Tag Archives: climate change

Wonderful Weather: Climate and Climate Change in Children’s Lit

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March is a month known for notable weather events, with one old adage even stating it goes in like a lion and out like a lamb – or vice versa, depending on the year. This March, the S-Collection blog features all sorts of different books about weather and weather patterns around the globe. These books also detail how climate change and global warming are one of the most significant influences on weather patterns today and empower children to combat global warming themselves. The included picture books tell stories about weather and its impact on people’s lives, while the juvenile fiction selection focuses on those who have a passion for weather and protecting the environment. Finally, the nonfiction selection will help readers learn more about varying weather patterns and how they can become a climate activist. The S-Collection has what you need to learn more about climate and climate change this March!

Picture Books
Archer, Micha
Wind Watchers. 2025. Picture Book.
The magic of wind is explored in this lyrical picture book. Different seasons are described, as well as how fun wind can be to a kid. From chasing dandelion seeds to kite flying in the warmer months, to big storms and blustering snow in the colder ones, the wind is a source of endless wonder. Beautiful illustrations from Caldecott Honoree Micha Archer add to the joy of this weather-themed picture book.
Q. SE. Ar24wi

Serafino, James
Penelope Weathervane’s Grumpy Day. 2025. Picture Book.
When Penelope Weathervane wakes up, she instantly knows she’s going to have a bad day just by looking at the gray clouds in the sky. Penelope’s hair is also a fluffy cloud, and as one inconvenience after another happens, her hair grows stormier and stormier. Soon, it’s raining, and even after Penelope’s tears dry up, a dreary fog continues to dampen her mood. However, calming breaths help the sun shine once more in this cartoony picture book that uses weather as an allegory for mood.
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Echenique, Sara E.
Illustrated by: Ashley Jane Vargas
Our Roof is Blue. 2023. Picture Book.
The unnamed protagonist of this book loves hearing her brother Antonio’s stories each night before they go to sleep. During this year’s hurricane season, however, the storm blows off their roof, and Antonio stops speaking all together. They replace the roof with a bright blue tarp, and she and her brother find peace in imagining that the tarp and its shadows are calming ocean waves and birds. Eventually, they get a new roof, and Antonio re-finds his voice. Scary weather events and preparedness are explored in this touching picture book.
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Juvenile Fiction

Axelrod-Contrada, Joan and Ann Malaspina
Illustrated by: Paula Becker
Zeke the Weather Geek (series). Juvenile Fiction.
There’s a Lizard in my Blizzard! 2023. S. Ax223zeli
There’s Mud in my Flood! 2025. S. Ax223zemu
There’s one thing that Zeke loves more than anything else in the world, and it’s studying weather! In this series, Zeke tries to win a winter photo contest, creates a weather station in his back yard, and even gets to meet his favorite meteorologist, Freeze Jones. Watch Zeke explore different types of weather as the seasons change and learn more about weather events such as blizzards, storms, and floods.

Doyle, Bill H.
The Race to Erase. 2023. Juvenile Fiction.
In this series, readers get to become the “Fifth Hero” and make decisions alongside climate superheroes Jarrett, Malik, Agnes, and Freya. The Calamity Corporation believes that the Earth is not worth saving and humans should leave it behind all together to seek a new planet in space. These superheroes disagree, and after being imbued with different powers – including wind- and weather- themed ones – they set out to save the Earth and stop the Calamity Corporation before it is too late. As the “Fifth Hero,” the reader is prompted to make choices and help them in their journey to protect the Earth from certain disaster.
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Frank, Steven
Global Warning. 2023. Juvenile Fiction.
The temperature is rising, and seventh-graders Sam, Alistair, Catalina, Jaesang, and Zoe want something to be done about it. As weather patterns shift and ice caps melt, they are soon forced to realize that adults aren’t coming to save their futures. With the guidance of a retired children’s rights lawyer and an activist grandmother, the children set out to get an amendment in the US Constitution affirming Americans’ right to live in a safe and pollution-free planet. With allusions to real-world politicians and a climactic climate protest, the effect that weather has on the lives of kids is illuminated in this exciting children’s novel.
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Juvenile Nonfiction

