10 Books to Read in Honor of Earth Day

Get your kiddos excited about the Great Outdoors by reading National Parks of the U.S.A together. This beautiful book is packed with maps and fascinating facts about each of the 21 parks portrayed and shows why they should be preserved for future generations.

If you prefer poetry to prose, you'll definitely want to pick up a copy of HERE: Poems for the Planet. Featuring about 125 diverse poetic voices, this unique anthology approaches the impending environmental crisis with a sense of urgency and hopefulness — and will likely inspire you to become a catalyst for change, too.

Complete your Earth Day reading list with What We See in the Stars by Kelsey Oseid. As it combines art, mythology and science, this book will take you on a tour of the night sky and give you an alluring perspective of our planet and place in the universe.

Have you ever wondered how to read the stars, locate water or track wild animals? In The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs, writer and seasoned explorer Tristan Gooley shares more than 850 tried-and-true tips that will get you outside and engaging with the Earth.

If you've ever dreamed of seeing a whale up-close, then there's a good chance that you'll love this book by Leigh Calvez, a scientist, naturalist and nature writer. In The Breath of a Whale, you'll follow Calvez onto small research boats as she studies orcas, humpbacks and deep-diving blue whales in the wild. When all's said and done, you'll have an even greater appreciation for these majestic mammals.

Explore the history of how human beings have altered life on earth by reading Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Using research from a half-dozen disciplines and descriptions of species that have already been lost, Kolbert explains that there have been five mass extinctions in the last half-billion years and asserts that we are in the midst of the sixth.

A classic construction story with a heartfelt twist, The Digger and the Flower is another excellent book to share with your little loves on Earth Day. Through the eyes of Digger, a truck who attempts to save a flower from destruction, you and your kiddos will learn about the importance of the environment.

You've heard about saving the bees, but Meredith May's The Honey Bus really makes that message feel personal. Part memoir, part beekeeping odyssey, this is an unforgettable story about finding home in the most unusual of places and how those tiny, little-understood insects saved a life.

We dare you to leave the comforts of your home behind and explore the austere Arctic alongside author Barry Lopez. In his book Arctic Dreams, Lopez offers a rare glimpse of this raw and beautiful world as he delves into the history and culture of its indigenous peoples and makes nuanced observations about the landscape.

Clear and concise, Marcia Bjornerud's Timefulness proposes a new way of thinking about our place in time, so that we can make decisions towards a more sustainable future. Read this book, and you'll walk away with a much deeper understanding of our planet's rhythms and the effects that human beings have on the planet.