Green Books

There are many wonderful books that feature the environment. Each year the Wilderness Society awards prizes to the best children’s books with environmental themes. To see this fantastic collection go to: www.wilderness.org.au/about/bookaward/intro/

For a magazine try the Bilby Bulletin. It’s a free quarterly newsletter for young people with environmental news, games and cartoons produced by the Australian Conservation Foundation under its Earthkids banner. Go to www.acfonline.org.au/earthkids.

Here are some of our favourite environmental books with an emphasis on Australian authors.

Turtle’s Song by Alan Brown, Illustrated by Kim Michelle Toft (University of Queensland Press)

The World that We Want by Kim Michelle Toft (University of Queensland Press)

The Lorax by Dr Seuss (Harper Collins)

The Hidden Forest and any books by Jeannine Baker (Walker)

V is for Vanishing: An Alphabet of Endangered Animals by Patricia Mullins (Scholastic)

Beginning Readers

Koala Fever by Justin d’Ath (Allen & Unwin)

What’s in the River? By Janeen Brian (Scholastic)

Eco-Wolf and the Three Pigs, by Laurence Anholt, illustrator Arthur Robins (Orchard Books)

Goblin in the Bush (and other Goblin titles) by Victor Kelleher, illustrator Stephen Michael King (Random House)

Confident Readers

Blueback by Tim Winton (PanMacmillan)

The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono, illustrator Michael McCurdy (Chelsea Green)

Stormboy and any other books by Colin Thiele

Plain Rude by Linda Aronson (Puffin)

Fiddle-back by Elizabeth Honey (Allen & Unwin)

City of the Beasts by Isabelle Allende (Harper Collins)

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (PanMacmillan)

Non-fiction

Australian Threatened and Endangered Wildlife by Sheere Maris (Gould League). There are many other excellent resources available from the Gould League.

The Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Thames & Hudson)

The Big Picture Book by John Long, illustrations Brian Choo (Allen & Unwin)

Earth Watch, Ocean Watch, Animal Watch, Food Watch by Planet Ark and DK (Dorling Kindersley)

365 Ways to Change the World by Michael Norton (Penguin)

World Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006 (BBC Books)