Best books encouraging conservation – age 9-12

Though non-fiction, this book is a cracking and engaging story. Winner of the “Boston Globe” Horn Book Honor Award for Nonfiction, this Scientists in the Field title about protecting our world’s oceans from plastic and pollution follows oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer as he tracks trash in the name of science – aided by an army of beachcombers. From sneakers to hockey gloves, Curt monitors the watery fate of human-made cargo that has spilled into the ocean. With careful analysis, Curt, along with a community of scientists, friends, and beachcombers alike, is using his data to understand and protect our ocean. In engaging text and unforgettable images, readers meet the woman who started it all (Curt’s mother!), the computer program that makes sense of his data (nicknamed OSCURS), and several scientists, both on land and on the sea, who are using Curt’s discoveries to preserve delicate marine habitats and protect the creatures who live in them.

The story of a young boy’s trip to the tropical rain forest in Costa Rica with his mother – the El Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (the BEN). The 54,000-acre Childrens Eternal Rainforest in Costa Rica began as an idea, just a few kids, and a bake sale. Word spread and children from over 44 countries raised the funds to make it happen in 1987. Here is the inspiring story with a fresh twist – as young Peter discovers that his mother was one of those original kids! What a terrific way to learn both about cooperation, a magnificent habitat and the power of kids. The Forever Forest: Kids Save a Tropical Treasure is truly one of the best books encouraging conservation for children… and by children!

In this dramatic and enlightening story, readers explore the lives of the fuzzy, buzzy insects and learn what might happen to us if they were gone. For instance, without honey bees, the world would be a far different place. There would be no honey, no beeswax for candles, and, worst of all, barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So imagine the beekeeper Dave Hackenburg’s horror when he discovered twenty million of his charges had vanished? In The Hive Detectives, Loree Griffin Burns profiles bee wranglers and bee scientists who have been working to understand colony collapse disorder, or CCD.

Inspired by the true story of a captive gorilla known as Ivan, this illustrated novel is told from the point-of-view of Ivan himself. Having spent 27 years behind the glass walls of his enclosure in a shopping mall, Ivan has grown accustomed to humans watching him. He hardly ever thinks about his life in the jungle. Instead, Ivan occupies himself with television, his friends Stella and Bob, and painting. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from the wild, he is forced to see their home, and his art, through new eyes. In the tradition of timeless stories such as Charlotte’s Web, Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan’s unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope. This is a simply wonderful story one of the many insightful books encouraging conservation and empathy for other beings.

While technically not a book about conservation, A Dog’s Life is a heart-wrenching and heart-warming story that will help your kids develop empathy for other creatures and beings. Told from the dog’s point of view, it begins with Squirrel and her brother Bone being born in a toolshed behind someone’s summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world – facing humans both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel become separated, Squirrel must fend for herself, and in the process makes two friends who in very different ways define her fate.