StoryTime with Nature

StoryTime with Nature

The natural world, the world within which we humans conduct our lives, often goes unnoticed as we move about our city streets. The change of seasons, birdsong, the necessary work of worms, seems irrelevant to our everyday urban lives. By bringing children and ourselves into the environs of Brower Park’s natural ecosystems we can rediscover our own and encourage our children’s natural curiosity about the world around us. 

Use this reading list to select books to read with your children or by yourself under the shade of a 100 year old tree in Brower Park!

  • Max Loves Sunflowers, Ken Wilson-Max: Chrysalis Children’s Books, 1999,10 pages
  • Flora’s Surprise! Debi Fliori: Orchard Books, 2003, ISBN 0439455901, 32 pages
  • Planting a Rainbow, Lois Ehlert: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013, (gardening), pre-k
  • Katie and the Sunflowers, James Mayhew: Scholastic Inc., 2000, 32 pages
  • Van Gogh and the Sunflowers, Laurence Anholt: Barron’s 2017, pre-k-2
  • The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, Laurence Anholt: Barron’s Educational Series, 2007 (art and the natural world), 32 pages
  • Seeds and More Seeds, Millicent E. Selsam: World’s Work: Kingswood; Haarlem, 1960, I can read series
  • The Curious Garden, Peter Brown: Little Brown and Company 2009, pre-k-2
  • Tree Song, Tiffany Stone: Annick Press, 2018, 32 pages (nature, environment), prek-2
  • Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney: Puffin Books 1985, 32 pages
  • The Little Nut Tree, Sally Gardner: Orion Children’s Books, 2014, 61 pages (trees), early reader
  • The Little Gardener, Emily Hughes: London Flying Eye Books, 2017, 34 pages, pre-k
  • Wolf Island, Celia Godkin: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2007
  • Maisy Grows a Garden, Lucy Cousins: Walker, 2013
  • Sidewalk Flowers, Jon Arno Lawson: Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2015
  • The Ugly Pumpkin, Dave Horowitz: Nancy Pauslen Books, 2017
  • Terry and the Caterpillars, Millicent E. Selsam
  • La Mariposa, Francisco Jimenez
  • Hurry and the Butterfly, Antoine O Flatharta
  • Hurry and the Monarch, Antoine O’Flatharda
  • Gotta Go! Gotta Go! Sam Swope
  • The Butterfly House, Eve Bunting
  • The Prince of Butterflies, Bruce Corville
  • The Butterfly Boy, Laurence Yep
  • Isabel’s House of Butterflies, Toni Johnston
  • Butterflies for Kiri, Cathryn Falwell
  • The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly
  • Summer Birds, The Butterflies of Maria Merian, Margarita Engle
  • A Butterfly is Patient, Dianna Hutts Aston
  • Butterfly Park, Elly Mackay
  • There Was A Tree, Rachel Isadora
  • Sky Tree, Seeing Science Through Art, Thomas Locker
  • The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
  • A Tree is Nice, Janice May Udry
  • Be a Friend to Trees, Patricia Lauber
  • A Log’s Life, Wendy Pfeffer
  • Tell Me, Tree, All about Trees for Kids
  • The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups, Gina Ingoglia
  • Nature Anatomy, The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World, Julia Rothman
  • A Leaf Can Be, Laura Purdie Salas
  • Our Tree Named Steve, Alan Zweibel
  • The Great Kapok Tree, Lynne Cherry
  • Because of an Acorn, Lola M. Schaefer
  • The Hugging Tree, A Story About Resilience, Jill Neimark
  • Compost Critters, Bianca Lavies (middle school)
  • Rolypolyology, (middle school)
  • Wonderful Worms, Linda Glaser
  • Wiggling Worms at Work (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science books), Wendy Pfeffer
  • We Dig Worms, Kevin McCloskey
  • Worm Weather, Jean Taft
  • Home for Red Wiggler Pet Worm
  • A Pill Bug’s Life (Nature Up-close), by John Himmelman
  • Composting, Nature’s Recyclers (Amazing Science), Robin Koontz
  • Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow, A Compost Story, Linda Glaser
  • Compost Stew, An A to Z Recipe for the Earth, Mary McKenna Siddals
  • Grubs, Bugs, and Worms, Invertebrates of the Underground, Jody S. Rake
  • The Little Composter, Jan Gerardi (board book)
  • A Logs Life, Wendy Pfeffer
  • The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Leo Buscalgia
  • Ladybugs (Creepy Critters), Sian Smith
  • The Bug Book, Sue Fliess
  • 100 Backyard Activities, Colleen Kessler
  • The Little House, Virginia Lee Burton
  • The Wump World, Bill Peet
  • The Tin Forest, Helen Ward (build a forest from scrap metal)
  • Letting Swift River Go, Jane Yolen (progress and loss)
  • A River Ran Wild, An Environmental History, Lynn Cherry (eyes of Native Americans)
  • The Dream of the Thylacine, Margaret Wild & Ron Brooks
  • Owl Moon, Jane Yolen (water color painting)
  • Just a Dream, Chris Van Allsburg (litterbug)
  • The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone, Timothy Basil Ering
  • Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
  • Fishing in the Air, Sharon Creech & Chris Raschka
  • Friends Always, Tanja Wenisch
  • Follow the Moon Home, A tale of one Idea, twenty kids, and a hundred sea turtles, Philippe Cousteau (age 5 – 8)
  • Be the Change, A Grandfather Gandhi Story, Arun Gandhi & Bethany Hegedus (age 4 – 8)
  • Green City, Allan Drummond  (age 5 – 8)
  • Saving Wonder, Mary Knight (age 8 – 12)
  • The Story of Seeds, Nancy F. Castaldo (age 12 and up)
  • Picture Books and the Green Earth
    • Circle, Jeannie Baker
    • Did Tiger Take the Rain, Charles Norris-Brown
    • Finding Wild, Megan Wagner Lloyd
    • Gaia and the Golden Toad, A Take if “Climate Change, Joan Muller
    • Green is Good, Elizabeth Gorcey
    • Greenling, Levi Pinfold
    • Jake the Happy Trash Truck
    • Kenya’s Art, Linda Trice
    • Mr. King’s Machine, Genevieve Cote
    • Mr. McGinty’s Monarchs, Linda Vander Heyden
    • Prairie Dog Song, Cindy Trumbore and Susan L. Roth
    • Rainbow Weaver, Linda Elovitz Marshall
    • Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep, April Pulley Sayre
    • This is the Earth, Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander
    • The Lonely Gian, Sophie Ambrose
    • This is My Dollhouse, Giselle Potter
    • Tokyo Digs a Garden, John-Erik Lappano
    • Where’s the Elephant? Stephane-Yves Barrroux