As our home planet continues to evolve and its climate to change, we need our kids to be more informed than ever about the role they—and we all—play in the ecosystem we are part of. Here are 10 books to get them started toward changing, and maybe even saving, the world.

The Old Man and the Penguin: A True Story of True Friendship by Julie Abery and Pierre Pratt

“Based on a touching true story, this poem describes an unlikely but very strong bond between a man and a penguin caught in an oil spill. An unforgettable tale, beautifully rendered by author Julie Abery and illustrator Pierre Pratt. ” Storyberries

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“The Keeper of Wild Words” by Brooke Smith and Madeline Khepper

“Mimi loves words for things in nature—apricot, blackberry, buttercup—but when the words start disappearing, she knows they need protecting. Enter her granddaughter Brook. This inventive, imaginative tale will give both kids and adults a new appreciation for the world around them and the words they use to describe it.” Storyberries

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“Where the Forest Meets the Sea” by Jeannie Baker

“A visually captivating tour through an environment that may be disappearing faster than we think. By painting a picture of extinct or rare species populating the forests of long ago, Baker reminds us of the importance of preserving what is here now.”
Storyberries

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“The Big Book of Blooms” by Yuval Zommer

“What does a venus flytrap eat? How strong is a giant water lily? Does a cactus flower? These and any other questions your or your child might possibly dream up about flowers is bound to be answered in this book. And there are unforgettable pictures to match!”
Storyberries

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“Lots” by Marc Martin

““A book about everything, for everyone,” as this book has become known—and rightly so: there are more animals, humans, cars, city scenes, and creatures of every kind than you can count! A necessary book for when you need reminding of how big the world is and how perfectly you fit into it.”
Storyberries

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“Deep in the Ocean” by Lucie Brunellière

“When a submarine sets sail for deep waters, the scientists on board are hardly prepared for what they’ll find. Bursting with rich images—and six different kinds of ink (not counting octopus’s!)—this book explores marine life like few books ever have.”
Storyberries

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“Old Enough to Save the Planet” by Loll Kirby and Adelina Lirius

“This book tells tales of the measures kids can (and do!) plan and take to slow the damaging process of climate change. A perfect book to inspire readers of all ages to action.”
Storyberries

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“If You Come to Earth” by Sophie Blackall”

This gracefully drawn book tells the story of…well, everything about Planet Earth. A story for children who want to know how their choices affect our home, and how to make good ones that will last many lifetimes.
Storyberries

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“The Digger and the Flower” by Joseph Keufler

“What happens when a powerful construction machine encounters one of the smallest, most delicate, yet strongest of nature’s creations? Told with starkly contrasting colors, this book asks the big question of how to create space for everything in an environment with limited resources.”
Storyberries

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“We Are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade

“Inspired by the water preservation movements led by North America’s Indigenous communities, this book of lush illustrations, plants in our minds the reality that we are all responsible for creating practices that will ensure safe water for use by all living things.”
Storyberries

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Storyberries Books About Earth And The Environment

Our Beautiful World

A beautifully illustrated book encouraging kids to think about the importance of caring for the Earth, and how they might make a difference

The Whole World I Love It

A lovely book for young children which expresses parental love for a child through beautiful images of the simple and delightful things that a young child might see in their day.

Dive

There are so many different creatures to be found under the sea. Join a nature-loving boy as he goes on a diving adventure and encounters the marvels of the coral reef. A beautiful, informative book.

The post Top 10 Books about Earth and the Environment first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

© Storyberries 2021

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE STORY ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Kindness

1. Why do you think the baby chicks wanted to cheer their Mama up when she is sad?

Beauty, Nature

1. Why do you think flowers can cheer someone up?

Short Story for Kids written by Andrea Kaczmarek

Illustrations by Jade Maitre, with elements from licensed purchases, Rawpixel and Pixabay.

Music Video from zapsplat.com

Mama Chick's New Easter Hat | Bedtime Stories | Free Kids Books

Mama Chick feels sad... luckily her little chicks are about to make her Easter a happy one!

