This Earth Day, celebrate our world by reading environmental literature! Expand your knowledge of Earth sciences or consider our planet from a new perspective with stories like the ones we’ve featured below.
Whether you like fiction or nonfiction (or poetry!), take a gander through this selection of captivating environmental reading ahead of your next library visit.
Fictional Environmental Literature
The perfect genre to explore if you want a captivating story this upcoming Earth Day, Ecofiction is a branch of literature that emphasizes the importance of the environment. Fiction about the environment often grapples with the relationship between humans and the natural world, showing the real-life impacts of damage to ecosystems.
Hoot by Carl Hiassen
If you’re looking for a suspenseful read with wacky characters and an appreciation of animals, Hoot is the perfect choice for students of any age. Protagonist Roy Eberhardt moves to Coconut Cave, Florida and learns that a colony of burrowing owls lives on the site of a construction project, threatening the endangered species even more.
In this unique coming-of-age story, Roy and his classmates organize to protect the owls, standing up for the feathery Floridians who cannot stand up for themselves. A peek into the vulnerable wildlife of increasingly urbanized Florida, Hoot is a heartwarming YA story that’s a must-read for those looking for YA Earth Day books.
Another ecofiction recommendation for middle-grade and YA readers is Dry by Neal Shusterman, featured in our collection of adventurous summer reading!
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The unique tree-related life experiences from nine different Americans draw them together to combat deforestation. The first half of The Overstory grapples with the arboreal presence in personal experiences—the character development of each of the nine Americans and what has drawn them to the trees. The latter half of this novel shows how these characters are drawn together to fight for the protection of trees.
Readers are blown away by Pulitzer Prize-winning The Overstory, moved by the passion with which author Richard Powers writes about these magnificent living beings. This thought-provoking, 500-page story isn’t just a good story to breeze through; it’s an epic in the world of environmental literature that will stay with you long past the end of April.
After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
Dystopian fiction is a go-to genre for ecofiction authors, as it provides a way to explore the potentially devastating future consequences of environmental damage. In Kassandra Montag’s After the Flood, for instance, humanity has been ushered to the mountaintops—the melted ice caps have flooded our planet, raising the sea level across all continents.
People must traverse this watery world, set a century in the future, by sea. Myra and Pearl, our protagonist and her 7-year-old daughter, set sail when they hear that Row, Myra’s oldest daughter, may still be alive. This stirring page-turner about grief, motherhood, and the way our surroundings shape our lives features memorable characters and a look at the hope that remains when everything looks bleak.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
A monumental figure in the world of science fiction with a Mars rover landing site named after her, Octavia Butler is known for critiquing the modern-day institutions in our world through the lens of sci-fi. She began her Parable series with her 1993 Parable of the Sower, a look at how climate change leads to instability and chaos in a fictitious 2024.
Readers follow Lauren Olamina, who has the ability to feel the emotions of others. She must endure the amplified pain that surrounds her as environmental devastation causes the collapse of modern society, ushering in a new age that cannot be ignored. Amidst the terror in this world, Lauren sees a glimmer of hope and destiny to lead humanity towards. Perfect for fantasy fans looking for a mesmerising read for Earth Day, Parable of the Sower has moved readers for years—and so has its sequel, Parable of the Talents.
Environmental Non-Fiction
If you’re looking for books on environmental issues and real-world examples of the significance of nature, look no further than these works of nonfiction environmental literature!
How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery
A prolific author of nonfiction books about the wonder of animals, Sy Montgomery has travelled all over the world to research and encounter magnificent creatures. In her memoir, How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals, she reflects on her experiences; in particular, 13 animals she has met that have transformed her life.
Animals are a crucial part of our environment; coexistence among creatures is a prerequisite for a healthy ecosystem. Take some time this Earth Day to read about animals and how we can learn from them! Readers of How to Be a Good Creature are moved by Montgomery’s graceful writing about her genuine love for living creatures.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
In Silent Spring, a must-read when it comes to environmental literature, marine biologist Rachel Carson documented the severe environmental damage resulting from the use of pesticides—specifically DDT, which she showed was toxic to plants, animals, and even humans. The publication of the book advanced the environmental justice movement in the 1960’s and 70’s, enlightening the public about the harmful effects of pollution.
Written with a palpable passion for the natural world, Silent Spring uses dramatic real-world examples to illustrate the effects of the scientific studies that are being discussed. The momentum gained from its publication eventually led to the ban of DDT, showing how a single activist’s writing caused real change to protect the environment.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on both her career as a botanist and her background as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to explore the fascinating way other living things contribute to the richness of our world in Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Kimmerer argues that humanity must celebrate the reciprocity of coexisting on this planet; that we must develop a fairer relationship with the rest of the world.
Braiding Sweetgrass has it all: beautifully-written, autobiographical prose, an abundance of knowledge about plants and nature, and a message that we should be grateful for our Earth.
