Maybe it’s because I began professional life as an English literature teacher, but I love reading novels and short stories. So, if you are ready for stories rather than depressing non-fiction accounts about the mess we are getting ourselves into, here are some suggestions.
Let’s start with some classics for kids: The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth.
The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. This now classic story has actually become somewhat controversial (see this review), but I see it best read today as a parable about the way we have demanded too much from nature, never satisfied, until we, and nature, are crippled by too much getting. (I take the tree’s final “happiness” as ironic.)
The Illinois Library has a great list of recommendations in the young adult fiction category. I especially recommend the Carl Hiaasen novels for their humor as well as their environmentalism. Adults would enjoy them, too.
Finally, The Guardian has an annotated list of eco-fiction classics, to which I would add The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey from 1975. It’s widely credited with inspiring the formation of many eco-activist groups.
Have fun reading, and thanks for your commitment and work for Creation Care.
Elliott
