Back in 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin believed that the people of our country should take a stand and speak up in support of the environment. He asked people from coast to coast to protest on April 22, 1970 to organize groups and show their concern for the environment. This nationwide demonstration, which included some 20 million people, became the first Earth Day.

It might sound like ancient history to you, but we still celebrate Earth Day each year, and it's just as important as ever. Protecting the environment from pollution and destruction is something we should all try to do on Earth Day and everyday, even in our own small ways: be it recycling, reusing various items or reducing the amount of gasoline, water or other resources we use.

Keep this in mind: the power of that first Earth Day made the U.S. government take notice. It put the environmental wheels in motion and led to the development of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

As long as we want to enjoy clean air, clean water and a rich bounty of wildlife and natural habitats, Earth Day will always be an especially important day on the calendar. Check out our round-up of Earth Day books and see if you find some inspiration for protecting and improving our planet.

   ---- Shannon Maughan

BROTHER EAGLE, SISTER SKY: A Message from Chief Seattle
by Susan Jeffers
Dial
ISBN: 0803709692
Ages 5-up

In the late 1800s, the U.S. Government wanted to purchase Native American land in what is now the Pacific Northwest of our country. But first they had to negotiate with Chief Seattle. The chief was shocked that the white men wanted to buy nature. "How can you buy the sky? How can you own the rain and the wind?" the chief asks. This book encourages us to think how precious the natural world around us is.

THE GREAT KAPOK TREE: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
by Lynne Cherry
Harcourt/Voyager
ISBN: 0152026142
Ages 4-8
40 pages

In South America's Amazon rain forest, a young man is instructed to cut down a great Kapok tree. The man whacks the tree with his ax for a long while, then grows tired and sits down at the base of the tree to rest. Soon, he falls asleep. While the man drifts into dreamland, the creatures of the rain forest see their chance: one by one they whisper in the sleeping man's ear, asking him not to cut down their beloved tree. From the bee who pollinates the rain forest's flowers and trees to monkeys that swing on the Kapok tree's branches to the jaguar that feeds on the animals and birds that live in the tree, all the creatures try to convince the man to stop destroying their home.

When the man awakes, he sees the rain forest with new eyes, appreciating the glorious, "strange and beautiful" plants and creatures all around him. "Then he dropped his ax and walked out of the rain forest."

When THE GREAT KAPOK TREE was first published in 1990, it quickly became one of the most popular ecological books for kids. It's still read by lots of children today. We hope you enjoy it, and that when you read this book you realize how important the rain forest's ecosystem is to our entire world.

THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin
Harcourt/Voyager
ISBN: 0152024867
Ages 4-up
40 pages

Lynne Cherry followed her friend of 20 years, ethnobotonist Dr. Mark Plotkin to the Amazon to prepare for this colorful and important picture-book adventure. She met with Plotkin's Tirio Indian friends. She studied, first-hand, the delicate rain forest plants he'd spent a lifetime documenting. Every step they made, every breath they took, is richly apparent in THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE --- a book as much a tribute to diversity as it is to the endangered Amazon rainforests.

The story follows Kamanya, a young Tirio villager who dreams of becoming the tribe's next shaman, after being miraculously cured in his youth. But when indigenous plants can't seem to beat an illness introduced to the tribe by well meaning strangers, Kamanya's tribesmen begin to lose faith in their own ancient traditions.

Just as outsiders seeded the tribal doubt, outsiders eventually help to restore the shaman's legitimacy, in this tale that reminds us every culture has something to give and every culture has something to learn.

BEHOLD THE TREES
by Sue Alexander
illustrated by Leonid Gore
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine
ISBN: 0590762117
All ages
48 pages

This elegant-looking picture book describes how the natural landscape of Israel has changed over thousands of years. was Israel was once a lush forest filled with olive, almond and pomegranate and then, after being ravaged by wars, development, and farming, the land became a rocky desert. In her graceful writing style, Alexander goes on to describe how the land has begun to recover in these last 50 years, as the people living in the land known as Israel began planting trees to commemorate birthdays, anniversaries, deaths and other special days. Gore's delicate and beautiful paintings make this a terrific tribute to nature.

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA
by Holling Clancy Holling
illustrated by Houghton Mifflin
Publisher
ISBN: 0395292034
Ages 8-up

In this Caldecott Honor Book, first published 60 years ago, a Native American boy in Canada carves a small canoe with a man inside, calling it "Paddle to the Sea." He sets the canoe near a snowy hilltop and, as the warmth of spring arrives, the canoe starts making its way through streams, ponds and then on to the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. Each chapter charts the canoe's journey and provides information about each of the lakes and other waterways. Geography, adventure and nature all rolled into one.

ONCE A WOLF: How Wildlife Biologists Fought to Bring Back the Gray Wolf
by Stephen R. Swinburne
photos by Jim Brandenburg
Houghton Mifflin
ISBN: 0618111204
Ages 10-up
48 pages

This fascinating book shows scientists out in the field, working to reintroduce the Gray Wolf to Yellowstone National Park. Because they have a reputation (many say it is not deserved) for being vicious killers who prey on ranchers' and farmers' livestock, wolves have been hunted and killed to the point that they were listed as an endangered species. There were very wolves left in North America when biologists began efforts more than 10 years ago to get the animals thriving again. Witness an amazing success story of conservation.

DESTINATION: ROCKY MOUNTAINS
by Jonathan Grupper
National Geographic
ISBN: 0792277228
Ages 6-up
32 pages

One of the most magnificent natural areas of the United States is highlighted in this stunning picture books. Discover animals in their natural habitats and learn more about the importance of this amazing ecosystem that spans snowy mountaintops to lush foothills and valleys.

THE EARTH, ITS WONDERS, ITS SECRETS: Strange Worlds, Fantastic Places
by the Editors of Reader's Digest
Penguin Putnam
ISBN: 0762100710
Ages 11-up
160 pages

From caves to tropical islands to deserts to icy Siberian lakes, this photo-illustrated book invites you to witness the wonders of nature. Seeing these habitats and the animals that live there can give you a new appreciation for the wonders all around us and the need to protect them.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT: From Its Roots to the Challenges of a New Century
by Laurence Pringle
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0688156266
Ages 8-up
144 pages

This volume explores the history of what we know as the conservation movement and profiles some of the influential people who started and supported efforts to conserve the Earth and its resources. Noted envrionmentalists in the book include Rachel Carson and George Leopold Marsh.

LIGHT SHINING THROUGH THE MIST: A Photobiography of Dian Fossey
by George B. Schaller
illustrated by Tom L. Matthews
National Geographic
ISBN: 0792273001
Ages 10-up
64 pages

Dian Fossey became known throughout the world for her unusual and excellent work studying mountain gorillas in their natural habitat in Africa. She founded a research center in Rwanda and was murdered in 1985 while doing the work she loved. See how she grew to be such an animal lover and how her passion led to a career. Photographs and a bibliography make this a terrific look at an ineresting and adventurous life and career.

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