The Language of Trees by Katie Holten
The last work of nonfiction environmental literature we’re featuring is The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape, a collection of over 60 essays from different writers that draw on the prowess of trees! Reading a collection of works offers you perspectives from many different points of view, centered around a cohesive theme. These writers provide insightful looks at the arboreal world and how it relates to our own through various mediums, from Radohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” lyrics to writer & professor Nicole Davi’s essay on “Tree Clocks and Climate Change”.
A major theme among these works of environmental literature is community. The roots of trees form a network of nutrient-absorption and communication—each tree contributes to the collective forest’s health, just like we each have a role to play in our world’s collective well-being. This collection of works related to trees shows just how much we can learn from the pines, oaks, birches, and firs that form the backdrops of our lives.
Environmental Poetry
Not only does April boast fun springtime holidays, but it’s also National Poetry Month! Throughout history, poets have turned to nature for inspiration, using figurative language to describe the magnificence of our planet’s many landscapes. As such, there is an abundance of works to choose from if you’re interested in celebrating Earth Day with poetry.
Romantic Poetry
In response to the industrialization of society and the Age of Enlightenment, the Romantic movement was born, prioritizing beauty, imagination, and—above all—nature. Romantic poets and artists revered nature, emphasizing the beauty of nature in their works.
The ideas of the Romantic movement influenced the future formation of natural conservation movements; since we might not have Earth Day without the Romantics, reading some of their works is an excellent way to honor the world that’s home to us all. Here are some excellent works by the most revered Romantic poets.
“Pray to What Earth” by Henry David Thoreau
Using assonance, alliteration, and a loose rhyme pattern, transcendentalist Thoreau marvels at the beauty of Earth and its creatures.
“The moon goes up by leaps, her cheerful path
In some far summer stratum of the sky,
While stars with their cold shine bedot her way.”
(“Pray to What Earth”, lines 3-5)
“Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich (1818). A masterpiece of the Romantic artistic and cultural movement, this painting is a perfect example of the movement’s passionate draw to nature.
“The Argument” by William Blake
From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, where William Blake details his Romantic beliefs in prophetic, poetic form, “The Argument” illustrates a human interaction using the forces of nature.
“Roses are planted where thorns grow,
And on the barren heath
Sing the honey bees.”
(“The Argument”, lines 6-8)
The Prelude by William Wordsworth
An autobiographical long poem, The Prelude is longer than the other poetry featured here. Written as a preface to a different philosophical poem that never came, it details the events throughout Wordsworth’s life that brought him close to nature, showing the persistent connection between the human spirit and the Earth itself.
“And in the frosty season, when the sun
Was set, and visible for many a mile
The cottage windows through the twilight blaz’d,
I heeded not the summons:—happy time
It was, indeed, for all of us; to me
It was a time of rapture: clear and loud”
(The Prelude, Book 1)
“A Bird, came down the Walk” by Emily Dickinson
The final Romantic poet we’ll feature is Emily Dickinson, whose charming and melancholy poems always illustrate nature with significance and wonder.
“And then, he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass –
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass -”
(“A Bird, came down the Walk”, lines 5-8)
Modern & Contemporary Poetry
Modern and contemporary poets continue much of the Romantic poets’ appreciation of the natural world. To close off this collection of environmental literature, we’re featuring poetry collections from new perspectives of environmental conservation in the world of the 1900s through today.
Turn the Tide by Elaine Dimopoulos
As a young student, it’s easy to feel like you’re too young to create an impact on the world around you. This Earth Day reading for middle schoolers, written in beautiful verse, follows twelve-year-old Mimi Laskaris as forms an environmental justice movement in her community to ban the plastic bags polluting the beautiful beaches. Author Elaine Dimopoulos crafts elegant, heartwarming poems to tell Mimi’s story, emphasizing the power of activism and community.
“Florida has speckled junonia,
golden conchs and whelks,
pink bivalves in wide piles
like flower petals.”
(“Treasure”, lines 14-17)
New Hampshire by Robert Frost
A poetry collection from the writer who’s won the most Pulitzer Prizes for poetry, Robert Frost is known for colloquially depicting rural settings in examination of human nature.
“The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.”
(“Reluctance”, lines 7-12)
Blood Snow by dg nanouk okpik
Inupiaq-Inuit poet dg nanouk okpik tells the story of a melting arctic homeland, skillfully utilizing unique stylistic techniques to convey unsettling imagery of an Earth in distress.
“I taste
Berries and roots
Polar cap ice melt,
Swamp algae,
moose tracks,
covered dripping,
chartreuse moss,
Rocks,”
(“Physical Thaw”, lines 1-8)
Improve Your Reading Skills this Spring
We hope you found your next read for this April in our selection of environmental literature! Earth Day reminds us to take care of the world around us in any way we can and advocate for our environment. Whatever type of literature you prefer, reading about the environment is an excellent way to honor our planet while improving your critical thinking abilities—and making headway on those reading goals!
If you’re looking for more reading-related activities themed for this holiday, we’ve also published a selection of Earth Day classroom activities.
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