Recommended Reads

Nate the Great takes on his first night case and tries to solve the mystery of the garbage snatcher.

Did you know that companies and governments send more than one hundred satellites into space every year? And that most of those satellites continue to orbit Earth--even after they have stopped working? More than 500,000 old satellites, pieces of metal, and other bits of junk currently pollute Earth's orbit. And that number is growing. Astronomers, engineers, and politicians all agree that the future of space exploration is in danger if this debris isn't taken care of. But the problem of garbage in space is difficult and expensive to solve. In this book, learn more about this problem and its potential solutions.

When chance, or fate, throws two twelve-year-olds together on board a scientific research ship at the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s not all smooth sailing!

Jeremy “JB” Barnes is looking forward to spending the summer before seventh grade hanging on the beach. But his mother, a scientist, has called for him to join her aboard a research ship where, instead, he’ll spend his summer seasick and bored as he stares out at the endless plastic, microbeads, and other floating debris, both visible and not, that make up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Miles and miles away, twelve-year-old Sidney Miller is trying to come up with an alternate activity worthy of convincing her overprotective parents that she can skip summer camp.

When Jeremy is asked to find the contact information for a list of important international scientists and invite them to attend a last-minute Emergency Global Summit, he's excited to have a chance to actually do something that matters to the mission. How could he know that the Sidney Miller he messages is not the famous marine biologist he has been tasked with contacting, but rather a girl making podcasts from her bedroom—let alone that she would want to sneak aboard the ship?

Nora Raleigh Baskin and Gae Polisner's Consider the Octopus is a comedy of errors, mistaken identity, and synchronicity. Above all, it is a heartfelt story about friendship and an empowering call to environmental protection, especially to our young people who are already stepping up to help save our oceans and our Earth.

Praise for The Sewer Rat Stink: Fresh, funny, and fast-paced. The free-style artwork and anything-goes story will make kids want to write and draw their own books! -Dav PilkeyThis is Geronimo Stilton like you've never seen him before!

A stinky smell is taking over New Mouse City! No mouse can live like this! Geronimo and his best friend Hercule, the private detective, head underground into the sewer world of Mouse Island to investigate. Can they save the city from the stench?This is all-new Geronimo Stilton as interpreted by author, artist, and longtime fan Tom Angleberger. Tom is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

"The Mess That We Made explores the environmental impact of trash and plastic on the ocean and marine life, and it inspires kids to do their part to combat pollution. Simple, rhythmic wording builds to a crescendo ("This is the mess that we made. These are the fish that swim in the mess that we made.") and the vibrant digital artwork captures the disaster that is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Children can imagine themselves as one of the four multi-ethnic occupants of the little boat surrounded by swirling plastic in the middle of the ocean, witnessing the cycle of destruction and the harm it causes to plants, animals, and humans. The first half of the book portrays the growing magnitude of the issue, and the second half rallies children and adults to make the necessary changes to save our oceans. Facts about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, ocean pollution, and how kids can help are included in the back matter."--Publisher's description.

Kids can become ocean-saving superheroes with these plastic-fighting missions from best-selling author and environmental champion Martin Dorey.

Every kid can be a superhero, fighting plastic waste at home, at school, and in their community. This engaging guide is chockfull of facts, vibrant art, graphics, and #2minutesuperhero missions—practical ways to take action now. Some ideas may spring to mind right away, such as picking up trash. Others are surprising, such as learning to cook with fresh ingredients or mending clothes. Readers will learn not only how to combat plastic waste head-on, but how to advocate for a cleaner world, beginning at home. Anti-plastic campaigner Martin Dorey brings both extensive experience and boundless enthusiasm to this essential book for young people who want to create a better world.

Look no further than your recycling bin to ignite your child's imagination!

Featuring more than 20 sustainable art projects (with more than 75 different variations), Cardboard Creations shows you how to inspire creativity without having to buy fancy art supplies.

Whether you're a parent or caregiver in search of activities for just one child, or a seasoned art teacher looking for new projects to engage a group of children, this book is for you. Start reusing, exploring, and inventing today!

The fourth book in a new arc in the New York Times bestselling Amelia Bedelia chapter book series featuring young Amelia Bedelia and her friends! This chapter book is an excellent choice for children who are ready to read independently, and is terrific for building vocabulary. Includes instructions on how to make your own reusable tote bag at home!

Amelia Bedelia + Good Friends = Super Fun Stories to Read and Share!

