nature has come back from the brink in this collection of 20 environmental success stories from around the world. From humpback whale populations thriving again in the freezing seas of Alaska and the recovery of kiwi populations in New Zealand, to the setting up of tiger sanctuaries and reserves in India and return of elephant seals from 'extinction', this book plants a message of hope and shows children that positive change is possible.

As well as the 20 recovery stories, Return of the Wild teaches children about the different habitats that animals and plants around the world call home – oceans, forests, deserts and more – and introduces them to the real people supporting endangered species. This book reassures children that there are many ways to protect and save our planet from environmental harm.


Aussie Native Plants by Joey Farrell & Jocelyn Gibson (illus.)

Within these pages, you'll find out about a few of Australias beautiful, interesting and useful native plants. They've grown and adapted over thousands of years to live harmoniously with Australias land, climate, animals and First Nations Peoples. These plants have some astonishingly unique gifts, and purposes that are not found in any other plan.

Cover image for Secret Stories of Nature: A Field Guide to Uncover Our Planet's Past

Secret Stories of Nature: A Field Guide to Uncover Our Planet’s Past

Saskia Gwinn, Vasilisa Romanenko (illus.)

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops