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In these books there exists a situation (fictional
or real) in which the impact of humans causes some imbalance in
the ecosystem. Some books are specifically about acid rain while
others are about other environmental problems such as chemical
spills, the vanishing rain forest, or diminishing habitats for
animals. Running through many of the books is a strong message
that people acting in a timely fashion can turn these problems
around. We have included several nonfiction books: two of them
about acid rain and surface water pollution and two biographies
of influential women ecological activists.
The Berenstain Bears and the Coughing
Catfish
Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue
The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo: A Drama
of Ecology
The Earth is Sore: Native Americans on Nature
Just A Dream
Kid Heroes of the Environment: Simple Things
Real Kids Are Doing To Save the Earth
The Last Free Bird
Love Canal: My Story
The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo:
An Ecological Mystery
One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest
Our Endangered Planet: Rivers and Lakes
Rachel Carson
Rain of Troubles: The Science and Politics
of Acid Rain
Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are
Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment
The River
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
And Still the Turtle Watched
The Talking Earth
Who Really Killed Cock Robin?
The Berenstain Bears and the Coughing
Catfish
by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Random House, New York. 1987
Out of print
Grades: K–6
A respected bear scientist helps a wise catfish and the Berenstains
to clean up a lake where pollution is life-threatening. A sunken
treasure chest, some imaginative scientific devices, and the creation
of a lake-life museum are part of the story. Although this book
has the juvenile humor common to the series, the language level
is fairly high and might even stretch into the 7th and 8th grades
with a suitable introduction.
Return to titles list.
Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue
by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin; illustrated
by Paul Sagsoorian
McGraw-Hill, New York. 1977
Grades: 4–9
Danny and his friends bring evidence to a town meeting that waste
from a local factory is polluting the stream. Discussion of societal
issues such as tax revenue and jobs that the factory contributes
to the town make a good connection to the town meeting in Session
7.
Return to titles list.
The Day They Parachuted Cats on Borneo:
A Drama of Ecology
by Charlotte Pomerantz; illustrated by Jose Aruego
Young Scott Books/Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. 1971
Out of print
Grades: 4–7
This cautionary verse, based on a true story, explores how
spraying for mosquitoes in Borneo eventually affected the entire
ecological system, from cockroaches, rats, cats, and geckoes to
the river and the farmer. The strong, humorous text makes the
book successful as a read-aloud or as a play to be performed.
A good example of the interacting elements of an ecosystem.
Return to titles list.
The Earth is Sore: Native Americans
on Nature
adapted and illustrated by Aline Amon
Atheneum, New York. 1981
Out of print
Grades: 4–Adult
This collection of poems and songs by Native Americans celebrates
the relationship between the Earth and all creatures and mourns
abuse of the environment. Illustrated with black and white collage
prints made from natural materials.
Return to titles list.
Just A Dream
by Chris Van Allsburg
Houghton Mifflin, New York. 1990
Grades: 1–6
When he has a dream about a future Earth devastated by pollution,
Walter begins to understand the importance of taking care of the
environment. Session 7 encourages students to take responsibility
for environmental concerns, and to empower themselves.
Return to titles list.
Kid Heroes of the Environment:
Simple Things Real Kids Are Doing To Save the Earth
edited by Catherine Dee; illustrated by Michele Montez
Earth Works Press, Berkeley, California. 1991
Grades: 3–12
Twenty-nine profiles of individuals and organizations working
at home, at school, locally, and nationally, to help the environment
through “kid power.” Strong connections include “Oliver
the Otter,” an oil spill awareness and publishing project;
“Tree’s Company,” tree planting and research on
the greenhouse effect; “Toxic Avengers” which shut down
a waste storage facility dumping hazardous waste; and “Testing
the Water,” a Boy Scout project to monitor streams for acid
rain.
Return to titles list.
The Last Free Bird
by A. Harris Stone; illustrated by Sheila Heins
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1967
Out of print
Grades: K–4
Here’s a moving plea for protecting the natural beauty
and habitats of the land and “the last free bird.” The
easy reading level and the interplay between the watercolor illustrations
and the text make this book effective for younger children. An
interesting activity would be to read this book about vanishing
bird habitats and supplement it with Urban Roosts (in the “Structure”
section) which shows birds adapting to urbanized and seemingly
inhospitable environments.
Return to titles list.
Love Canal: My Story
by Lois M. Gibbs
State University of New York at Albany Press, Albany, New York.
1982
Out of print
Grades: 6–12
Autobiography of the housewife who organized a neighborhood
association that eventually resulted in a clean up of the Love
Canal toxic waste site and relocation of the families living there.
She went on to form the Citizen’s Clearinghouse for Hazardous
Waste based in Arlington, Virginia.
Return to titles list.
The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo
Limbo: An Ecological Mystery
by Jean C. George
HarperCollins, New York. 1992
Grades: 4–7
Sixth-grader Liza K and her mother live in a tent in the Florida
Everglades. She becomes a nature detective while searching for
Dajun, a giant alligator who plays a part in a waterhole’s
oxygen-algae cycle, and is marked for extinction by local officials.