Amelia Bedelia and her friends learn about recycling, upcycling, and making art in this funny story about community and friendship. With Amelia Bedelia involved, there are guaranteed to be a few funny mix-ups!

A funny chapter book series about friendship, perfect for fans of Ivy + Bean and Clementine. The Amelia Bedelia books have sold more than 35 million copies since we first met the iconic character in 1963! Includes "Two Ways to Say It", Amelia Bedelia's guide to the idioms used in the story, and instructions on how to make your own reusable tote bag. Illustrated in black-and-white throughout.

Come join the fun!

Alba the fish has spent her entire life collecting precious objects that drift down to the ocean floor. From delicate shells to brightly colored coral, each year on her birthday she gathers one more precious item. But over the years, Alba notices her collection is losing its sparkle and that the world is changing. There is trash everywhere! When, on her birthday hunt, something unthinkable happens, it seems like the plastic may have changed her ocean home forever. Is it too late?

Alba and the Ocean Cleanup is a beautifully illustrated picture book about what we can do to save this important ecosystem.

A poignant and timely picture book introducing children to the issue of ocean pollution, with ideas to help the world become a better, cleaner place.

Coral and her mom are enjoying a break at the seaside. Until a creature emerges from the waves! It's a giant. A blue giant. It is made of water, fish, and sea plants and has a stirring plea to help clean up the ocean.

Coral and her mom agree to help, donning their scuba-diving outfits and setting off to sea. But they can't do it alone...can they?

This stunning follow-up to Katie Cottle's debut picture book The Green Giant is another entertaining and beautiful eco-tale from the 2017 winner of the Batsford Prize. It introduces children to the issues of pollution, waste management, and the oceans, with suggestions of lifestyle changes to help clean up our seas.

Uses color illustrations and simple text to explore the importance and benefits of recycling bottles, cans, plastic, clothes, and paper. Includes notes for parents and teachers that have suggestions for reading the book with children and suggestions for follow-up activities.

Explore the icy Arctic and search for Polar Bear in this plastic-free touch and feel book. You'll get to meet incredible endangered animals along the way!

Let your little one take a journey through a frozen world to track down the elusive Polar Bear. Discover a whole host of incredible Arctic animals, including seals, hares, and narwhals!

Is that Polar Bear swimming in the sea? No, that's Narwhal and her baby! Out on the ice, someone is having a snooze. That's not Polar Bear, it's Walrus and her sleepy friend. Your toddler will love meeting all of Polar Bear's friends in this adorable educational book.

Natural cardboard pages with colorful illustrations, fun corrugated elements, and cut-out sections encourage little fingers to explore. This helps develop kids' fine motor skills while building an early learning foundation. Your child will learn how to recognize the names and describe all the incredible Arctic animals they see!

Treasure storytime with your little one! The simple text is ideal for reading aloud as you spot endangered animals in their natural habitat together. This encourages early language development and it's perfect for little learners who are just starting their reading journeys. There are lots of opportunities for parent-and-child interaction and hours of Arctic fun.

Plastic-Free Touch and Feel

This board book is designed to enhance your child's reading experience, while also protecting the environment. It's a fantastic eco-friendly gift. Unlike other touch and feel books, Where Are You Polar Bear? doesn't contain any plastic. Made from responsibly sourced cardboard, everything in this book is completely recyclable.

Complete the Series

There are more plastic-free touch and feel picture books to discover in this series from DK Books. Journey through the rainforest looking for the Tiger in Where Are You Tiger? Each book takes you on a journey through a different landscape in search of an animal at risk of extinction.

A girl and her neighbor grow a community from their garden. Grace thinks Larry’s garden is one of the wonders of the world. In his tiny backyard, Larry grows extraordinary vegetables, with Grace as his helper. They water and weed, plant and prune, hoe and harvest. And whenever there’s a problem, Grace and Larry solve it together. Grace soon learns that Larry has big plans for the vegetables in his garden. And when the garden faces its biggest problem yet, Grace follows Larry’s example to find the perfect solution. Amazing things can grow when you tend your garden with kindness.

Kenzie turns her fierce love for the ocean into action, resourcefully cleaning up the beach after her mermaid-tail swimsuit tangles in floating plastic bags.

When Kenzie slips on her mermaid tail, she becomes Mermaid Kenzie, protector of the deeps. One day as Kenzie snorkels around a shipwreck, she discovers more plastic bags than fish. Grabbing her spear and mermaid net, she begins to clean up the water and the shore--inspiring other kids to help.
 
