The Best Earth and Garden Books for Kids

The best Earth and garden books for kids, to teach sustainability and how we can make the planet a greener place to live. This list also includes board books for babies.

Earth and Garden Books for Kids

I know you probably won’t be surprised by this, after all you’re visiting a blog called “Brooklyn Farm Girl”, but we love books that have green garden themes to them. If the book involves vegetables, forests, bugs, weeds or kids taking on corporate giants to make the world a greener place- it’s a book we read again and again. Btw, that’s my daughter’s bug garden house in the above picture next to the books. 🙂

I thought I would put together a list of our current top Earth loving books. My daughter Enceladus, who is almost 4, helped me curate this list, picking her favorites. It was easiest to break up into 2 sections – garden and environment. I’m also including a small selection of board books that we read to our baby because it’s never too young to get them involved!

I hope you like our selections! And make sure to follow me on Instagram where I often post about our new favorite books.

little girl and mom in garden digging up potatoes — enceladus, 2 years old, so excited that she helped grow potatoes

Garden Books for Kids

All these books highlight how wonderful gardening is, from the bugs that help us, to the vegetables we grow and eat to the life (and death, and life again) of flowers. These books will make your kids excited to grow their own food, and you’ll start to notice they are asking more questions when you’re in the garden together.

Du Iz Tak? is a E.B White award book and probably our favorite on this entire list. My friend sent this book to us and it’s been a favorite at bedtime ever since. The book is written in an entirely made up language and focuses on bugs that help a growing plant. It’s so much fun to read and I have gifted it to many others. Su! Gladenboot! Booby voobeck! You and your kids will LOVE it.

The Seedling is about a reluctant seedling that just isn’t ready to grow. With the help of a bird and some insect friends, it takes on a winding journey to blossom.

In the Green Giant you meet Bea, and her dog Iris. They are city folk, but they’re staying in the country with their grandpa. One day they are bored and visit the greenhouse in the yard, and that’s where they meet the green giant… who might just help them turn the city greener.

Another book gifted by a friend, Growing Vegetable Soup is about growing your own vegetables and then making a delicious soup with them. The illustrations are cut-paper-style and feature labeled tools and vegetables to help the youngest become a skilled gardener.

The Ugly Pumpkin is a runner-up in my “this might be my favorite book to read” to my kids. It’s about a pumpkin, that might not actually be a pumpkin (no spoilers!). This is always featured as a Halloween/Thanksgiving book but we read it year around and love it. I like to consider it the modern day “ugly duckling” story.

In Apple Cake a girl thanks everything around her that helps her make apple cake. Thank you tree, thank you flowers, thank you bees, thank you rain, thank you sun, thank you farmers. At the end there is an apple cake recipe, but you should also try making my applesauce brownies too. 🙂

Earth Books for Kids

These books will educate your kids on climate change and motivate them to make a difference to make the planet greener. Some of these books cover serious topics, but done in a way that young kids can grasp. These books have fueled my daughter to ask questions on actions she can take to help.

In Let’s Save Our Planet: Forests, you’ll learn about how you can help save the forests, exploring different forest types and tools being used to tackle deforestation. The book is printed on 100% recycled paper.

ABC Earth-Friendly Me: From Action to Zero Waste shows 26 things families can do to help care for Earth using the alphabet. The book uses environmental terms such as “compost”, “pollination”, “biodegradable” etc. The book speaks in kid friendly ways, such as them riding their bike or getting toys from thrift stores.

Greta and the Giants is inspired by the super awesome Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg who has led a global movement to combat the climate change crisis. In the book Greta lives in a forest, and everything she knows is being threatened by “giants”.

Little People, BIG DREAMS: Greta Thunberg tells the story of environmental activist Greta Thunberg. “No one is too small to make a difference” is her message, hoping to inspire everyone who reads the book.

Little People, BIG DREAMS: Jane Goodall is about one of my personal heroes, Jane Goodall. Follow Jane’s lifelong love for animals and fight to protect chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Any animal lover will feel emotionally connected to this book and will leave young minds inspired.

The Story of Climate Change tells the story of Earth, from the beginning to where we’re at now. The book combines science and history together to explain the causes of climate change and how it’s effecting everyone now (weather, vegetation, habitats) and the future.

The Environment : Explore, create and investigate is a great first introduction to what surrounds us – air, soil, water, plants and animals. The book is broken up into 3 types of pages: explore, investigate and create (crafts and activities) to help educate children about how our actions affect the planet we live on.

Board Books for Babies

Baby sister Proxima wants to get involved in reading time too, so here’s a couple board books for the youngest readers. Even if she spends 75% of reading time eating the book, soon she’ll be learning words, copying sounds and pointing to pictures.

Baby Loves Earth : An ABC of Our Planet teaches the littlest ones all about Earth with simple graphics and words. Examples are C for Conservation, D is for Diversity, H is for Handmade, L is for Local.

Flower Alphabet introduces 26 types of flowers to your baby. The graphics are very colorful and fun, and will surely leave your little one wanting a flower bed of their own!

All Aboard National Parks promotes outdoor adventures by visiting each of our National Parks with simple illustrations. Although there’s not much text to this book, my oldest daughter would always pick this to look at when she was younger. If you’ve visited some National Parks with your family, this book is even more fun to read to talk about memories, or even better, future adventures!

The Secret Garden is another beautiful flowers primer book. The text is simple, with stylish colorful designs, making your baby visually interested, and a great beginner book to teach about colors too.