21 January 2009

shout out for eco books!

As a parent, I am always searching for ways to reinforce green values with my children. (I know some of it is sinking in because the other day I heard Fiona telling "Gigi" (my mother) how we don't leave on lights because it's "not kind to the Earth".)

Fortunately, the green movement is picking up speed and you are beginning to see green products, eco-themed books, and even reusuable shopping bags almost everywhere. Whilst trying to find environmentally friendly gifts for my girls, I was delighted to discover a series of books over the holidays.

Little Green Books are produced by the literary group Simon & Schuster. The "green books for green readers" are not only contain green themes, the books truly practice what they preach, so to speak. Books are:

* made from 100% postconsumer waste recycled paper
* printed with 100% vegetable-based ink
* Forest Stewardship Council certified (responsible use of forest resources)



For Christmas, I purchased Little Panda for Matilda from Target. Little Panda is a sweet, simple, "board" book for infants. It cloth pages tell the story of a panda who loves to eat bamboo, play with his friend, Little Monkey, and make funny faces. The cover is made with recycled fleece and is soft enough to find its way into baby's mouth. Tilly just loves cuddling the book and the black and white panda keeps her attention.

I was delighted to find today that Little Green books has a series of books for older children as well. Whilst grabbing a few things at Kroger, I came across The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle.


From the website, this book is "told from the point of view of a free-spirited plastic bottle, kids can share in the daily experiences and inner thoughts of the bottle through his personal journal." Lately Fiona has really been excited about learning recycling and really enjoys helping us sort the items in our recycling bin. I thought the book would be a perfect "surprise/treat" for her.

She was thrilled when I gave it to her! We had to read it 3 times in row. I was afraid that the technical jargon might be a little over her head (the book is for children ages 4-8) but the book tells the "science" behind recycling in a very whimsical way. She loved learning the new words which we were able to reinforce with the glossary from the back.

Not only are the books a valuable resource, the SimonLittleGreen.com website has fantastic tips, activities and games for children, teachers, and parents. I absolutely love the green activity sheet and will probably use some of the games for Fiona's birthday in April.

According to the website the books may be found in most major bookstores but as I said earlier, I found the girls' books in major retail chains. Every parent who wants to raise their child/ren 'green' will love these books!

6 comments:

Going Crunchy said...

Hi THM! Glad you stopped by. Where are you? My husband is from Greece and lived in Englad for about a decade. I lived in Swindon with him for about half a year and LOVED it. Maybe one day we will be back.......

Loved your post. Gotta learn more about this one.

Jen said...

What a great resource. Those books look awesome. We love books at our house so I am going to be on the look out for these. Thanks for sharing!!!

JessTrev said...

Hello, THM. Glad you found the Green Phone Booth - my inlaws are British so we have a grand-Mummy! Thanks for posting about these books - you also might really like a very old school book called Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets.

GinSpaghetti said...

LOVE your GREEN!!! Wish I could be greener...my city is SO behind. I wish NC was in the west/midwest. It seems so much easier... Visiting from VGNO, so happy to "meet" you! :)

Ann Harrison said...

Kimberly, I am so-o-o happy that you are at the Virtual GNO!
I hope that you meet plenty of wonderful bloggers! ;->

Dawn said...

Those are fantastic! Great gift ideas for my little niece visiting in April~

Glad you swung by my blog...your daughters are lovely, I'll be back soon too!

:)