Summer is a time for playing outside and enjoying the environment. At least one study has shown that playing outside as a child is an important predictor of protecting the environment as an adult. But parents need to ensure kids keep up their reading skills, which often slide over the summer.

These books with environmental themes, sorted by reading level, will improve both your kids’ literacy and their environmental awareness. We suggest reading them in a treehouse or on a picnic blanket in the sun.

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Picture Books

A Leaf Can Be …

by Laura Purdie Salas

A leaf can be a … shade spiller, mouth filler, tree topper, rain stopper. Find out about the many roles leaves play in this poetic exploration of leaves throughout the year. Pair it with the companion volumes A Rock Can Be … and Water Can Be … for a full nature-cycle set.

The Tantrum That Saved the World

by Megan Herbert and Michael E. Mann

A little girl inherits a huge problem she didn’t ask for — and then channels strong emotions into positive action. Co-written by climate scientist Michael E. Mann, the second half explains the science of climate change in age-appropriate language and closes with a kid-friendly action plan.

Seeds of Change: Wangari’s Gift to the World

by Jen Cullerton Johnson

It’s never too early for children to see examples of strong women who make the world a better place. This picture-book biography of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai illustrates the often-overlooked intersection between ecology and justice, which makes this example even better.

We Are Water Protectors

by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade

New to this list. Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal, the first awarded to a Native American illustrator, this lyrical, gorgeously painted book follows an Ojibwe girl who rallies her community to defend the water against a “black snake” pipeline. It introduces the youngest readers to Indigenous environmental stewardship and the idea that water is life.

Books for Younger Middle Grade

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

by Joanna Cole

Trust the beloved kids’ science series Magic School Bus to explain the facts of global warming in ways kids understand, and to give them ideas about how they can help. Ms. Frizzle takes the class from the Arctic to the equator to see the signs of a warming planet firsthand.

The Last Bear

by Hannah Gold

New to this list. There are no polar bears left on Bear Island, or so April’s father tells her when his research takes them to a remote Arctic outpost. Then April spots one: hungry, lonely, and far from home. Hannah Gold’s award-winning debut (a Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and Blue Peter Book Award winner) pairs a tender friendship story with a clear-eyed look at melting sea ice, illustrated throughout by Levi Pinfold.

Operation Redwood

by S. Terrell French

The environmental movement is too often associated with white people. In Operation Redwood, a biracial boy challenges his rich relatives to look past the profit motive and protect an old-growth redwood grove on property they own.

Books for Middle-Grade Tweens

Two Degrees

by Alan Gratz

New to this list. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee, this fast-moving novel braids together three kids facing three climate disasters — a California wildfire, stranded polar bears in Manitoba, and a Florida hurricane — into one connected story. It won the 2023 Green Earth Young Adult Book Award and reads like a thriller, which makes it a strong pick for reluctant readers.

Gorilla Dawn

by Gill Lewis

Two children living in the Congo’s war zone risk everything to protect a captured baby gorilla from a life in captivity. Although not graphic, this book is intense. It addresses the impact of violence on children and wildlife and reveals the connection between the rare-earth minerals in consumer electronics and devastating destruction in Africa.

Squirm

by Carl Hiaasen

While not as overtly environmentalist as the well-known Hoot, Hiaasen’s eco-adventure features tween protagonists who care about animals and appreciate the natural world more than the adults around them — here, a Florida kid who heads to Montana to find his father and ends up tangling with poachers, a spy drone, and a grizzly. His characteristic irreverent humor is on full display.

The Last Wild

by Piers Torday

A boy who can talk to animals — but not people — fights against extinction in a world where a virus has wiped out nearly all wildlife. The first book in a gripping trilogy, it’s a natural conversation-starter about biodiversity loss and what a landscape looks like once the wild things are gone.

The Casket of Time

by Andri Snær Magnason

From poetry to nonfiction, books by Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason are unified by environmental concern. Now available in English, his 2013 novel for tweens and teens, The Casket of Time, tells the story of Sigrun, a teenager whose TimeBox® opens too early. Her family entered the TimeBoxes to sleep out “the situation,” but now she finds herself among the few who are left awake to fix the world. Younger readers will enjoy his first children’s book, The Story of the Blue Planet.

Make the Most of Summer Reading

A few simple habits help these books do double duty — building reading stamina and environmental awareness at the same time:

1. Read outside. Pairing a nature story with time in a backyard, park, or trail reinforces the connection the research points to between outdoor play and lifelong environmental care.
2. Borrow before you buy. Most of these titles are available through your local library or its e-book app, which keeps reading low-cost and low-waste. Buy the keepers your kids want to read again.
3. Talk about the action steps. Several of these books — The Tantrum That Saved the World, Two Degrees, Old Enough-style activist stories — end with concrete things kids can do. Pick one and try it together.
4. Pass them on. When your family outgrows a book, donate it to a school, Little Free Library, or shelter so it keeps circulating instead of heading to the recycling bin.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Gemma Alexander on May 10, 2019, and was most recently updated with new titles in June 2026.

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