Green Earth Literature Program infuses environmental education and entertainment for youths

The rest of the novels the NMF awarded with the Green Earth Book Award are as follows:

• Picture book: "The Earth Book" by Todd Parr (Little Brown Books for Young Readers).

• Nonfiction: "Not Your Typical Book About the Environment," by Elin Kelsey and illustrated by Clayton Hanmer (Owlkids Books).

• Young adult fiction: "Boys, Bears and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots," by Abby McDonald (Candlewick Press).

Although the award can only be given to four books out of the hundreds of submissions, eight other books not listed above have received honor awards for their green themes:

• "Ancient, Strange and Lovely," by Susan Fletcher (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing)

• "A Place for Frogs," written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Higgins Bond (Peachtree Publishers)

• "Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow: A Compost Story," written by Linda Glaser with photographs by Shelley Rotner (Millbrook Press)

• "Get Real: What Kind of World Are You Buying," by Mara Rockliff (Running Press Kids)

• "Let's Save the Animals," written and illustrated by Frances Barry (Candlewick Press)

• "Seeds Of Change: Planting a Path to Peace," written by Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler (Lee and Low Books)

• "Ship Breaker," written by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)

• "The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge," written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen (Scholastic Press)

Not only is NMF pushing to broaden young people’s education of pressing green issues like conservation and recycling, but the foundation aims to enthuse the youth through fun and inspiring words and images as well. This goal to infuse education and entertainment has many authors (interested in children and young adult writing) encouraged to turn towards more green topics in their books in order to submit to the NMF award next year.

Picture provided by itascalibrary.org