Fans pick 100 books like This Book Will (Help) Cool the Climate

By Isabel Thomas, Alex Paterson (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that This Book Will (Help) Cool the Climate fans have personally recommended if you like This Book Will (Help) Cool the Climate. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of War Horse

Michele Sheldon Author Of The Mystery of The Missing Fur

From my list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve travelled to the Pantanal and along the Amazon both ways from Brazil and Colombia while I was teaching English in Brazil and will never forget the destruction of the Amazon. A visit to the gaping hole of Serra Pelada, a gold mine, had a lasting effect on me as did the forest fires and scorched earth, devoid of any bird or animal apart from the skinny cattle grazing amongst the blackened trees, stretching for miles. A run-in with a hyacinth macaw egg thief, who was smuggling the beautiful birds into Europe, spurred my interest in writing a children’s series which touches on conservation, endangered species, and illegal wildlife trafficking.

Michele's book list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness

Michele Sheldon Why did Michele love this book?

The story is narrated by Joey, a beautiful bay horse brought up on a farm, who is ‘called up’ during World War I to carry supplies, guns, and pull ambulances among the trenches of the Western Front. Joey witnesses the horror and futility of war with great compassion and a simplicity that still affects me today when I think of the 20 million people who died and the eight million horses, mules, and donkeys killed by their injuries, disease, and exhaustion. The book further resonates because I live in the town where Joey and 10 million soldiers and nurses, including my grandfather, left for France. The officers’ stables still stand at Shorncliffe Barracks and charity, the Shorncliffe Trust, is trying to get listed status to stop them being knocked down.

By Tom Clohosy Cole, Michael Morpurgo,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked War Horse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

Michael Morpurgo's global bestselling children's book War Horse has been adapted into a picture book for the first time. Illustrated throughout, it brings the beloved children's classic to life for children aged 5 and up.

Master storyteller Michael Morpurgo has adapted his much-loved novel, War Horse, for a picture book audience. This powerful book for younger readers tells the enduring story of a friendship between a boy and his horse and is a gateway to help children understand the history and chaos of the First World War. As we move beyond centenary commemorations and continue to strive for peace across…


Book cover of Black Beauty

M.J. Evans Author Of The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy

From my list on horses that teens will love.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a life-long equestrian. I believe I was born with manure in my blood! I have always loved horses. I bought my own horse with my own money when I was thirteen and had to work to support him myself. I continue to own and ride horses more than fifty years later! I love competing in Dressage and riding the trails in the beautiful Colorado mountains. My interest in researching and writing historical horse stories grew out of my love of both horses and history.

M.J.'s book list on horses that teens will love

M.J. Evans Why did M.J. love this book?

Some books stay with you for a lifetime. Such is the case with Black Beauty for me.

This historical fiction novel (although it wasn’t “Historical” when it was written!”) is considered a classic because of its staying power and message. Anna Sewell’s work inspired the creation of the ASPCA because of the depictions of animal cruelty in the book.

Now, half a century later, it has inspired me to not only write historical fiction horse stories but I also chose to write in first person from the horse’s point of view the way Black Beauty is written.

By Anna Sewell, Kristen Guest (editor),

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Black Beauty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Continuously in print and translated into multiple languages since it was first published, Anna Sewell's Black Beauty is a classic work of children's literature and an important text in the fields of Victorian studies and animal studies. Writing to ""induce kindness, sympathy and an understanding treatment"", Sewell realistically documents the working conditions of Black Beauty, who moves down the social scale from a rural carriage horse to a delivery horse in London. Sewell makes visible and tangible the experience of animals who were often treated as if they were machines. Though she died shortly after it was published, Sewell's book…


Book cover of Born Free

Michele Sheldon Author Of The Mystery of The Missing Fur

From my list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve travelled to the Pantanal and along the Amazon both ways from Brazil and Colombia while I was teaching English in Brazil and will never forget the destruction of the Amazon. A visit to the gaping hole of Serra Pelada, a gold mine, had a lasting effect on me as did the forest fires and scorched earth, devoid of any bird or animal apart from the skinny cattle grazing amongst the blackened trees, stretching for miles. A run-in with a hyacinth macaw egg thief, who was smuggling the beautiful birds into Europe, spurred my interest in writing a children’s series which touches on conservation, endangered species, and illegal wildlife trafficking.

Michele's book list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness

Michele Sheldon Why did Michele love this book?

Born Free was my favourite book growing up. Not only did it make me fall in love with reading and wildlife but made me realise human adults and society are full of contradictions. Elsa the lioness is hand raised by Joy, the wife of George, a game warden who shoots Elsa’s mother when she charges at him because she’s protecting her cubs. Though I understand there may be detractors on how the Adamsons viewed other animals, which are endangered today, it’s widely agreed that the book helped the public become aware of wildlife conservation. Elsa’s release back into the wild pioneered ‘rewilding’, reintroducing captive animals back into their own environments. At its heart, there is a beautifully observed relationship between Joy and Elsa as she grows up and is released.

By Joy Adamson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Fifty years ago Joy Adamson first introduced to the world the story of her life alongside Elsa the lioness, whom she had rescued as an orphaned cub, and raised at her home in Kenya. But as Elsa had been born free, Joy made the heartbreaking decision that she must be returned to the wild when she was old enough to fend for herself.

Since the first publication of Born Free and its sequels Living Free and Forever Free, generations of readers have been enchanted, inspired and moved by these books' uplifting charm and the remarkable interaction between Joy and Elsa.…


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Book cover of Virginia Wouldn't Slow Down!: The Unstoppable Dr. Apgar and Her Life-Saving Invention

Virginia Wouldn't Slow Down! By Carrie A. Pearson, Nancy Carpenter (illustrator),

A delightful and distinctive picture book biography about Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented the standard, eponymous test for evaluating newborn health used worldwide thousands of times every day.

You might know about the Apgar Score. But do you know the brilliant, pioneering woman who invented it? Born at the turn…

Book cover of Red Alert! Endangered Animals Around the World

Michele Sheldon Author Of The Mystery of The Missing Fur

From my list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve travelled to the Pantanal and along the Amazon both ways from Brazil and Colombia while I was teaching English in Brazil and will never forget the destruction of the Amazon. A visit to the gaping hole of Serra Pelada, a gold mine, had a lasting effect on me as did the forest fires and scorched earth, devoid of any bird or animal apart from the skinny cattle grazing amongst the blackened trees, stretching for miles. A run-in with a hyacinth macaw egg thief, who was smuggling the beautiful birds into Europe, spurred my interest in writing a children’s series which touches on conservation, endangered species, and illegal wildlife trafficking.

Michele's book list on animals, wildlife conservation, and kindness

Michele Sheldon Why did Michele love this book?

This beautifully illustrated picture book is dedicated to 15 endangered animals out of the 41,000 species on the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and explains why they’re in danger and what we can do. It features the most hunted and trafficked creature on the planet, the pangolin whose scales are made of keratin – the same as our nails – but are boiled to make pointless ‘medicines’ with zero effectiveness. Other creatures are the long-nosed crocodile, the peacock tarantula, and the snow leopard. With 60 percent of species being wiped out since the 1970s, perhaps it’s time for radical thinking. Should animals like tigers and cheetahs start charging companies for their images, spots, and stripes to raise money to protect what remains of their environments?

By Catherine Barr, Anne Wilson (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Red Alert! Endangered Animals Around the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

An interactive look at endangered animals imploring readers to discover fifteen species facing extinction.

Inspired and endorsed by the "Red List" database of animals in peril maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this brightly illustrated book introduces species from six different habitats on six continents. Blending approachable text, secondary facts and lush art, Red Alert! offers full portraits of animals such as the Chinese giant salamander, the snow leopard, the blue whale, and the giant panda, and provides young activists additional resources for how they can help save these beautiful creatures.


Book cover of This Is Not A Drill

Emily Andrews Author Of Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change

From my list on adaptation to climate change.

Why am I passionate about this?

For the publication of our book, Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change, I have worked closely with activists and academics from around the world, hearing more about the work they do and the unique and individual ways they have made adaptations within their communities. This experience has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of climate adaptation as a topic, both in a scientific and a cultural sense, thus meaning I have been more readily able to recognise the qualities of a great adaptation book!

Emily's book list on adaptation to climate change

Emily Andrews Why did Emily love this book?

Subtitled An Extinction Rebellion Handbook, this is a fascinating and informative read on how communities can come together to take action. Extinction Rebellion may have sparked controversy, but it is undeniable that their tactics have brought them to the forefront of news channels, ultimately bringing climate change into conversations more than ever before. 

By Extinction Rebellion,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This Is Not A Drill as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Extinction Rebellion are inspiring a whole generation to take action on climate breakdown.
Now you can become part of the movement - and together, we can make history.

It's time. This is our last chance to do anything about the global climate and ecological emergency. Our last chance to save the world as we know it.

Now or never, we need to be radical. We need to rise up. And we need to rebel.

Extinction Rebellion is a global activist movement of ordinary people, demanding action from Governments. This is a book of truth and action. It has facts to…


Book cover of Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth

Tina Muir Author Of Becoming a Sustainable Runner: A Guide to Running for Life, Community, and Planet

From my list on helping you process emotions around climate.

Why am I passionate about this?

FernGully was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and it made me really think about the natural world and how humans interact with it. Now, aged 35 with kids of my own (who also love FernGully), I consider myself a climate activist for the work I do in helping everyday people to believe they can be a part of the solution to climate change. As an author, podcast host, and community builder, I've connected with other humans with fascinating passions, perspectives, and values. I want to show my audience that we can all view the world differently, but there is one important thing we need to all believe, that we matter.

Tina's book list on helping you process emotions around climate

Tina Muir Why did Tina love this book?

When I first began to really notice climate change and the effects that were already happening, I felt like I was working through stages of grief.

Dr. Klein Salamon, a climate psychologist, explained why this was happening. Reading this book brought tears to my eyes as she described all the stages of grief in a way that made me feel seen, heard. I was not being irrational and hysterical, I was reacting in the way human beings are meant to (and do).

This book helped me process and move into action, rather than being paralyzed in fear.

By Margaret Klein Salamon, Molly Gage,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Facing the Climate Emergency as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Face the truth of climate change, accept your fears, and become the hero that humanity needs.

Facing the Climate Emergency gives people the tools to confront the climate emergency, face their negative emotions, and channel them into protecting humanity and the natural world.

As the climate crisis accelerates toward the collapse of civilization and the natural world, people everywhere are feeling deep pain about ecological destruction and their role in it. Yet we are often paralyzed by fear. Help is at hand.

Drawing on facts about the climate, tenets of psychological theory, information about the climate emergency movement and elements…


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Book cover of Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade

Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade By Kimberly Behre Kenna,

Artemis Sparke has had it with humans. She heads to the nearby salt marsh to hang out with the birds, plants, and mollusks who don't make a big deal of her stutter. The shoreline sanctuary is predictable, unlike her family and friends, and the data in her science journal proves…

Book cover of Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects

Paul Chatterton Author Of How to Save the City: A Guide for Emergency Action

From my list on helping us save the city.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been fascinated by city life since I studied Geography at high school. After twenty five years of teaching and researching urban geography, I am Professor of Urban Futures at a UK university. I now have a better sense of the challenges we face and what we can do about them. I spend my time supporting activists, campaigners, students, policymakers, and politicians about the urgency for change and what kind of ideas and examples they can use to tackle what I call the triple emergencies of climate breakdown, social inequality, and nature loss.

Paul's book list on helping us save the city

Paul Chatterton Why did Paul love this book?

Joanna and Molly are two inspirational educators. What really connected me to this book was their work on the ‘great turning’ – how we can build a life-sustaining society in the face of our business-as-usual industrial growth society.

The great turning has three aspects – slowing down damage to people and planet, building alternatives that can benefit communities and nature, and changing what and how we learn about our world. I try to incorporate these three aspects in my own work with students, activists, and policymakers. It gives me a sense of possibility and connection to a whole world of workable alternatives.

By Joanna Macy, Molly Young Brown,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Coming Back to Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Deepening global crises surround us. We are beset by climate change, fracking, tar sands extraction, GMOs, and mass extinctions of species, to say nothing of nuclear weapons proliferation and Fukushima, the worst nuclear disaster in history. Many of us fall prey to despair even as we feel called to respond to these threats to life on our planet. Authors Joanna Macy and Molly Brown address the anguish experienced by those who would confront the harsh realities of our time. In this fully updated edition of Coming Back to Life, they show how grief, anger, and fear are healthy responses to…


Book cover of One Earth

Amy Houts Author Of God's Earth Is Something to Fight for

From my list on Christian Earth Day books for kids.

Why am I passionate about this?

As the author of 100+ children’s books, I work mainly on assignment for educational and faith-based publishers. But when I’m freelancing, I want the topic to be something I’m passionate about. Being married to a science teacher, we often discuss science issues. After having grandchildren, I wondered, what type of planet are we going to leave them? Our grandchildren are aware and concerned about severe weather patterns. I asked myself, what can I do? Plus, I wanted to write through the lens of my faith. I wrote my picture book, God’s Earth is Something to Fight For, to instill hope and give practical ways for children to help save Earth.

Amy's book list on Christian Earth Day books for kids

Amy Houts Why did Amy love this book?

Showing the wonders of our world, One Earth is a counting book told in lyrical, rhyming verse that counts up to 10 and back down again.

This book is geared toward the youngest reader with little text and gorgeous illustrations by Rogerio Coelho. Two children walk through field and forest, mountains and shorelines to show the wonders of nature as she counts up to ten.

Counting down from 10 to one, the text features conservation, repurposing, repairing, and recycling, emphasizing we have one, just one, Earth. The message is, take care of it

By Eileen Spinelli, Rogerio Coelho (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One Earth 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?

Celebrate our planet and discover easy ways to take care of it with this picture book that's perfect for budding environmentalists and nature lovers.

