Here are 100 books that When Green Becomes Tomatoes fans have personally recommended if you like
When Green Becomes Tomatoes.
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When I was growing up, my favorite books were about kids getting lost in the wilderness. Now, as an artist and writer, I love to create stories about people’s connection to land and the plants and animals that inhabit natural spaces. The inspiration for my picture book biography, Alexander von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist & Environmental Pioneer, came after hiking many of the volcanoes that Humboldt had climbed some 200 years earlier in South America. Besides hiking, I occupy myself with drawing and watercolor painting, climate activism, and looking at bugs and rocks with my daughters. I’ve published four graphic novels, two picture books, and a cookbook about rice.
Besides the fact that the illustrations in On a Magical Do-Nothing Day are gorgeous, I love this story of a child turning a boring, lonely, rainy day into a magical (dare I say spiritual?) adventure—an encounter with “a world full of treasures that I could feel!”
I’ve often found that a life-changing experience of beauty comes after some difficulty or personal challenge, and this kid discovers—after being ignored by their parents, losing their favorite video game in a stream, and being drenched by cold rain—a breathtaking world that seems “brand-new, as if it had been created right in front of me.”
A compelling, magical picture book with whimsical, stunning art and heartfelt, charming text, from award-winning illustrator Beatrice Alemagna. "Hands down, Beatrice Alemagna is my favorite contemporary illustrator," said the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of Last Stop on Market Street, Christian Robinson. All I want to do on a rainy day like today is play my game. My mom says it's a waste of time, but without my game, nothing is fun! On the other hand, maybe I'm wrong about that...While reading On a Magical Do-Nothing Day, one gets the sense that the illustrator became lost in her drawings, and as a…
An interdimensional mixer with angels and other beings brings unexpected trouble for Malachi and his friends in this smart and uniquely funny second book about the squad of teens from hell.
When an angel comes to his home to deliver a message, Malachi immediately knows what’s going on. The seraph…
My name is Lynn Brunelle, and for as long as I can remember, I have been at least two things—a bookhound and an outdoorsy girl. Ever since I was little, I have explored trees, insects, tadpoles, snowflakes, tidepools—whatever I discovered in my home in the woods by the beach. I had so many questions, which led to books. So it seems only natural that I LOVE books—lots of different genres of books, but mostly books for kids and mostly books that make me wonder about science and nature. Bringing this curiosity to others and making the amazing things in nature accessible to kids is what I do.
Great books reveal new worlds. I am crazy about books that wake up curiosity. These books are fabulous. They make exploration and observation accessible to anyone.
I love the illustrations and the information that introduces readers to the notion that a lot is going on beneath the surface in nature. There always is! It may be hushed and white up top, but beneath is a secret world where animals have different strategies to survive the cold, dark winter. It makes me wonder about all the other things that are happening that we don’t always see.
Over the snow, the world is hushed and white. But under the snow lies a secret world of squirrels and snow hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many other animals making their winter home under the snow. This beloved nonfiction picture book exploring the subnivean zone reveals the tunnels and caves formed beneath the snow but over the ground, where many kinds of animals live through the winter, safe and warm, awake and busy, but hidden beneath the snow.
I am a former teacher turned author with a passion for children’s literature. I have a Bachelor of Arts with a Diploma of Education from Macquarie University and a Master of Special Education from the University of Sydney. I’ve previously taught English at all levels in schools and specialised in teaching students with learning difficulties.
I’ve also taught literacy skills to disadvantaged children and adult migrants. I firmly believe that learning to read ignites one’s imagination, fills you with knowledge, and opens doors in the real world. My children’s picture book Merrie Moo is a fun story about a friendly and forgetful cow.
This book is a favourite of mine to read aloud to young children.
The writing is musical with a predictable rhythm that young children enjoy. The story has a repetitive chorus that children instinctively chant along to. As children repeat the chorus, they feel like they are reading, which gives them a sense of achievement.
The story is full of fun onomatopoeia words that children love saying, such as swishing, squelchy, and stomping. This language also allows children to act out the words using their whole bodies, which adds to the reading experience.
The story is full of anticipation and just the right amount of suspense for this age group. This book will keep children engaged from beginning to end.
Gorgeous gift edition of the classic join in story by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Shake up a snowstorm with this perfect gift for brave hunters and bear-lovers everywhere!
We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. Will you come too? For over a quarter of a century, readers have been swishy-swashying and splash-sploshing through this award-winning favourite. This new gift hardback edition includes a superb snow scene on the cover to add fun and festive flurries to your favourite family adventure story. Follow and join in the family's excitement as they wade through the…
A satisfying story of rediscovering friendship after time spent apart.
