Board Books about Nature Conservation

April 22 – Earth Day

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About the Holiday

By 1970 awareness was growing worldwide about the damage that industrialization, pollution, and pesticides were causing people and the environment. On April 22, 1970—the date of the first Earth Day—millions of people demonstrated for change. In response, in July of 1970, Republican President Richard Nixon and the U.S. Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency. Between 1970 and 1973 they also enacted laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act and more. Earth Day is now celebrated around the globe as a day for political action and civic participation.

Today, it’s more important than ever for citizens to participate in protecting the environment and speaking up against the policies of the current Republican president and administration so they do not reverse the progress and advancements we’ve made. This year the theme of Earth Day is Our Power, Our Planet and calls for people to unite around renewable energy. To learn more about this year’s theme, and discover ways that you and your kids can make a difference, visit earthday.org. 

Thanks go to Terry Pierce and the Yosemite Conservancy for sending me a copy of We Leave No Trace! for review.

We Leave No Trace!

Written by Terri Pierce | Illustrated by Nadja Sarell

 

In her gentle invitation for the youngest children and their families to enjoy the outdoors while also treating its flora and fauna with kindness, Terry Pierce models the “leave no trace” principles that ensure harmony between people and nature. Pierce touches on such ideas as not collecting natural “souvenirs,” maintaining a small footprint, and always throwing away trash in verses that encourage adults and children to talk about how they, particularly, can be good stewards of the earth as they hike, camp, picnic, or just enjoy a walk together.

Illustration © 2025 by Nadja Sarell, text © 2025 by Terry Pierce. Courtesy of Yosemite Conservancy.

While each page spread introduces a different way that kids can pitch in to help nature, Pierce has also included a repeated rhyming couplet that reinforces a child’s pride in supporting a cleaner, healthier environment for all while also having fun. This lively phrase can turn any read-aloud story time into an enjoyable interactive read-along for little ones. 

Kids will love hiking through Nadja Sarell’s vibrant landscapes that transports them to a mountain-side lake where various nature-lovers are boating, picnicking, and walking all within sight of a doe and her fawn and a bird that’s flying in low for its closeup; a forested trail in which a girl, instead of taking home a woodpecker’s feather, is snapping a picture of it; a park where ducks swim among lily pads as kids look on from a stone bridge while others play nearby; and more lovely locales. Each page spread also offers lots of opportunities for young readers to point out animals and other elements of nature as well as kid-favorite treats and activities.

We Leave No Trace! is a delightful adventure through nature that provides youngest children with easy and mindful reminders of how they can protect the environment now and for the future. Jaunty rhymes, repeated phrasing, and vivid illustrations that welcome discussion and interaction make this board book perfect for taking along on trips to playgrounds, parks, and other outdoor spots and a top choice for home and library collections.

Ages Baby – 3

Yosemite Conservancy, 2025 | ISBN 978-1951179373

About the Author

Terry Pierce is the author of more than twenty-five books for children, including We Leave No Trace!, Hello Meadow!, and Eat Up Bear! (Yosemite Conservancy), Love Can Come in Many Ways (Chronicle), Soccer Time! (Random House), Mama Loves You So (Little Simon) and My Busy Green Garden (Tilbury House). She is an outdoor enthusiast, enjoying backpacking, hiking, and rock climbing near her home in Mammoth Lakes, California.

About the Illustrator

Nadja Sarell is an illustrator living in Helsinki, Finland. She is the illustrator of We Leave No Trace!, Eat Up Bear! and Hello, Meadow! (Yosemite Conservancy), the Frankie Sparks, Third Grade Inventor series (Aladdin), and The One and Only Wolfgang (Zonderkidz). Nadja graduated with MA in dance from Theatre Academy Helsinki and graduated from North Wales School of Art and Design with BA in illustration for children’s publishing in 2004. Since then she has worked as a freelance illustrator in Finland and abroad. She loves to teach art, illustration, and dance for both children and adults.

We Leave No Trace! joins these two previous books in the Yosemite Conservancy’s “stewardship” board book series by Terry Pierce and Nadja Sarell

Eat Up, Bear!

Curious, hungry black bears just want to eat! Juicy berries, crunchy nuts, tender grubs, sticky honey—that’s good bear food. But if little park visitors and their families don’t watch out, their food will be bear food, too! The bouncy rhyming text and vibrant pictures in this board book show how people of all ages can help keep bears safe and thriving. Perfect for first-time and seasoned campers alike.