Beautifully written in African American Vernacular English, this poetic picture book includes back matter with information about how plastic winds up in our oceans and examples of people—some of them kids, like Kenzie—who have worked to protect the sea. Mermaid Kenzie celebrates the ways that all of us, no matter how small, can make a difference.

Everyone’s favorite pink-loving gal returns in Emeraldalicious, the imaginative, glitterlicious sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Pinkalicious!

Pinkalicious combines magic, love, and imagination to turn an ordinary place into an Emeraldalicious world.

Pinkalicious and Peter visit their favorite park, but on the way Pinkalicious’s wand breaks. She isn’t worried at all, because she knows just what to do. She takes a stick, some vines, and a very special flower to make a magical wand.

When Pinkalicious and Peter finally arrive at the park it’s covered in stinky trash! But never fear, Pinkalicious is here with her magical wand, lots of love, and pinktastic rhymes to turn the trash into an Emeraldalicious paradise.

Know what I do at night while you're asleep? Eat your trash, that's what! See those bags? I smell breakfast!

With ten wide tires, one really big appetite, and an even bigger smell, this truck's got it all. His job? Eating your garbage and loving every stinky second of it!

And you thought nighttime was just for sleeping.

Garbage trucks are important machines! In this informative title, narrative text and colorful photos work together to tell the story of a garbage truck's day as it goes along its route. Readers can inspect the truck before it heads out, pick up bins from houses, and dump the trash at the landfill at the end of the day. Mission Goals prepare readers for the text while thought-provoking questions encourage them to think beyond the text. Beginning readers will love this inside look at the day-to-day work of a garbage truck!

I like old clothes, / Hand-me-down clothes, / Worn outgrown clothes, / Not-my-own clothes. . . . Originally published by Knopf in 1976 (with illustrations by Jacqueline Chwast), this poem--an exuberant celebration of hand-me-down clothes--is just as relevant and accessible today as it was over 30 years ago. Children's Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman offers a bouncy, fun-to-read-aloud text and a refreshingly agreeable, resourceful protagonist who likes old clothes for their "history" and "mystery." Illustrator Patrice Barton brings new, contemporary life to the poem, with an adorable little girl and her younger brother playing dress-up, making crafts, and happily treasuring their hand-me-downs.

An exuberantly illustrated true story about innovation, community, and the power of music.

In Cateura, Paraguay, a town built on a landfill, music teacher Favio Chavez longed to help the families living and working amid the hills of trash. How could he help them find hope for the future? Favio started giving music lessons to Cateura's children, but soon he encountered a serious problem. He had more students than instruments!

But Favio had a strange and wonderful idea: what if this recyclers' town had its own recycled orchestra? Favio and Colá, a brilliant local carpenter, began to experiment with transforming garbage into wonder. Old glue canisters became violins; paint cans became violas; drainpipes became flutes and saxophones. With repurposed instruments in their hands, the children of Cateura could fill their community--and the world--with the sounds of a better tomorrow.

Based on an incredible true story, Building an Orchestra of Hope offers an unforgettable picture of human dignity reclaimed from unexpected sources. Carmen Oliver's inviting words and Luisa Uribe's dynamic illustrations create a stirring tribute to creativity, resilience, and the transformative nature of hope.

Arizona Library Association Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee in Nonfiction (2025)

Discover the inspiring true story of Isatou Ceesay, an African woman who started a recycling movement to combat the pollution caused by plastic bags in her community.

For years, plastic bags were a cheap and convenient option for carrying goods in Njau, Gambia. However, when these bags broke or were no longer needed, they were carelessly discarded, leading to an unsightly accumulation of plastic waste alongside roads. The stagnant water in the bags provided a breeding ground for mosquitoes and diseases, while the burning of bags left behind a foul smell. The bags also strangled gardens, killed livestock, and polluted the environment.

Isatou Ceesay decided to take action, and she began to collect the plastic bags and recycle them into something new. Her efforts not only helped to clean up the environment, but also provided income for women in her community who had been struggling to make ends meet.

This powerful and moving book showcases the impact of one person's determination and ingenuity in creating positive change. It highlights the urgent need to address the plastic pollution crisis and encourages readers to take action to make a difference in their own communities. Join Isatou Ceesay and be inspired to become a changemaker in your own right.
 

When the sun has gone down and the town has gone to sleep, the racoon bandits prowl through the night. With masks parmanently in play,
They sneak and they creep.
Doing just what they please.
The thieves snatch, run, and escape--always careful not to get caught.