Remember when you were a kid and the best part of the day was when you were just starting to get sleepy and you’d snuggle up in bed with your mom/dad/sibling/nanny/manny/Uncle Leroy to read a bedtime story?
And the best bedtime stories were the ones with big illustrations of imaginary creatures like “Mr. Ferebee” and “Mugwumps” and “the Contented Dooks” and “the Yawning Dimbys” — all of which kinda scared you but also gave you really awesome dreams?
Yeah, The World Below is one of those books.
It also happens to be part of the Greenpeace Works venture to bring together celebs and socially conscious causes. The celeb angle on this book is a foreword by Sahara author Clive Cussler, not that you’d care if you were a kid all snuggled in bed ready for mom/dad/sibling/nanny/manny/Uncle Leroy to break out all the silly voices for each imaginary character (like "the Keeper of the Garbenstungle"!).
Want to give your kids something with fewer pictures (um, why?) and a bit more reality-based substance? Keep reading:
The Gaia Girls series, aimed at kids ages 9 and up, focuses on four young female characters who are approached by Gaia, “the living organism of the earth,” and asked to help by using their special powers over the four elements — earth, air, fire, and water. Hmm, reminds me of a certain early ’90s cartoon …
The first in the series, Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth, introduces protagonist Elizabeth Angier, who “thought her summer on the family farm would be full of work and play with her best friend, Rachel, and her other best friend, her dog, Maizey.”
But instead, the book jacket reveals, a big hog farm moves in next door. Oh no!
Will Elizabeth have the strength to fight a large corporation? Or will her upstate New York home be spoiled by profit-driven pork production that fouls the air, land, and water?
Available this June, the second book in the series, Gaia Girls: Way of Water, focuses on, you guessed it, the element of water. Both are printed on recycled paper.
Finally, if you’re more into reading during daylight hours, a new series of DIY books for yoots — or the yoot at heart (yoot at hoot?) — will be available in late May.
Ecocrafts: Gorgeous Gifts includes projects like sock puppets, fridge magnets, and a chunky bracelet, while Ecocrafts: Dream Bedroom features ideas ranging from door hangers to desk organizers — all fashioned from brightly colored recycled objects. Both of these titles are also printed on recycled paper — quite fittingly, I suppose.
