Green Libraries Week runs from 21 to 28 October and focuses on the role of libraries caring for nature and promoting sustainability an understanding of the importance of or protecting the natural world.
Take a look at these great non-fiction books for junior readers in celebration of this year’s theme – climate facts for a greener future.
Want more suggested books? Take a look at our recommendations.
Thrive
Marnie Willow
From the magnificent forests of mangrove trees in the Philippines, along ancient hedgerows in the British countryside and across the vast grasslands of the Gobi desert, wildlife is at risk.
Animal and plant species are being declared as ‘Extinct in the Wild’, and climate change and human activity have pushed nature to its brink. But across the world, people are stepping in. Discover the incredible ways scientists, conservationists and ordinary people are protecting species and habitats across the planet.
From ZSL’s incredible Darwin’s frog rescue mission, to the scientists protecting angel sharks from fishing practices, and the local communities managing wildlife reserves where tigers can live safely in the Terai Arc, explore the heroic lengths travelled to ensure plants, animals and humans can live in harmony – and how you can help too.
Small Steps, Big Change
Annemarie Cool
A book on sustainable living, ‘Small Steps, Big Change’ is a one-stop-shop for small, everyday goals that kids can aim for to engender positive change in our world.
Packed with helpful tips in a simple, upbeat language that children will understand, and illustrated in a bold and quirky style by James Jones, this is the ideal guide to inspire children to help build a better tomorrow.
From making puppets out of old socks, to spreading kindness and protecting our oceans, kids will love getting involved in all the ways we can make a difference to the world.
You Can Save Planet Earth
Melanie Hibbert
Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery that will teach you about climate change and inspire you to save the Earth!
From global warming, pollution, fossil fuels and energy to food, farming and living with less, you’ll not only learn about the impact of planet-harming activities, you’ll learn how you can be inspired to help save the Earth.
Our Forests
লুইস স্পিলসবারি
Forests are different around the world. They range from hot, damp rainforests to icy taiga forests, but all of them offer a home for animals and plants, precious natural resources and beautiful places to have fun, spot nature and find calm.
But forests are under threat from climate change, habitat loss and pollution. Find out how we can all help to look after our precious forests, as well as enjoy them.
Cities Going Wild: To Save the Planet
Catherine Barr
Cities across the world are doing it – making themselves friendlier places for plants and wildlife – and happier, healthier places for all of us.
Find out about sky forests and bird-friendly cities, spongy spaces and rain gardens, insect super-highways, living walls, urban jungle food and all the other ways in which cities worldwide are changing. Have fun spotting the birds, insects and other creatures that share our cities.
And look out for lots of activities, so that YOU can make YOUR city green!
Your Planet Needs You!
Elizabeth Lair
Find out about the positive ways we can all help solve the problem of climate change in this innovative illustrated book.
Our climate is changing, and sometimes the news about extreme weather and rising temperatures can sound scary. But did you know that people all over the world are inventing brilliant ways to solve the problem – and that you could help?
From scientists to farmers and carpenters to fashion designers, discover the jobs you could do when you grow up to help our planet. Whether you like looking after nature, working with big machines, solving tricky puzzles or being creative, this book is packed with inspiration.
Nature’s Heroes: Great Conservation Campaigners
Mick Manning
Here are 37 inspirational nature’s heroes from around the world and across history – from Queen Hatshepsut of ancient Egypt and Aristotle of ancient Greece, to Charles Darwin, John Muir, Beatrix Potter, Wangari Maathai, Jagannathan Vijaya, David Attenborough, young heroes of the 21st century and many more.
They have all stood up for nature as pioneer thinkers, artists, writers and campaigners, to help protect our precious and endangered natural world. Be inspired to take action for our planet – and you too can be a nature hero.
How to Teach Grown-Ups About Climate Change
Patricia Daniels
Never has there been a more perfect time to empower children to take the lead and educate their grown-ups about climate change.
Featuring a foreword by internationally renowned climate scientist Dr Michael E. Mann and bursting with fabulous original illustrations, this delightfully witty book deals with the pressing topic of our changing planet in an uplifting, positive manner.
Interwoven amongst the more serious questions – why is Earth so special in the first place? How do we know about climate change? What causes it? How can we recognise false information? – are fun-filled facts about cow burps, woolly mammoths, panda-shaped solar panels, and much more.
Weird and Wonderful Ways to Save the Planet
Madeleine Finlay
Fancy biting into a beetle burger? Or heating your home with poo? How about using plants to light your bedroom?