For many years, Hazel and Mabel were inseparable. The two friends made up stories, spent the night together, and shared their snacks. Then, Mabel moved away. As time passes, Hazel and Mabel think of each other often, but they also…
My first memories are of sitting in the garden munching strawberries off the vine as my grandfather picked vegetables. Dad’s days off meant a trip to the nature reserve or sledding the town slopes. Vacations were for jumping in waves and exploring tidepools. Mom collected antique children’s books and instilled a passion for reading. When not exploring the woods across the railroad tracks with friends, I was reading. Childhood and my passion for nature intersect in my writing in two of my other books, A Beach Tail and Circles of Hope. Nowadays, my routine includes writing in my woodland cabin and daily hikes with my flat-coated retriever, Lowani.
This book is about nature and winter, about owling and hope. Every page is like a poem, and I can feel the winter gentle, silent as a dream. I love the details that are so real to me: long shadows on snow as white as milk in a cereal bowl.
I hear the train in the distance as farm dogs answer in a song. I can relate so vividly that this book gives me shivers. I know that feeling of a scarf over my mouth, wet and warm and furry. Meant to be read over and over, I still delight in finding animals unexpectedly hidden in the winter night. The subtext about bravery, patience, and hope in the relationship between father and daughter brings tears every time.
Late one winter night a little girl and her father go owling. The trees stand still as statues and the world is silent as a dream. Whoo-whoo-whoo, the father calls to the mysterious nighttime bird.
But there is no answer.
Wordlessly the two companions walk along, for when you go owling you don't need words. You don't need anything but hope. Sometimes there isn't an owl, but sometimes there is.
Distinguished author Jane Yolen has created a gentle, poetic story that lovingly depicts the special companionship of a young child and her father as well as humankind's close relationship to…
Ever since my parents gave me a copy of Dorothy Aldis’ The Secret Place and Other Poems, I have enjoyed a lifelong love of poetry. Now, as a traditionally-published children’s author, I have had numerous books and poems published over the years, including books that began as poems, like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) and Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021). My poems can be found in various anthologies including The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children's Books, 2015).
Amy has a way of making every poem feel personal, not just in the way the reader connects with the words, but in the way the subjects are presented. The poems are intimate, friendly, surprising, and comforting, whether they are written from a third-person perspective or from the point of view of the animals themselves. Beautiful to read, and beautiful to look at, readers will never look at the forest the same way again.
A spider is a “never-tangling dangling spinner / knitting angles, trapping dinner.” A tree frog proposes, “Marry me. Please marry me… / Pick me now. / Make me your choice. / I’m one great frog / with one strong voice.” VanDerwater lets the denizens of the forest speak for themselves in twenty-six lighthearted, easy-to-read poems. As she observes, “Silence in Forest / never lasts long. / Melody / is everywhere / mixing in / with piney air. / Forest has a song.” The graceful, appealing watercolor illustrations perfectly suit these charming poems that invite young readers into the woodland world…
Ever since my parents gave me a copy of Dorothy Aldis’ The Secret Place and Other Poems, I have enjoyed a lifelong love of poetry. Now, as a traditionally-published children’s author, I have had numerous books and poems published over the years, including books that began as poems, like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) and Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021). My poems can be found in various anthologies including The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children's Books, 2015).
Narrowing down just one of Joyce Sidman’s poetry collections as ‘their best’ is truly a monumental task, but Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold is certainly high on the list! Whether it’s Tundra Swans dreaming of “ice-blue sky and yodel of night” or a leaping, laughing snowflake with “lace sprouting from fingertips,” all the subjects of Joyce’s poems are rendered in elegant yet relatable text while Rick Allen’s linoleum print illustrations capture the ethereal tone of the book.
In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman (Song of the Water Boatman, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow. Paired with stunning linoleum print illustrations by Rick Allen, that celebrate nature's beauty and power.
4.5 billion years ago, Earth was forming - but nothing could have survived there…
From Cells to Ourselves is the incredible story of how life on earth started and how it gradually evolved from the first simple cells to the abundance of life around us today. Walk with dinosaurs, analyse…
Ever since my parents gave me a copy of Dorothy Aldis’ The Secret Place and Other Poems, I have enjoyed a lifelong love of poetry. Now, as a traditionally-published children’s author, I have had numerous books and poems published over the years, including books that began as poems, like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) and Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021). My poems can be found in various anthologies including The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children's Books, 2015).
Like Joyce Sidman, it’s very difficult to nail down one of David’s animal poetry books as ‘best,’ but After Dark is certainly a must-have. With poems like “Posted Property” (about the cougar), which is broken up over the course of three separate panels picture-book style, and “No Fooling” (about the raccoon), which readers will discover on the back cover, this book features fun, ingenious poetry and sidebars – and is educational yet never didactic
This collection of 22 poems explores the fascinating lives of North American nocturnal animals.