URL: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-mama-chicks-new-easter-hat-free-kids-books-online/

Author: Andrea Kaczmarek

Editor's Rating:
5

The post Mama Chick’s New Easter Hat first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

“Not fair.” Wendi was cross. “You promised we could go to the climbing park.”

“But, it is going to rain, and the climbing park is outdoors.” Mum shook her head.

Wendi looked out of the window. “But it isn’t raining, just clouds, it isn’t raining at all…”

“The weather lady says so, and she knows, rain in the afternoon.” Mum looked out of the window.

“I expect that weather lady got it wrong.” Wendi went to her bedroom.

She stared out of her bedroom window. “Silly weather lady,” she whispered – and then the rain started.

“Oh.” Wendi looked up at the sky. “Not so silly weather lady.”

“We’ll go to the climbing park another day.” Mum watched as the rain splashed.

“How does the weather lady know about the weather.” Wendi asked.

“Well, she has got a weather station, I think.” Mum was not sure.

“Grandpa might know; we’ll ask him tomorrow.”

And that’s what Wendi did, she asked her Grandpa.

“We can build a little weather station in the garden if you like, Wendi,” Grandpa explained.” You’ll need a wind vane to see how the wind is blowing, we can make that”

“We can make a rain gauge, to measure how much rain has fallen.”

“And, I’ve got a good thermometer for outdoors.”

“A thermometer, what is that? Wendi was puzzled.

Grandpa laughed “A thermometer measures the temperature, how warm or cold it is.”

“Thermometer.” Wendi was pleased with her new word.

“And last of all, we need a Barometer, that’s a big word too, Wendi.” Grandpa explained “A barometer tells us what the air pressure is, I’ve got one, too.”

“But what’s air pressure?” Wendi asked.

“Well, if the air pressure changes, the weather will change.”

Grandpa laughed and promised to help Wendi build a little garden weather station.

Grandpa and Wendi worked hard.

Wendi made the wind vane with paper cups on a stick. “Like a pinwheel.” Wendi laughed.

They put up a bright ‘Windsock’, silly name, with red, yellow and blue ribbons too. “It isn’t a sock at all.” Wendi stuck the ribbons on. “But we can see how windy the wind is.”

The rain gauge was easy, a glass jar with the measures written on the side. They put it into the grass, so it couldn’t get knocked over.

The Barometer and the Thermometer were easy too, and they found a good place near Wendi’s playhouse. And Grandpa made a stand, so Wendi could check every day.

“And now the most important thing, Wendi…”

Grandpa fixed a chart on the wall of her playhouse. “You have to keep a chart, a list of all the wind, rain and temperature changes. That’s when you’ll see how the weather is changing. Then you really will be a weathergirl.”

All Wendi’s friends visited her garden weather station.

“Rain, Windy, Sun, Snow, Hot, Cold, Cloudy, Stormy, Very Windy – Wendi had painted a picture for all the things a weathergirl has to say.
She held up two pictures – “Rain and very windy tomorrow.” And she put on her yellow rain hat and all her friends laughed.

The next morning the wind started and later the rain poured down.

“Wendi is a weather girl” Wendi’s friends laughed.

With Grandpa’s help, Wendi looked at the sky and checked her weather station.

Wendi was a very good weathergirl – until one icy cold winter day.

“When will it snow? Wendi, we want know…”

That was the big question. It was very cold, Wendi put up her Freeze card.

“Tomorrow, it will snow tomorrow…” Wendi was sure.

But it didn’t snow, not even one tiny snowflake.

“Wendi, you aren’t a weathergirl at all. You promised snow and snowmen.”

Wendi asked Grandpa. “My weather station says snow, but there is no snow.”

. “No weathergirl is always right, but it will snow soon, I am sure…”

And two days later, the snow fell and covered up Wendi’s weather station. So that you could hardly see it.

Wendi’s friends were happy now, they got out their sledges and they made a big snowman.

“Thank you, Wendi Weathergirl, we got our snow….”

“I am a weathergirl, but it isn’t my snow, the snow clouds are the secret.” Wendi smiled

But Wendi had a big problem. She didn’t tell her friends – they were all so happy having fun in the snow.

Wendi whispered the problem to Grandpa “The weather is changing, in a day or two it will get warmer, then the snow will go.”

