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.

Publication year 2013

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Society: Community

Tags Science / Nature, Psychology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Biography


Publication year 2017

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Society: Nation, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Joy

Tags Climate Change


Publication year 2018

Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Environment

Tags Historical Fiction, Survival Fiction, WWII / World War II, Action / Adventure, Children's Literature, Military / War, History: World


Publication year 2002

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Literature, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Marriage

Tags Free verse, Lyric Poem, Play: Comedy / Satire, American Literature, Love / Sexuality


Publication year 1871

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Society: Education, Relationships: Friendship, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Masculinity, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Teams, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Children's Literature


Publication year 1997

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Food, Natural World: Place, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Economics, Society: Education, Society: War, Society: Nation

Tags Science / Nature, Health / Medicine, Politics / Government, Social Justice, Education, Education, Gender / Feminism


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Gender, Identity: Race, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Family, Society: Community

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World, Historical Fiction, Western, Fantasy


Publication year 1956

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: Indigenous, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Friendship

Tags Action / Adventure, Historical Fiction, Survival Fiction, Children's Literature, Education, Education, Classic Fiction

Lost in the Barrens is a 1956 middle grade novel based loosely on the lived experiences of author Farley Mowat. Mowat’s experiences in the remote wilderness of northern Canada inspired an adult version of the saga, People of the Deer (1952), and the children’s adaptation. He is known for blending survival narratives with intricate details about the Canadian northern wilderness. Mowat is best known for Never Cry Wolf (1963), which Disney adapted for film in... Read Lost In The Barrens Summary


Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Art, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Natural World: Environment, Life/Time: The Future

Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Fantasy

Margaret Atwood’s novel MaddAddam, published in 2013, completes her post-apocalyptic MaddAddam trilogy that begins with Oryx and Crake (2003) and continues with The Year of the Flood (2009). The trilogy takes place in the aftermath of a destroyed technological dystopia, a world in which corporations have totalitarian control. Atwood, an award-winning Canadian author, has been a prolific writer of poetry, short stories, novels, and many other forms since the early 1960s. She is known for... Read MaddAddam Summary


Publication year 1990

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Identity: Indigenous, Identity: Race, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Environment, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed

Tags Historical Fiction, Western, Magical Realism, American Literature, Education, Education, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World

Mean Spirit (1990) is the first novel by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991, it was well-reviewed and established Hogan as an important Indigenous author. The novel tells the story of what came to be known as the Osage murders, a string of killings in Oklahoma’s Osage country after oil was discovered on Osage land. The murders were ultimately discovered to have been the result of not only... Read Mean Spirit Summary


Publication year 1818

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Life/Time: Aging, Identity: Femininity

Tags Lyric Poem, British Literature, Science / Nature

“Meg Merrilies” (sometimes titled “Old Meg she was a gipsy” or simply “old Meg”) is a short, playful ballad by the English Romantic poet John Keats. It was written on Keats’s walking tour of northern England and Scotland in 1818. At the time, Keats was worried about the health of his brother, Tom, and about his own health; the tuberculosis that would soon kill Tom had already begun to manifest in Keats. While his doctor... Read Meg Merrilies Summary


Publication year 1914

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment

Tags American Literature, Education, Education, Classic Fiction

A meditative lyric poem on the boundaries between people, “Mending Wall” was first published in 1914 in North of Boston, a collection of poetry by the American poet Robert Frost. “Mending Wall” is one of Frost’s most popular and anthologized works. It exemplifies the themes which came to define his poetry. Set in a rural American wood, its honest, colloquial tone belies a psychologically deep and ambiguous reality. The poem’s most quotable lines exhort two... Read Mending Wall Summary


Publication year 2010

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Economics, Natural World: Environment

Tags Business / Economics, Science / Nature, Climate Change, History: World, Politics / Government

Written by historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (2010) is a nonfiction account of how a loose-knit group of scientists—Fred Seitz, Fred Singer, Bill Nierenberg, and Robert Jastrow—with similar political agendas worked to prevent government regulation by creating the appearance of scientific debate on several topics. These topics included smoking (both first- and secondhand hand... Read Merchants of Doubt Summary


Publication year 2019

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Natural World: Environment

Tags Science / Nature, Russian Literature, History: World, Politics / Government

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster (2019) is a non-fiction book by the English author and journalist Adam Higginbotham. The book explores the causes and consequences of the 1986 explosion at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station in Ukraine, which killed at least 31 plant workers and firefighters and resulted in the evacuation of over 100,000 people. The radioactive fallout from the disaster ostensibly caused an unknown number... Read Midnight in Chernobyl Summary


Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature

Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Science / Nature, Animals, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 1947

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Family

Tags Children's Literature, Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Animals


Publication year 1851

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Society: Community, Identity: Mental Health

Tags Action / Adventure, American Literature, Classic Fiction, Romanticism / Romantic Period, Historical Fiction

Published in 1851, Moby Dick was based in part on author Herman Melville’s own experiences on a whaleship. The novel tells the story of Ahab, the captain of a whaling vessel called The Pequod, who has a three-year mission to collect and sell the valuable oil of whales at the behest of the ship’s owners. Instead, the furious Ahab takes the ship on his own personal journey through hell, seeking revenge against the eponymous white... Read Moby Dick Summary


Publication year 1817

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Natural World: Objects, Natural World: Place, Natural World: Environment

Tags Philosophy, Science / Nature, Romanticism / Romantic Period, Education, Education, British Literature, Classic Fiction


Publication year 2016

Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Teams, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Self Discovery

Tags Realistic Fiction, Animals, Children's Literature


Publication year 2015

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Environment, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos

Tags Prose poetry