In January, based partly on a vote by young people, Oxford University Press named the phrase “climate change” the 2023 “children’s word of the year”. When children were asked how it made them feel, the most common responses were “sad”, “scared” and “worried”.
And once upon a time (not very long ago), children’s books about climate change were terrifying. There was a vogue for post-apocalyptic dystopias, especially for older children, in which feral survivors of a climate catastrophe battled for essentials. At the end, if we were lucky, there was a chance that civilisation might start again from rock bottom. The problem is that however justified fear is, it is also paralysing.
Since then the emphasis has changed. Powerful, nature-loving stories began to offer more hope. And now children are being encouraged and reassured. Picture books, fiction and non-fiction are relating success stories about climate change, without denying that action absolutely must be taken. Readers are left thinking about small, realistic actions — rather than how they would live in a cave.
• The best books for children 2024
The title of a favourite in this heartening genre sums up the message: Don’t Panic! We Can Save the Planet! (Bloomsbury, £7.99, 7-12), by the comedian and eco-activist James Campbell and humorously illustrated by Rob Jones. It makes fun of “serious and sensible” books about saving the planet such as “Everybody Panic! The Planet Is Doomed by Al Armist” and it is, so far, the funniest children’s book of the year. It offers such useful information as that the inside of the Earth is made of “rock, melted rock and the souls of supply teachers”, and that Jupiter is so far away “you need to catch three buses to get there”.
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The author, it transpires, lives in a tiny solar-powered house in the middle of his own food forest and knows from experience about permaculture and compost loos. Children who are still chortling over the angry penguins randomly interposed into his book are more likely to consider a meat-free day a week or remember to turn off the taps while brushing their teeth, than those who have been frightened into burying their heads in the imminently ubiquitous sand.
Stories in this less intimidating vein are often identifiable from the word “wild” or “hope” in their titles. The author and environmentalist Nicola Davies, in the foreword to Future Hopes: Hopeful Stories in a Time of Climate Change (Walker, £7.99, 9+), an anthology edited by Lauren James, reassures readers that although climate change is real and “very serious”, “it is a problem with solutions” and that “working together is what is going to make us succeed”. The nine tales by talented authors, from the fantastical to the everyday, embrace wildlife corridors, plastic-eating creatures, edible insects, cities run on green power and community service for causing excessive carbon release. After each story James puts forward related information and practical advice. They are much more inspiring than visualising dystopian wastelands.
Lauren Child, in an afterword to her delightful novel Smile (HarperCollins, £14.99, 7-11) says she wrote it “because I was finding news of climate change overwhelming”. She uses Clarice Bean’s curiosity about the tiniest of creatures to help readers to “understand how important you are and how you can make a difference”. Like Campbell’s book, Smile is funny. The story is one of family and friendships, as well as about a school project and about community, as Clarice’s street co-operates on an eco-friendly project.
Joseph Coelho’s picture book Luna Loves Gardening (Andersen, £10.99, 3-6), bursting with colour in Fiona Lumbers’s pictures, also demonstrates this: that community is crucial to greening the world. I am cheered that our survival is going to depend on neighbourliness and laughter.
And also — and this may be next year’s “children’s word of the year” — on rewilding. Isabella Tree’s bestselling account for adults of her project at Knepp in Sussex has been adapted into a beautiful edition for young people, Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back — An Illustrated Guide (Macmillan, £20, 8+) with Angela Harding’s expert illustrations. There is so much optimism in hearing how nature heals itself when left alone.
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Janetta Otter-Barry, publisher of the picture book Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the World by Catherine Barr, richly illustrated by Christiane Engel (Otter-Barry, £13.99, 5-7) has said that the point of the book was “inspiring children, not frightening them”, by “showing the positive actions that people are taking and that they can help to take as well”. It chronicles the adaptations made around the world for seven species, from elephants to bears, to migrate as they need to across human barriers, encouraging wider biodiversity.
One of these species is the hedgehog. Making a hedgehog hole in a fence is a step anyone can take. It features too in Daniel Seton’s celebratory picture book Our Wild Garden (Pushkin, £12.99, 3-6), illustrated by Pieter Fannes, which brings rewilding down to a scale that is achievable for many young readers. It is the story of two children who persuade their neat-freak parents to relax and encourage a rewilded garden that is soon busy with wildlife. It is a perfect book for No Mow May, freeing readers from anxiety as well as a chore.
These books make positivity rush back like creatures to untidy lawns. Lauren James, in the afterword to Future Hopes, says: “I promise it’s possible to save the world.” I feel a wild hope myself.
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