The book is full of detail about the local habitats and species
and the forces that impact on them, as well as environmental information
that relates to this GEMS unit. Lisa and her amateur naturalist
neighbor discuss, for example, pesticide and phosphate pollution
and the differences between green and blue-green algae: “Blue-green
algae, on the other hand, is an announcer of doom. It says the
water is polluted with phosphorus and nitrogen from septic tanks,
lawns, and road runoff. That day it also said to me there was
no Dajun. If he was there, he would have bulldozed that clump
of blue-green algae to shore. It suffocates the fish and turtles
he lives on. Somehow he knows this and weeds it out.” Reading
this extraordinary book would make a wonderful extension to the
“lake animals play” in Session 6 of this GEMS guide.
Return to titles list.
One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest
by Jean C. George; illustrated by Gary Allen
HarperCollins, New York. 1990
Grades: 4–7
When a section of rain forest in Venezuela is scheduled to
be bulldozed, a young boy and a scientist seek a new species of
butterfly for a wealthy industrialist who might preserve the forest.
As they travel through the ecosystem rich with plant, insect,
and animal life, everything they see on this one day is logged
beginning with sunrise at 6:29 a.m. They finally arrive at the
top of the largest tree in the forest and fortuitously capture
a specimen of an unknown butterfly.
Return to titles list.
Our Endangered Planet: Rivers and Lakes
by Mary Hoff and Mary M. Rogers
Lerner Publications, Minneapolis. 1991
Grades: 4–8
An attractive and user-friendly reference book covering the
dangers of surface water pollution with many illustrations and
photographs. Other relevant titles in this series (all published
in 1991) include: Groundwater, Population.
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Rachel Carson
by Leslie A. Wheeler
Silver Burdett Press/Simon & Schuster, New York. 1991
Grades: 5–12
The life and work of the biologist and conservationist are
examined in light of the important role her writing played in
initiating the modern environmental movement. The second half
of the book provides fascinating background on influences and
obstacles that contributed to her writing Under the Sea Wind,
The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and the landmark work,
The Silent Spring, which caused an uproar with its descriptions
of the pollution of earth and sea by chemical pesticides and the
potential effects on humans and wildlife.
Return to titles list.
Rain of Troubles:
The Science and Politics of Acid Rain
by Lawrence Pringle
Macmillan, New York. 1988
Grades: 5–12
Acid rain’s discovery, formation, transportation, its
effects on plant and animal life, and how economic and political
forces have delayed action are discussed. This book provides good
background for the town meeting activities in the GEMS guide.
Return to titles list.
Restoring the Earth: How Americans
Are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment
by John J. Berger
Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1985
Doubleday, New York. 1987
Out of print
Grades: 7–12
This book profiles individuals and groups active in conservation.
It is written at the adult level and does not include any photographs
or illustrations. Especially relevant to the GEMS activities is
the first section, which deals with restoration of a polluted
lake, a trout stream, and a dead marsh. “Mother Nashua”
is the true story of the clean-up effort, also portrayed in Lynne
Cherry’s picture book A River Ran Wild. Other sections relate
to land use and waste disposal, human settlements and their environmental
impact, and wildlife preservation.
Return to titles list.
The River
by David Bellamy; illustrated by Jill Dow
Clarkson Potter/Crown, New York. 1988
Grades: 3–5
Plant and animal life co-exist in a river—then they must
struggle for survival when a human-made catastrophe strikes. Details
about stream ecology include a description of the effects of waste
water discharged from a factory pipe and how the bacteria, algae,
and oxygen interact in the dam area and beyond where the waste
has been diluted. The ending seems overly optimistic with the
river “back to normal” a month after the waste is released.
“Everyone hopes the factory owners will be more careful in
the future.”
Return to titles list.
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
by Lynne Cherry
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, San Diego. 1992
Grades: 1–5
This is the true story of the Nashua River Valley in North-Central
Massachusetts from the time that the Native Americans settled
there, naming it River With the Pebbled Bottom. The book traces
the impact on the river of the industrial revolution and the eventual
clean-up campaign mounted by a local watershed association. The
graphic borders are packed with historical information, showing
the tools and artifacts that represent cultural changes that affected
the water quality: the proliferation of textile and paper mills
and attendant pollution, the increased presence of plastics and
chemicals in manufacturing, and waste disposal.
Return to titles list.
And Still the Turtle Watched
by Sheila MacGill-Callahan; illustrated by Barry Moser
Dial Books, New York. 1991
Grades: K–5
A turtle carved by Native Americans on a rock watches, with
sadness, the changes humans bring over the years. After the rock
is cleaned of spray paint and installed indoors at a botanical
garden, the turtle’s vision is restored and he communicates
his wisdom to the many children visiting. Moser’s watercolor
paintings are dramatic.
Return to titles list.
The Talking Earth
by Jean C. George
HarperCollins, New York. 1983
Grades: 6–12
Billie Wind, a Seminole, is known for her curiosity and criticized
for doubting the traditional wisdom of her people. Her sister
says, “You are too scientific. You are realistic like the
white men.” Poling through the Florida Everglades sloughs
and then a river in a dugout canoe, she fends for herself with
an otter, a panther cub, and a turtle as companions and guides.
Viewing the destruction after a hurricane, she hears the message
of the animal spirits, “we must love the earth or it will
look like this … life can be destroyed unless we work at
saving it.”
Return to titles list.
Who Really Killed Cock Robin?
by Jean C. George
HarperCollins, New York. 1991
Grades: 3–7
A compelling ecological mystery examines the importance of
keeping nature in balance, and provides an inspiring account of
a young environmental hero who becomes a scientific detective.
Return to titles list.
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