Message to Kids: Go Green

In more ways than one, green is spring's featured color. A number of this season's books aim to raise youngsters' eco-consciousness and provide them with tools to make a positive impact on their world.

Due on bookstore shelves in time for Earth Day is MySpace/OurPlanet: Change Is Possible, a joint effort between HarperCollins's Bowen Press and the MySpace community. A 200,000-copy first printing is on order for this guide, the first MySpace branded book, which compiles information and practical suggestions for teens interested in living more environment-friendly lives. Tom Anderson, president and co-founder of MySpace, has written a foreword to the volume, which is printed on 100% post-consumer-waste paper with soy-based inks.

Two forthcoming titles each offer 50 steps kids can take to improve the environment. Anne Jankéliowitch, an engineer specializing in the environment, has penned 50 Ways to Save the Earth, which features photos by five-time World Press Prize winner Philippe Bourseiller. This Abrams release details daily actions kids can take to reduce their carbon footprints, from saving energy to protecting earth's water supply. Also issuing a call-to-action is a Scholastic Reference paperback, You Can Save the Planet: 50 Ways You Can Make a Difference by Jacquie Wines. Illustrated by Sarah Horne, this guide specifies things kids can do to make their homes, schools and neighborhoods more environmentally friendly.

From DK comes the aptly titled Earth Matters, offering a history of our planet's birth and development as well as ideas for combating the negative effects of global warming and implementing other changes. David de Rothschild, “eco warrior” and founder of adventureecology.com, contributes a foreword to the volume.

And Sasquatch Books brings an environmental message to a younger audience through the voice of a fictional character. Set in Churchill, Manitoba, Jean Davies Okimoto's Winston of Churchill: One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming, illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell, introduces an outspoken polar bear who teaches his fellow bears why the ice is melting and rallies them to convince humans to save the animals' arctic home.