“Aah.” Grandpa smiled “Let your friends play in the snow today, tell them tomorrow…”

© Andrea Kaczmarek / Storyberries 2020

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE STORY ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Co-operation

1. How did Wendi and her grandfather work together to create the weather station in this story?

2. Do you think Wendi could have done it on her own? Why or why not?

3. Why do you think Wendi’s grandfather was happy to show Wendi about weather stations?

Nature, Conversation

1. What is the weather like where you live? 

2. How might you make your own weather station?

Short Story for Kids written by Andrea Kaczmarek

Illustrations purchased on license.

Music Video:  “Hep Cats” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Golly Gee” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Happy Boy Theme” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Happy Boy End Theme” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Holiday Weasel” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Frost Waltz (Alternate)” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.comby/4.0/, “Enchanted Valley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The post Wendi’s Weather Station first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

© Storyberries 2020

Visit Storyberries Bookstore

Let’s Chat About The Stories ~ Ideas for Talking With Kids

Nature, Environment

1. How do you think islands of plastic arrive in the ocean?

2. Do you think there is anything that you could do, to make sure that plastic does not end up in the ocean?

3. Tiny Mermaid uses her voice to help, even though she is tiny. What do you think this says about helping?

Short story for kids written by Jade Maitre

Illustrated by Agnes Antonello

Music Video: “Swimmey Texture” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Feelin Good” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Chase Pulse” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “The Other Side of the Door” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Colossus” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), “Thunder Dreams” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The post Tiny Mermaid first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

© Andrea Kaczmarek 2020

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE STORY ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Nature

1. Why do you think it is important to care for bees?

2. Do you think all animals in nature should be safe and healthy, even if they’re small? Why do you think this?

Short Story for Kids written by Andrea Kaczmarek

Illustrations by Jade Maitre, with elements from licensed purchases, Rawpixel and Pixabay.

The post Bee-Friendly Charlotte first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

SHORT STORY FOR KIDS WRITTEN BY HELEN MOFFETT

ILLUSTRATED BY ALEX LATIMER

DESIGNED BY JENNIFER JACOBS

EDITED BY DIANE AWERBUCK

* THE STORY ‘TOAST’ WAS CREATED BY BOOK DASH AND IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION 4.0 LICENSE. MINOR FORMATTING CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE ORIGINAL WORK FOR EASE OF READING ON OUR WEBSITE.

LET’S DISCUSS THE STORIES ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Nature

1. Why are the funny animals stealing the baby’s toast?

The post Toast first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE POEM ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Nature, Creativity

1. This poem imagines the frost as a being who makes something happen to everything he touches. Can you imagine what the summer sun would make happen, if it was a being?

POEMS FOR KIDS WRITTEN BY HANNAH FLAGG GOULD

The post The Frost first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

“Let’s go looking for chestnuts.”

“Chestnuts?” I say.

“Chestnuts,” says Dad. “Do you remember them from last Christmas? We cooked them on a fire and ate them warm. They grow on trees in the forest here. Come and we’ll find them together.”

So my brothers and I all put on our boots. It will be wet, walking in the forest.

We park our car and enter the forest. It’s very quiet on the path. The earth is damp underneath our feet, and there are big brown puddles. They are silent puddles – there are no frogs or tadpoles in them anymore.

Now it is autumn, when the leaves fall from the trees. It feels like the whole world is waiting for the cold breath of winter.

I want to walk through one of the big puddles. Because I have my boots on, I can do it. I walk right through the middle of the puddle, and my feet don’t get wet at all.

But it’s not really fun, just walking through a puddle. So I kick the water and make a splash!

Dad says,

“Watch out! You’ll wet your socks!”

But I don’t wet my socks. That’s how good I am at kicking water with boots on!

Before I know it, Dad is calling me over. He shows me a funny bush. It has long green leaves with a crinkled edge. In the middle of some of the leaves are the chestnuts.

Dad tells me that those funny looking spiky things are just a shell for the nut, which lives inside it.

“I don’t think I would like to eat a chestnut like that!” I tell Dad. “Those balls would really spike my mouth!”