Hello, Meadow!

Grassy, flower-filled meadows are really pretty! It’s oh-so tempting to hike and skip right through them. But meadows are actually fragile, and human footsteps and picnics can cause them harm—then they cannot do their important work of providing a habitat for creatures and plants, filtering water, and even storing carbon. The lively text and beautiful illustrations in this sturdy board book show little nature lovers how to easily protect meadows while enjoying one of Earth’s loveliest features.

Earth Day Activity

Image courtesy of Explore More, Clean Less

Paint with Water

 

It’s fun to get creative with activities you can do outdoors that will leave no trace. Painting with water on boulders or river rocks or on areas of paved park trails or playground sidewalks with paint brushes or your fingers lets you explore your artistic side while being gentle with nature. You can find many more ways for kids to learn about and interact with the environment at Explore More, Clean Less!

You can purchase We Leave No Trace! from these booksellers

Yosemite Conservancy | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Picture Book Review

June 5 – World Environment Day

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About the Holiday

Sponsored by the United Nations, World Environment Day encourages worldwide awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Each year a different country hosts the day’s events. This year Pakistan has been chosen as the host country. Today’s holiday also launches the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030 and “aims to prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.” This work is crucial to the survival of our planet. The statistics are alarming. Studies have found that every three seconds the world loses enough forest to cover a soccer field and over the last century, half of our wetlands and as much as fifty per cent of our coral reefs have been destroyed. This year’s theme is “Reimagine. Recreate. Restore.” Everyone is needed to make a difference. You can learn more about World Environment Day, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and how you can join the #GenerationRestoration movement on the UN World Environment Day website.

This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer

Written by Joan Holub | Illustrated by Daniel Roode

 

Take any little one outside and they’re immediately fascinated with plants, animals, and bugs they see. They want to play in the water at the beach or lake. And who doesn’t like to take a boat ride on a river? When they look up, there are fluffy clouds and birds passing by, and, of course, the tall trees provide shade for outdoor play. Kids instinctively want to protect nature and seem to be born with compassion for animals – their pets and those that live in the wild. 

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Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.

This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer recognizes young children’s desire to help and learn more about nature with mini-biographies of ten people who have found distinct ways to preserve the environment today and for future generations. Each biography is introduced with a rhyming verse that makes it easy for little readers to understand and remember how each of these activists made an impact. They then learn more specifics about each person’s work to protect open land, inspire new environmental laws, save forests, support clean water, and fight against climate change.

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Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.

Children learn about Edgar J. Helm, who created the Goodwill company that provided jobs and decreased trash; Wangari Maathai, who “got African women to plant millions of trees in Kenya to provide fruit, shade from the sun, wood for building , and firewood for cooking”; Vandana Shiva, who encourages farmers and communities to create seed banks for the future; Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao who have devised a way to “break down hard-to-recycle plastic trash”; and six more influential environmentalists.

Following these ten biographies are one– or two-sentence profiles of seventeen other people, including writers, artists, politicians, scientists, and other visionaries who are involved in protecting our earth. The last frame is left blank for the next environmentalist on the scene – could it be you?

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Image copyright Daniel Roode, 2021, text copyright Joan Holub, 2021. Courtesy of Little Simon.

With her straightforward and informative text, Joan Holub will inspire kids to follow in the footsteps of well-known personalities and community leaders and keep an eye out for ways they can make a difference at home, school, or in their neighborhood. Inclusion of environmentalists from around the world give readers knowledge about a wide range of environmental concerns and innovative ideas people have for addressing them.

Daniel Roode’s bright and engaging illustrations help kids visualize the place where each environmentalist lives and the type of work they do. Background details give kids and adults plenty to talk about as they read and as they take walks in the neighborhood, go to the park, visit the grocery story and farmers market, and notice more about their own area.

A smart, inclusive, and timely addition to the This Little series, This Little Environmentalist: A Love-the-Earth Primer is a must for fans of the series as well as for classroom and public library collections.

Ages 3 – 5

Little Simon, 2021 | ISBN 978-1534475588

World Environment Day Activity

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Recycling Maze

 

This little boy wants to help the environment! Can you help him pick up recyclable items in this printable maze?

Recycling Maze

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You can find This Little Environmentalist at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

Bookshop | IndieBound

Picture Book Review