Earth Day

Every April, we honor our planet on Earth Day with a selection of works celebrating the natural world. With titles ranging from stories of wilderness survival to nonfiction works about conservation and sustainability, this Collection features a broad spectrum of ideas regarding nature and our role within it.

The Uninhabitable Earth

by David Wallace-Wells

Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, World History, Politics & Government

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming is a 2019 non-fiction book by the American journalist David Wallace-Wells. Subtitled Life After Warming, the book explores the projected meteorological, sociological, and psychological consequences of climate change over the course of the 21st century. A New York Times bestseller, The Uninhabitable Earth appeared on numerous best books of the year lists, including those of The Economist, Time, and NPR. It is adapted from Wallace-Wells’s 2017 New York magazine... Read The Uninhabitable Earth Summary

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

by Karina Yan Glaser

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Guilt, Grief, Joy, Loneliness, Love, Nostalgia, Regret, Hope, Art, Music, Literature, Order & Chaos, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Family, Friendship, Fathers, Mothers, Siblings, Community, Environment, Animals, Food, Place

Tags Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Coming of Age, Urban Development, Special Occasions, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street Summary

The Virgin Suicides

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Publication year 1993

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Mental Health, Memory, Beauty, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Death, Grief, The Past, Future, Environment, Appearance & Reality

Tags Coming of Age, Depression & Suicide, Climate Change, Grief & Death, Love & Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Classic Fiction

The Virgin Suicides is a realistic fiction novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides and originally published in 1993. Using death by suicide as its central motif, the novel examines the themes of The Objectification of Women, Romanticizing the Past, and The Effects of Loss. A statement of youth disillusionment, death by suicide becomes The Death of the Future, another of the novel’s themes. The novel was adapted into a critically acclaimed film directed by Sofia Coppola... Read The Virgin Suicides Summary

The Wall

by Marlen Haushofer

Publication year 1963

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Femininity, Environment, Self Discovery, Safety & Danger

Tags Science Fiction

The Wall (1963) is a novel by Marlen Haushofer. The novel features an eco-dystopia, with an unnamed protagonist trapped behind a clear wall while the world outside is frozen. As she strives to survive, the protagonist adopts various animals, making a family of sorts. The Wall uses the premise of ecological disaster to examine The Weight of Survival and Nature as a Dominant Force. The protagonist achieves Liberation Through Isolation by connecting with nature and... Read The Wall Summary

The Wall

by John Lanchester

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Community, Climate, Environment

Tags Science Fiction, Climate Change, Fantasy

John Lanchester’s The Wall (2019) is dystopian cli-fi (climate science fiction) novel set in a near-future in which severe weather events and rising sea levels destroyed all the shores in the world and created a refugee crisis in countries of the Global South. The United Kingdom’s response is the ethically dubious decision to build a Wall and to kill or press into labor people who make it there. Defenders like the protagonist, Joseph Kavanagh, are... Read The Wall Summary

The Waters

by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Publication year 2024

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Regret, Femininity, Animals, Climate, Environment, Plants, Family, Mothers, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Science & Nature, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read The Waters Summary

The Wild Robot Protects

by Peter Brown

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Future, Animals, Nature Versus Nurture, Family, Community, Science & Technology

Tags Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Climate Change, Children`s Literature, Animals

... Read The Wild Robot Protects Summary

The Worst Hard Time

by Timothy Egan

Publication year 2005

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags US History, Science & Nature, American Literature, World History, Action & Adventure

The Worst Hard Time, written by New York Times journalist Timothy Egan, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2006) and the Washington State Book Award (2006). Egan chronicles the history of the Dust Bowl from the late 1800s to 1939, unfolding the tragedy of errors that led to the environmental and economic disasters of the 1930s. Readers experience historical events through stories of survivors: farmers, cowboys, ranchers, merchants, investors, and professionals. Egan chooses survivors... Read The Worst Hard Time Summary

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

by Wallace Stevens

Publication year 1917

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Appearance & Reality, Animals, Religion & Spirituality, Environment

Tags Animals, Science & Nature, Lyric Poem, American Literature, Education, Education, Classic Fiction

Wallace Stevens is the author of “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” and he first published the poem in 1917 as a part of the literary anthology Others: An Anthology of New Verse. In 1923, he included the poem in his first collection of poetry, Harmonium, which features many of Stevens’s most well-known poems—poems that continue to appear in anthologies—like “The Snow Man“ and “The Emperor of Ice-Cream.” Stevens was born in Pennsylvania and... Read Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird Summary

This Changes Everything

by Naomi Klein

Publication year 2014

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Globalization, Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change, Business & Economics, Politics & Government

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate is Naomi Klein's fourth book. Published in 2014, it explores the issue of climate change from an anticapitalistic political perspective and considers whether contemporary market-driven policies are adequate for responding to the global crisis. The book won the 2014 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and was adapted into a documentary by Avi Lewis.Klein is a Canadian author, filmmaker, and activist whose work centers on anticapitalist critique... Read This Changes Everything Summary

This Is Your Mind on Plants

by Michael Pollan

Publication year 2021

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Indigenous Identity, Colonialism, Politics & Government

Tags Science & Nature, Psychology, Health, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Agriculture, Anthropology, Business & Economics, European History, US History, Politics & Government, World History, Journalism, Religion & Spirituality, Psychology, Food

... Read This Is Your Mind on Plants Summary