We all know that climate change is having a huge impact on our planet – but what we don’t all know are some of the genius – but sometimes strange – ways scientists are working to find practical and imaginative answers to this and other Earth-altering problems.
From the breakfast table to the bathtub, on a day at school or in the park or at the farm, see how some of these bizarre and brainy inventions could fit into everyday life.
Nature Heroes
Lily Dyu
The natural world is a rich web of animals, plants and other organisms. But this delicate balance is at risk – facing challenges such as climate change, pollution and destruction caused by humans.
While the threat of the biodiversity crisis may feel impossible to overcome, individuals from all over the world have dared to fight for nature, and their astonishing stories prove that change really is possible!
From cleaning-up the mighty Mississippi, to farming coral, to inventing plastic alternatives made from seaweed, it only takes one person to stand up for their beliefs and inspire others to join them. And when we stand together, we can start to change the world.
Nature is the Answer!: A Toolkit for Eco-Positivity
Chris Packham
Climate change is having, and will continue to have, a profound impact on children’s lives for generations to come. Children today care, but they don’t feel they are being listened to. Chris Packham is here to help the next generation stand up, shout above the noise, and make sure that their demands are heard.
Eco-anxiety is starting to make huge impacts on young people’s mental health. Let’s navigate the complexities of our relationship with the planet and discover ways to transform anxiety into advocacy. By understanding what causes these feelings, how to manage them, and how to turn them into something constructive, readers will feel empowered to take on the future.
The Week Junior: Guide to the Environment
Sai Pathmanatha
The essential guide to understanding the environment and climate change from multi-award-winning children’s magazine The Week Junior, perfect for children determined to make a difference.
Who says plastic isn’t fantastic? Why do rising temperatures matter? Will we all be eating bugs in the future? How can leftovers help save the world?
This brilliant introduction to the environment combines cutting-edge science with practical activism, showing children how to be part of the solution.
Climate Action: The Future is in Our Hands
Georgina Stevens
This is a book about climate change, and the actions we can take in preventing it. From its causes and the effects they have on our beautiful planet, to the changes we can make, young eco enthusiasts will love finding out more about this global crisis.
Climate Action is a positive guide to the changes, both big and small, we can make. From sustainable shopping to pollution-tackling green roofs, there are so many exciting innovations which are helping us in our quest to save the planet.
Inspiring, informative and uplifting, this is the perfect handbook for being the change we want to see. Now featuring updated facts and statistics to reflect environmental changes that have taken place since the publication of the hardback edition.
Princess Olivia Investigates: The Knights of Nature
Lucy Hawking
Olivia and her best friends, Ravi and Helga, aka The Climate Crew, start to realise that the problems in the environment around them are all connected to each other, and all to do with the way the Earth is being looked after by everybody on it. They need to help.
When they realise that a group called the Knights of Nature, set up years and years ago, believe the same things they do and also want to help, they decide to work together. Protecting Alez’s weather and countryside and animals and people – and, well, everything, really! – awaits them.
Global
Eoin Colfer
Yuki lives in an increasingly deserted Inuit township in Nova Scotia. One day she sets out into the wilderness of the Arctic tundra planning to photograph a rare grolar bear (a terrifying grizzly-polar crossbreed created by climate change) – if she can prove it’s a grolar, she can protect it from being shot.
With only her faithful dog for company and adrift on a fragment of melting glacier, she finds herself being stalked across the changing wilderness by a starving grolar bear, with only her wits and her harpoon to keep her alive.
Sami lives in a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal. But because of the ever-rising ocean level, each day is a struggle to survive. One night, Sami sets out to return to his old, submerged family home, alone. He takes a deep breath and dives beneath the moonlit waters, hoping to find his past.
But a cyclone is coming…
Future Hopes
Wren James
In this collection of compelling short stories, authors including M.G. Leonard, Neal Shusterman and Tolá Okogwu offer hope for our planet in the face of climate change.
Skyscraper farms. Insects for dinner. Guerilla gardening. Nine authors pose ingenious and thought-provoking solutions to the climate crisis in this anthology of climate fiction. Rooted in real-world science and technology, the stories offer a roadmap for a future where our planet can thrive.
From a rewilding project with unexpected consequences to a rebellion against augmented reality, these wide-ranging stories will leave the reader feeling a little less powerless in the fight to save planet Earth.
Bengali 
English 
Polish 
Lithuanian 
Romanian 
Portuguese