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.

Fever Beach

by Carl Hiaasen

Publication year 2025

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Environment, Social Class, Politics & Government, Good & Evil, Justice, Power & Greed

Tags Satirical Literature, Humor, Mystery & Crime Fiction

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Field Notes from a Catastrophe

by Elizabeth Kolbert

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

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

In 2006, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New York Times journalist Elizabeth Kolbert published Field Notes from a Catastrophe, an urgent review of climate change. The book began as a tripartite publication in the New Yorker, for which the political journalist received a National Magazine Award.Kolbert’s investigation begins on Greenland’s west coast, where natives have noticed the shrinking of icebergs for years. In another northerly location, the Alaskan island of Shishmaref is disappearing underwater... Read Field Notes from a Catastrophe Summary

Fire and Ice

by Erin Hunter

Publication year 2003

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Fear, Hope, Love, Memory, Nostalgia, Animals, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Food, Nature Versus Nurture, Family, Friendship, Mothers, Siblings, Teamwork, Community, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt

Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Animals

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Fire Weather

by John Vaillant

Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Climate, Plants, Economics, Globalization, Politics & Government, Safety & Danger, Science & Technology, Truth & Lies

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

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Flight

by John Steinbeck

Publication year 1938

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Masculinity, Environment, Coming of Age

Tags Coming of Age, Grief & Death, Education, Education, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

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Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief, Birth, Marriage, Mothers, Globalization, Environment

Tags Climate Change, Science & Nature, Modern Classic Fiction

Barbara Kingsolver’s 2012 novel Flight Behavior presents a symbolic connection between Dellarobia Turnbow, an unhappy farm wife who secretly dreams of running away from it all, and a surprising migration of monarch butterflies that alight upon her in-laws’ property in Feathertown, Tennessee. As the butterflies struggle to survive and reproduce to continue their species, Dellarobia struggles in her efforts to deal with the consequences of her past decisions and the possibility of her new life... Read Flight Behavior Summary

Force of Nature

by Jane Harper

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Hate & Anger, Mental Health, Environment, Family, Justice, Power & Greed

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense

Force of Nature (2017) is a thriller by Australian author Jane Harper. Following The Dry (2016) and preceding Exiles (2022), it is the second in a three-book series of novels featuring federal investigator Aaron Falk. In this installment, Falk joins the state police in their investigation of a missing woman who has been a key point of contact for his investigation into possible embezzlement and fraud at a prominent accounting firm. While the woman’s fate... Read Force of Nature Summary

Freedom Train

by Dorothy Sterling

Publication year 1954

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Hope, Disability, Femininity, Race, Environment, Family, Teamwork, Colonialism, Politics & Government, War, Equality, Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags World History, Biography, Children`s Literature, US History, Historical Nonfiction, American Civil War

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Full Body Burden

by Kristen Iversen

Publication year 2012

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Journalism, Politics & Government, Science & Nature, World History, Health, Biography

Full Body Burden: Growing up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats is a 2012 nonfiction account by Kristen Iversen. Half memoir, half investigative journalism, the book covers Iversen’s life in a town near Denver, Colorado, as well as Rocky Flats—the nearby nuclear production facility. Quiet, observant, and adventurous, Iversen is the oldest of four children. The family keeps many pets, and Iversen adores horseback riding on their pasture at a new neighborhood near Rocky Flats... Read Full Body Burden Summary

Fuzz

by Mary Roach

Publication year 2021

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Animals, Death, Equality

Tags Science & Nature, Animals, Crime & Law, Humor, World History

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Fuzzy Mud

by Louis Sachar

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Environment, Friendship, Community, Fear, Food, Animals, Perseverance, Education, Globalization, Loneliness, Self Discovery, Future, Politics & Government, Science & Technology, Order & Chaos, Safety & Danger

Tags Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Horror & Suspense, Survival Fiction, Natural Disaster, Science & Nature, Children`s Literature, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Realistic Fiction

In Newbery medalist Louis Sachar’s sci-fi thriller Fuzzy Mud (2015), Tamaya and Marshall cut through the restricted woods behind their school to avoid a bully—but encounter a strange mud that has the potential to destroy nearly all life on Earth. While Marshall struggles with the emotional effects of being bullied, Tamaya develops an unusually aggressive rash from the mud and worries that in protecting Marshall she has gravely injured Chad. Each character faces difficult ethical... Read Fuzzy Mud Summary

Garbology

by Edward Humes

Publication year 2012

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Community, Environment

Tags Business & Economics, Climate Change, Science & Nature, Social Science, Sociology, World History

Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash is a 2012 non-fiction book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes. Garbology is an analysis of American consumption, trash production, and what happens to everything in our disposable economy after we discard it. Through statistical analysis, interviews, and personal stories, Humes tells the story of our largest export—our trash—and how trash came to be synonymous with American life.Humes divides Garbology into three sections: first, an analysis of our... Read Garbology Summary

Ghost Story

by Peter Straub

Publication year 1979

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Apathy, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Grief, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Loneliness, Memory, Regret, Shame & Pride, Revenge, Aging, Death, The Past, Animals, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Beauty, Fate, Good & Evil, Loyalty & Betrayal, Music, Art, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Femininity, Sexual Identity, Friendship, Marriage, Mothers, Siblings, Teamwork, Order & Chaos, Justice, Equality

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Religion & Spirituality

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