Kids can count reasons to love the planet and ways to protect it in the pages of this conservation-themed book. Gentle verse reminds the reader of Earth's beauties--starting with "one wide sweeping sky, two honey bees" and continuing all the way to "ten fields to plow." The text then starts counting backwards, listing simple ways children can help, such as reducing waste and reusing items. The conclusion takes us back to number one with the book's…


Book cover of As the World Burns: The New Generation of Activists and the Landmark Legal Fight Against Climate Change

Lauren E. Oakes Author Of In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World

From my list on to inspire climate action.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a conservation scientist and a writer. I’ve always thought of human and environmental health as deeply intertwined, but as a scientist in the environmental field, I get to study how those links play out in various contexts and help people implement solutions to create a more sustainable future. At heart, I am a storyteller. I write mainly about forest and climate-related issues, but I have a broader interest in the complex relationships between people and the natural world. I hold a dual degree in Environmental Studies and Visual Art from Brown University, and I earned my Ph.D. from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program for Environment and Resources at Stanford University.

Lauren's book list on to inspire climate action

Lauren E. Oakes Why did Lauren love this book?

Climate- and environmental activist Greta Thunberg is often most recognized as the voice of the youth climate movement. However, there are many children around the world, standing up to fight climate change as older generations sit idle. In 2015, twenty-one young people from across America sued the federal government over climate change, arguing that actions promoting the fossil fuel economy violate their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.

Journalist Lee van der Voo brings the experiences of children living in our rapidly changing world to light, as the plaintiffs describe their experiences with floods, fire, drought, and disappearing coastlines. As the World Burns reveals the deep concerns that the next generation holds about the climate crisis and their justified demands for government action.

By Lee Van Der Voo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked As the World Burns as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Award-winning investigative journalist Lee van der Voo reports on Juliana v. the United States. Combining unparalleled access to the plaintiffs and reporting on the natural disasters that form an urgent backdrop to the story, van der Voo shares a timely and important story about the environment, the law, and the new generation of activists. In 2015, a group of kids sued the federal government over climate change. Their case has the potential to be the civil rights trial of our century, but it hasn't happened yet. Instead, both the Obama and Trump Administrations have deployed legal tactics to stymie the…


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Book cover of The Thing to Remember about Stargazing

The Thing to Remember about Stargazing By Matt Forrest Esenwine, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini (illustrator),

What is the most important thing to remember about stargazing? When to do it, who to do it with, what to look for? It’s none of those! This picture book’s spare, lyrical text offers many suggestions for enjoying stargazing – but there’s really only ONE thing you need to remember,…

Book cover of We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes: Late Cold War Culture in the Age of Reagan

William Knoblauch Author Of Nuclear Freeze in a Cold War: The Reagan Administration, Cultural Activism, and the End of the Arms Race

From my list on the Cold War in the 1980s.

Why am I passionate about this?

My interest in the decade and in the Cold War came during graduate school. This was where I discovered Carl Sagan’s theory of a nuclear winter: that after a nuclear war, the debris and smoke from nuclear bombs would cover the earth and make it inhabitable for life on earth. Tracing debates between this celebrity scientist and U.S. policymakers revealed a hesitancy on either side to even consider each other’s point of view. This research made me reconsider the pop culture of my youth—films like The Day After and Wargames, music like “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and books from Don DeLillo’s White Noise to Dr. Seuss’ Butter Battle Book—and ultimately see them as part of a political contest in which lives—our lives—were in the balance.  

William's book list on the Cold War in the 1980s

William Knoblauch Why did William love this book?

In the past few decades, politicians and pundits have worked hard to craft our collective memory of the 1980s. Many promote it was a golden age of small government, a booming economy, and a strong, morally-centered foreign policy. Andrew Hunt’s We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes acts as a corollary to this interpretation. Covering aspects of domestic protests, the antinuclear movement, battles over the “Vietnam Syndrome,” and the backlash to Reagan’s foreign policies in Central America and elsewhere, Hunt explores another side of the 1980s Cold War. His book’s title is taken from an off-the-cuff joke Reagan made about destroying the Soviet Union. Doing so at such a tense time in U.S. foreign relations made Reagan’s gaff one that alarmed observers at home and abroad--a testament to how tense the era really was.

By Andrew Hunt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked We Begin Bombing in Five Minutes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the moments before his weekly radio address hit the airwaves in 1984, Ronald Reagan made an off-the-record joke: 'I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.' As reports of the stunt leaked to the press, many Americans did not find themselves laughing along with the president. Long a fervent warrior against what he termed the 'Evil Empire,' by the mid-1980s, Reagan confronted growing domestic opposition to his revival of the Cold War. While numerous histories of the era have glorified the 'Decade of Greed,' historian Andrew Hunt instead explores the period's robust political…


Book cover of War Horse
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