So how do you think we eat these chestnuts, if they’re wrapped in such a spiky case? Dad shows me how. He puts a chestnut on the ground and stamps on it. If you’re lucky, the case splits open, and you will see a shiny brown nut inside.

But chestnuts aren’t the only thing we see on our forest walk! There are so many things to find, if you only take the time to look.

We discover a field of dried sunflowers. Their great big heads are droopy, and they crackle when you touch them.

“That is where the sun must have been when they died,” says my little brother Tom, for they are all facing the same way.

“Look,” says Papa. “This is a field for harvesting seeds. Can you see what the inside of the flower has turned into? It is filled with sunflower seeds.”

We take some in our hands. They are not quite like the ones you buy in a shop. They are more chewy, and they have little hairs on them.

My littlest twin brothers take some of the fallen sunflowers. They turn them into swords and flagpoles and pointers and javelins. They wave them in the air, and you can see them from far away.

Tom, who loves plants and animals, says to our littlest brothers,

“No, no. Don’t take any more sunflowers. You will hurt them!”

“It’s okay,” says Dad. “They are not picking them. They have only taken ones that were on the ground.”

Next Tom sees something special. He says,

“Look! A giant snail!”

And it is a giant snail! I have never seen one so big. The little creature will not poke his head out and say hello. It is probably frightened from being in the air instead of sliding soft along the ground.

We put it back on a big brown leaf and it seems much happier. It still stays inside its house though.

We keep walking along the path… until…

We climb up a small ridge and discover a beautiful garden.

It is an orchard. It is filled with fruits, like apple trees, pear trees and mandarin trees. There are also furry bullrushes that remind me of a corn dog.

I look across the field and see a beautiful red tree that looks like a flame pointing up towards the sky. It is so beautiful that I would like to stay there forever!

But we can’t stay there forever. We put some apples and pears in our pockets along with the chestnuts, and keep walking.

Soon I hear my brother Tom laugh.

“Look!” he says. “Horses!”

They are the friendliest horses I have ever seen. At first I think it is because they like me, but then I realise that they have smelled the apples and pears in my pocket.

We give the horse an apple. He eats it very fast! That was definitely why he liked us.

We can hear the great chomping of his teeth as he mashes up the apple. All the juice from the apple spills out and makes white froth around his mouth. He really loved that apple!

Now it is time for us to go home. We have enjoyed our autumn walk through the forest, and our pockets are heavy with the treasures we found.

I have apples, pears, sunflower seeds, chestnuts, and some little stones I saw along the path.

My littlest brothers each have a sunflower head and a bullrush. But they don’t want to go home just yet. They have littler legs than us others, and so they need to rest under a tree.

“Are you ready to go?” asks Dad finally.

“Yes,” we all say. We know at home there will be hot milk in a mug waiting for us.

The sun is starting to set and it is getting cold. We will go home now.

SHORT STORY FOR KIDS WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY JADE MAITRE

(c) Storyberries 2016

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE STORIES ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Family

1. This story tells about a time that a family went for a walk together and discovered things along the way. Can you think of a time when you spent a nice time together with your family, discovering things? Where did you go? What did you discover?

Nature

1. Nature changes with the seasons. The leaves change colour and the weather gets cooler. Can you think of some other things that change during the Autumn/ Fall?

2. How do you feel when you are walking in nature?

Book Information!

An Autumn Walk | Stories About Seasons | Bedtime Stories

A Dad takes his family for a walk through the forest, to find chestnuts and other natural treasures.

URL: https://www.storyberries.com/bedtime-stories-an-autumn-walk/

Author: Storyberries

Editor's Rating:
5

The post An Autumn Walk first appeared on Bedtime Stories.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

POEMS FOR KIDS WRITTEN BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Header illustration by Cirodelia

LET’S CHAT ABOUT THE POEM ~ IDEAS FOR TALKING WITH KIDS

Nature, Optimism

1. The author of this poem finds it hard to go to bed in summer, and just as hard to get up early in the winter. Can you think of some nice things about going to bed in summer?

2. How about thinking up some nice things about waking up early in winter?

The post Bed in Summer first appeared on Bedtime Stories.