When the sun goes down, many animals come out. Crickets chirp their crickety song hoping to attract a mate. Cougars bury their leftovers for later, leaving few clues for others to follow. Armadillos emerge from their dens to dig for worms, leaving holes in the lawns they disturb. This collection of poetry from acclaimed children's author and poet David L. Harrison explores the lives of animals who are awake after dark. Stephanie Laberis's beautifully atmospheric illustrations will draw in readers, and extensive back matter offers more…
Ever since my parents gave me a copy of Dorothy Aldis’ The Secret Place and Other Poems, I have enjoyed a lifelong love of poetry. Now, as a traditionally-published children’s author, I have had numerous books and poems published over the years, including books that began as poems, like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) and Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021). My poems can be found in various anthologies including The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children's Books, 2015).
Where to begin? This book covers a wide range of animals found on the African grasslands – impalas, giraffes, oxpeckers, and more – but also includes unlikely (and unseemly) subjects like poop-rolling dung beetles and carcass-cleaning vultures. An especially nice poem, “Tree for All,” written from the tree’s perspective, extolls its virtues by sharing how rhinos, baboons, skinks, safari ants, and other creatures all make use of its resources.
Welcome wildebeest / and beetle, / Oxpecker and lion. / This water hole is yours. / It offers you oasis / beside its shrinking shores.
Spend a day at a water hole on the African grasslands. From dawn to nightfall, animals come and go. Giraffes gulp, wildebeest graze, impalas leap, vultures squabble, and elephants wallow. Fact sidebars support the poems about the animals and their environment. Imaginative illustrations from Anna Wadham complete this delightful collection.
Ever since I was a young girl, I always turned to writing to work through anything that was happening in my life, ranging from the first time I experienced loss to my parents’ divorce. I have since published three children’s books on tough topics as I have aimed to provide parents, children, and teachers with tools to discuss loss and change. My most recent book, Goodbye, Gus is specifically about the loss of a pet. My dad died when I was 21, and that was the first death (other than my dogs) that I ever experienced. I was able to experience first-hand the fact that the loss of my pets helped prepare me to cope with grief, and I also learned that we can all focus on what we did have and hang on to those memories forever.
I first read this book as a 21-year-old woman who had just lost her father. Other than losing pets, this was my first experience with loss. The book Freddie the Leaf seemed like a children’s book, but its themes and messages were so relatable, even though I was a senior in college. I remember the simple way that the concepts of passing seasons and life and death were portrayed in such a comforting manner, and I was so grateful that someone gifted me with this book during the most difficult time in my life.
The beloved classic from New York Times bestselling author Leo Buscaglia that has helped thousands of children and adults come to grips with life and death-a warm, wonderfully wise, and strikingly simple story about a leaf named Freddie.
Appropriate for all ages-from toddlers to adults-and featuring beautiful nature photographs throughout, this poignant, thought-provoking story follows Freddie and his companions as their leaves change with the passing seasons and the coming of winter, finally falling to the ground with winter's snow.
An inspiring allegory that illustrates the delicate balance between life and death, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf has helped…
The summer holidays have finally arrived and Scout can’t wait for her adventure in the big rig with Dad. They’re on a mission to deliver donations of dog food to animal rescue shelters right across the state. There’ll be dad-jokes, rock-collecting, and a brilliant plan that will make sure everyone’s…
I grew up in a rural area, and loved wandering through the woods, listening to birds, and feeling moss under my toes. Nature always seemed like such wondrous magic. I became an engineer because I loved math and science, but then realized I wanted to share my love of nature with kids. So I earned an MFA in writing and now lean on my science and writing background to make sure that my books and the STEM books I recommend are both well-researched and presented in interesting ways. You can find more of my reviews on my blog for Perfect Picture Book Fridays. I hope the books on my list fill you with wonder, too!
This book blew my belief that the Antarctic is a desolate place out of the water—or perhaps out of the iceberg, as I watched an iceberg “calve”—sending a piece of itself into the southern ocean at the beginning of spring.
I loved being told to “look closer.” And what did I see? Penguins, leopard seals, krill, a zillion sea birds, and humpback whales all feasting (or being feasted upon). And a show-stopping double foldout page (that I wanted to frame, it’s sooo gorgeous!) that opens up to a magnificent array of sea creatures in opalescent waters.
What an ode to the amazing cycle of the seasons and life!
An iceberg shears from a glacier and begins a journey that takes it through Antarctica's seasons.
Follow the iceberg in the spring as it watches penguins trek across the ice to their winter homes and senses krill stirring underneath the ice. With summer comes more life: the iceberg sees humpback whales spiral and orca gather. And the iceberg moves too, ever shrinking as the sun softens its edges and undersea currents wash it from below. When autumn arrives with cooling temperatures, the sea changes and the iceberg is trapped in the ice for the winter freeze. Then spring returns and…