Crowder, Melanie and Megan Benedict
Illustrated by: Khoa Le
Great Gusts: Winds of the World and the Science Behind Them. 2024. Nonfiction Picture Book.
Through a series of poems that vary in style, these poets describe different types of wind across the world. The pages jump from Great Britain to Hawaii to Canada and beyond, and the poems are accompanied by beautiful illustrations. Additionally, sidebars and back matter provide facts about the different winds of the world for anyone who wants to learn more.
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Davies, Nicola
Illustrated by: Catherine Rayner
Emperor of the Ice: How a Changing Climate Affects a Penguin Colony. 2023. Nonfiction Picture Book.
This narrative work of nonfiction follows a pair of emperor penguins as they raise a chick in the harsh Antarctic climate. The couple lays an egg and then takes turns incubating it while the other fishes for food. Eventually, their chick is big enough to stay warm on its own. While everything worked out for this penguin couple, the book points out that climate change is endangering the emperor penguin species as a whole. As the climate gets warmer, the ice caps on which the penguins make their homes melt and crack, which can be devastating to entire penguin colonies. The importance of protecting Antarctic environments by combating global warming is made apparent in this moving picture book.
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Reynolds, Emma
Drawn to Change the World: 16 Youth Climate Activists, 16 Artists. 2023. Juvenile Nonfiction.
This book profiles 16 activists who are working to combat climate catastrophe. All of these activists are children, which shows that this is a fight that anyone can join. The book describes what sorts of issues global warming causes and will cause, as well as potential solutions to these problems. Each activist has a short series of comics drawn by different artists, meaning each page offers a new and exciting style that makes for a consistently engaging read.
S.741.5941 R334dr

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Every Day Is Earth Day

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This year, April 22nd marked the 50th Earth Day. The Earth Day Network’s mission is “To build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and planet.” However, every day can be Earth Day when we care about how our actions affect the planet we live on. Find below several inspirational and educational children’s resources focused on climate change. Learn what we can do to celebrate and save our planet Earth.

For more information on Earth Day, visit the official website: https://www.earthday.org/about-us/

If you’re interested in finding more books about climate change, search the catalog using keywords such as “juvenile fiction” for fiction books, “juvenile literature” for nonfiction books, and an additional term such as “climate change,” “global warming,” or “environmental science.”

Bennett, Jeffrey O.
A Global Warming Science Primer. 2016 (Non-fiction).
Following a Question and Answer format, this book dives deep into the science behind global warming and seeks to debunk some skeptic arguments. Included sections are, “The Basic Science,” “The Skeptic Debate,” “The Expected Consequences,” “The Solution,” and “A Letter to Your Grandchildren.” This book is great for older readers who want to get a better understanding of how global warming occurs.
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Cole, Joanna
The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge. 2010 (Non-fiction).
In classic Magic School Bus style, Ms. Frizzle and her class explore how global warming is affecting the planet and learn about a large number of ways to take action.
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Collard III, Sneed B.
Hopping Ahead of Climate Change: Snowshoe Hares, Science, and Survival. 2016 (Non-fiction).
Many animals have coats that change color with the seasons in order to better camouflage themselves from predators or prey. With a focus on snowshoe hares, this book seeks to answer what happens when the changing climate disrupts this process.
[Q. S.599.328 C684h]

Eriksson, Ann
Dive in! Exploring our Connection with the Ocean. 2018 (Non-fiction).
As humans, the ocean is incredibly important to us, yet we treat it poorly. This digestible book provides action plans for the individual hoping to help improve the health of the ocean.
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Guiberson, Brenda Z.
Earth: Feeling the Heat. 2010 (Picture Book).
This beautifully illustrated book focuses on specific animals from all over the globe, detailing their particular struggles with climate change that may inevitably lead to their endangerment or extinction. Each page asks, “Who can help?” Readers are left with a list of small changes they can make to reduce energy use, and a prompt to think of even more.
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Knowles, Laura
The Coral Kingdom. 2018 (Picture Book).
With beautiful illustrations, this simple rhyming exploration of the coral reefs fosters an appreciation of one of our most delicate ecosystems. Included is additional information on coral bleaching, as well as tips for helping to save the coral reefs.
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Oram, Hiawyn
Snowboy and the Last Tree Standing. 2018 (Picture Book).
Greenbackboy wants Snowboy to help him chop down all the trees in the forest and catch all the fish in the ocean in order to acquire KA-CHING. Snowboy is less sure that this plan will work, since trees give us the air we breathe, and the sea is dead without fish. Will Snowboy be able to convince Greenbackboy about what is right? Highlighting the power of the individual voice, this imaginative story is full of hope.
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Pasquet, Jacques
My Wounded Island. 2017 (Picture Book).
In this story centered on the lives of the Iñupiat people living on a small northern island, a little girl chronicles her fears of the rising sea that will soon swallow the island on which she and her people live. Especially poignant is her grandfather’s worry that once they are displaced, their entire culture will be lost.
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Swanson, Jennifer
Geoengineering Earth’s Climate: Resetting the Thermostat. 2018 (Non-fiction).
With the changing climate, many possible solutions involving interfering with Earth’s systems have been suggested to counteract the change. This book dives in to the pros and cons of several of these suggestions which include reforestation, space mirrors, and carbon capture.
[S.551.68 Sw247g]

Williams, Lily
If Polar Bears Disappeared. 2018 (Non-fiction)
Follow the chain reaction of what could happen if polar bears go extinct due to the melting of arctic ice. The cute illustrations do not mask the gravity of entire ecosystems being destroyed, however the story does end on a hopeful note, citing that it is not too late for change.
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