E-Books on Climate Science for Young Readers
Because the planet’s future is in their hands
“This was the best book I have ever read. I am an 11-year-old girl and really interested in Science. I want to be a software developer when I get older. I started reading [Just Right] a few months ago. And wow! This book turned out to be so great . . . I finished the entire book with a lot of excitement. I was lost in the story while reading. Thanks to this book and its author for inspiring me to read more books.”
Photo © by Jeff Norgeot
Awareness is rising worldwide that all life is at risk from human-caused climate disruption. And the world citizens who will finally mobilize to address this crisis are today’s children.
For 35 years, Mon Cochran was a professor at Cornell University, teaching and conducting research on early childhood development and education. Now he is working and writing to help children understand why Earth’s climate is changing, and how we can combat this — especially by transitioning to renewable energy sources. Shifting resources from extracting fossil fuels to solar, wind, and hydropower depends on educating a generation of young people about the urgency of this shift. Developed in “enhanced” e-book format, these books weave together engaging narratives with web-based visual resources: still photos, video, interactive graphics, and maps. They give nine-to-twelve-year-olds an age-appropriate understanding of climate science and renewable-energy technologies.
Download to any Apple device at no cost! Click the book covers below.
Eleven-year-old Tom and his sister, Julie, age nine, are spending the summer with their grandfather on the shores of Cape Cod.
When he was a child himself, Grandpa bonded deeply with his native land and waters, and he loves the concept of Earth as a living organism. He proposes that the three of them spend the summer finding out—through direct outdoor experience and the vast resources of the Web—what makes our planet “just right” as a home for living things.
So when they’re not boogie-boarding waves, going sailing, or digging clams for dinner, Tom and Julie learn firsthand about how Earth’s systems work by observing whales feeding, seawater carving deltas around a sand castle, the myriad kinds of rocks on a beach, and wind filling a boat’s sails. Explorations online add to their knowledge.
Just Right explains to young readers, from the perspective of children their own age, how Earth’s vital “organs”—atmosphere, oceans, and land—work together to support life and stabilize the climate. Until recently, that is! With its appealing story line and visuals, this e-book is a powerful tool to help equip young citizens for the challenges of climate disruption and is a superb complement to any middle-level earth science curriculum.
At the end of Just Right, Tom and Julie worry about how CO2 in the atmosphere is changing Earth’s climate.
This sequel, Sun, Wind, and Water: Clean Energy Solutions for Young Readers follows them back to school, where they convince their teachers to help them with special projects on solar and water power. Working in teams with classmates, they gather information on solar panels, hydroelectric turbines, and other technologies for producing electricity without fossil fuels. Grandpa, meanwhile, researches wind power and shares his findings with the kids.
On spring vacation, the three travel to Samsø Island in Denmark, famed worldwide for having become fully independent of fossil fuels in less than a decade. Young Danes their own age show Tom and Julie the wind, solar, and biofuel projects that make the island a net exporter of alternative energy. Closer to home, they visit the island of Martha’s Vineyard, which is also making the transition from fossil fuels to solar and wind energy. Readers also meet real youth climate activists who are helping to create positive change in their communities around the U.S.
