The most recommended environmental fiction

From her earliest years, Sutcliff knew firsthand what it was to live with and surmount painful disability. She understood what it was to be ‘the other’—to be looking from the outside on those able to live ‘normal’ lives. It is not surprising then that many of her stories include main characters who powerfully prove you do not need to be able-bodied to triumph over life. Set in the British Bronze age, this novel is one of those stories. Dem wants to take his place as a warrior of his tribe but must kill a wolf single-handedly to claim his warrior’s scarlet cloak. How can kill his wolf when he was born with a withered arm? With great sensitivity, skill, and prose often close to poetry, Sutcliff brings the Bronze age and its people alive in this wonderfully told story.  

This is one of my all-time favourite books. I’m a big fan of Lane Smith, I love his books and his illustrations are gorgeous – he has a wonderful ability to tweak his style to fit the specific book and storyline perfectly. Visually an intriguing delight, and a deeply touching narrative about shared time, memories, and love between Grandpa and Grandchild.

Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a boy who lived on a farm and a child who had chickenpox. He was a soldier, a husband, and, most of all, an artist.

I love books that show a bond between humans and animals. Especially well-researched books. And this story certainly captures it all with a sweet encounter between a lonely polar bear and a girl. Between the environmental tidbits, the plight of polar bears, and also the unique storyline, this book should be on everyone’s radar. 

I absolutely love twisted scenarios, and Maria Haushofer’s book presents us with a simple yet terrifying premise: What if you were trapped, alone, for the rest of your natural life?

While staying at her family’s countryside lodge, the protagonist wakes up to find an invisible barrier separating her small patch of land from the rest of the world. Thanks to some exploration and a pair of binoculars, she can see that everyone beyond the wall is dead, apparently turned to stone.

The entire story follows the sole character’s isolation and struggle to survive. Well, I should say sole human character because Haushofer does an incredible job of bringing her non-human personas to life via a dog, cow, bull, several cats, and even an albino crow.

This is a strange and fascinating novel, and I promise you’ll never read another like it.

After the Snow follows the adventures of a boy who finds his family is missing when returning home in the snow-bound hills. The settings and atmosphere in the book are beautifully worked, as is the voice, which I found to be bold, fluent, and captivating. The characters are strong and the plot bumps along at a good pace. Another must-read!

Mole and Mouse take their art supplies into the woods to make a book about birds, but they can never get close enough to their subjects to draw them. Since birds are not afraid of other birds, they decide to create feathered costumes for themselves and then build a nest to lure some winged company into drawing range. These stories about a warm, eccentric friendship between a mole and mouse, with charming pictures reminiscent of E.H. Shepard’s art in the Winne the Pooh books, are full of small surprises, just right for new readers.  

Where the World Turns Wild plays on one of my biggest fears about the future – a world without nature. Juniper and her little brother Bear live in a walled city where nature has been almost completely eradicated following the outbreak of a disease. What remains is a tightly controlled and terrifying society that they must escape. Juniper’s bravery and her capacity for survival are driven by the fierce, protective love she has for her little brother. This is an adventure story like no other and one I have returned to time and again.

This is an extraordinary novel.

Sun House is a sprawling, challenging, intimate, and deeply engaging book that follows the lives of a dozen or so amazing characters as they struggle to find meaning and purpose in their lives. Although they are all extreme people in various ways, you can find yourself in each of them.

The setting is the Pacific Northwest, especially Oregon, Washington, and Montana from 1958-2016. The characters' lives intertwine in remarkable ways, both with each other and with the urban, rural, and wilderness landscapes that they inhabit.

As you read about their developmental journeys, you will also get involved in challenging discussions about Buddhist and Christian spirituality, wilderness philosophy, and ecological awareness. Most importantly, you deeply care about each of the characters.

The book sometimes seems like it's gone astray with wild spiritual speculation, but it always returns to its home ground—the intriguing lives of its… show more.

This book introduces children to Earth and space and its inhabitants in a gentle way, with whimsical and detailed illustrations that elaborate on the simple text.

I appreciate the messages of compassion, curiosity, and appreciation for others that Oliver Jeffers was trying to share with his newborn son, who inspired this book. The detailed illustrations welcome kids to interact with them, mindfully observing the pages and pointing out little details.

Daisy is searching for her mother, an eco-journalist who has gone missing in the Amazon. When I am wearing my other hat, I am a travel journalist who specialises in plants and gardens I could not fail to be intrigued by this situation.

Daisy finds a portal in Kew Gardens and enters a universe called Greenwild, where a group called The Botanists are preserving magical flora. Full of exciting adventures that children find entertaining, I loved this book because it nevertheless subtly indicates that plants are a very real source of magic.