Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been getting kids out into nature as an environmental education professional for over 30 years, in the garden, in the mountains, at the seashore, and in nearby nature. My life’s work, whether I am writing or teaching, is to help people experience the wonder of the natural world. I believe that children and adults need access to nature to grow and thrive, to find peace in a busy world, and to connect with each other. I know that, just like weeds, we can find a way to navigate the challenges in our lives when we connect with nature’s sustaining goodness wherever we find it.


I wrote

Book cover of Weeds Find a Way

What is my book about?

Getting kids outside into nature doesn’t require living next to a national park. It means exploring outdoors, wherever we happen…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of If I Were a Tree

Cindy Jenson-Elliott Why did I love this book?

Behind weeds, trees are perhaps the most common plant many kids will encounter in their day to day lives, and another way children can access nature near home and school. And while trees are complex living things at the apex of the plant kingdom, they often are unnoticed and underappreciated. This beautiful lyrical picture book gives children a context to explore what a tree can do through kid-sized comparisons to what children can also do. Use it to help children explore one of the most common features of both urban and rural landscapes: trees.

By Andrea Zimmerman, Jing Jing Tsong (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked If I Were a Tree as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Two siblings imagine life as a tree, and envision what they would hear, feel, and see.

If I were a tree, I know how I'd be.
My trunk strong and wide, my limbs side to side,
I'd stand towering tall, high above all,
My leaves growing big, and buds on each twig.
If I were a tree, that's how I'd be.

The sister has camped in the forest many times before. The brother is nervous for his first overnight trip. As the illustrations in this multifaceted picture book show the siblings discovering the woods, the text celebrates the strength and…


Book cover of Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt

Cindy Jenson-Elliott Why did I love this book?

What happens on the surface of the world is often a small part of what nature is doing, compared with what is going on beneath the surface. This narrative picture book follows the yearly lifecycle of a garden by exploring what happens on the surface and what’s going on underground. Use it to help kids dig into nature, exploring seasonal changes, seen and unseen.

By Kate Messner, Christopher Silas Neal (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A companion to the new Over and Under the Pond and Over and Under the Snow, this sweet book explores the hidden world and many lives of a garden through the course of a year.

Up in the garden, the world is full of green-leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt there is a busy world of earthworms digging, snakes hunting, skunks burrowing and all the other animals that make a garden their home. In this exuberant and lyrical book, discover the wonders that lie hidden between stalks, under the shade of leaves... and down…


Book cover of Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery

Cindy Jenson-Elliott Why did I love this book?

Monarch butterflies make a migration of thousands of miles every year, visiting milkweed plants throughout the USA and Canada before migrating south to overwinter in Central Mexico. This lyrical and narrative nonfiction science mystery tells the story of how scientists and ordinary people – citizen scientists – discovered the paths monarchs take in their annual journey. Use this to begin an exploration of how regular folks can help preserve nature by participating in citizen science projects, and to emphasize that there is often more to nature’s mysteries than meets the eye.

By Meeg Pincus, Yas Imamura (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Winged Wonders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 7, 8, 9, and 10.

What is this book about?

2020 Golden Kite Nonfiction Honor Award
2020 EUREKA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor Award
2020 Finalist AAAS/Subaru Award
2020 Kirkus Best Picture Books
2021 Bank Street Best Children's Books
2020 NCTE Notable Book

For decades, as the monarch butterflies swooped through every year like clockwork, people from Canada to the United States to Mexico wondered, "Where do they go?" In 1976 the world learned the answer: after migrating thousands of miles, the monarchs roost by the millions in an oyamel grove in Central Mexico's mountains. But who solved this mystery? Was it the scientist or the American adventurer? The citizen scientists…


Book cover of A Rock Is Lively

Cindy Jenson-Elliott Why did I love this book?

What child has not picked up a rock to collect, examine, or play with? Rocks are abiotic --  nonliving –elements of nature that are essential parts of any ecosystem. Without rocks and soil, living things could not grow. This book uses lyrical language and expository text to explore the wonder of one of childhood’s most common nature playthings. Use this book to explore the abiotic aspects of nearby nature.

By Dianna Hutts Aston, Sylvia Long (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Rock Is Lively as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the creators of the award-winning An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, A Butterfly Is Patient and A Nest Is Noisy comes this gorgeous and informative introduction to the fascinating world of rocks. From dazzling blue Lapis Lazuli to volcanic Snowflake Obsidian, an incredible variety of rocks are showcased in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this book introduces an array of facts, making it equally perfect for classroom sharing and family reading.


Book cover of Seashells: More Than a Home

Cindy Jenson-Elliott Why did I love this book?

The seashore is a place to explore nature close to home for many children on coasts around the world, and seashells are a place to start that exploration, even for children who are land bound. This book uses lyrical and expository language to explore the ways creatures create and use shells, as well as the structure and function of shells. Use this book to begin an exploration of the ocean and seashore ecosystems.

By Melissa Stewart, Sarah S. Brannen (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seashells as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Award-winning nonfiction author Melissa Stewart reveals the surprising ways seashells provide more than shelter to the mollusks that inhabit them.

Young naturalists discover thirteen seashells in this elegant introduction to the remarkable versatility of shells. Dual-layered text highlights how shells provide more than a protective home in this expository nonfiction exploration. The informative secondary text underscores characteristics specific to each shell. Elegant watercolor illustrations create a scrapbook feel, depicting children from around the world observing and sketching seashells across shores.


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of Weeds Find a Way

What is my book about?

Getting kids outside into nature doesn’t require living next to a national park. It means exploring outdoors, wherever we happen to be. While many kids don’t have access to yards or school gardens, all children can connect with a special kind of plant, free of charge, every day: weeds.

Weeds are plants no one planted, growing in places no one intended them to be. Often reviled, weeds can be wonderful: adaptable, resilient, strong, and beautiful. Weeds Find a Way is a lyrical exploration of weeds’ adaptations to grow, reproduce, survive, and thrive, filling our world with fragrant beauty. And by looking at ordinary weeds’ extraordinary qualities, we discover our own ability to adapt and grow, survive and thrive, wherever we are planted.

Book cover of If I Were a Tree
Book cover of Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
Book cover of Winged Wonders: Solving the Monarch Migration Mystery

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Book cover of The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion

Jonathan Mugan Author Of The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author

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What is my book about?

The Curiosity Cycle is a book for parents and educators who want to teach their children to be active explorers of the world. Learning through curiosity leads to adaptive thinking because your child is continually trying to improve his or her understanding of the world, and new facts and ideas become embedded in the knowledge that your child already has. Curiosity will also enrich your child's life because curiosity-based learning is internally directed and intrinsically motivated.

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Interested in trees, gardens, and Monarch butterflies?

Trees 53 books
Gardens 45 books