Eco Fiction for Kids and Teens

Children's Fiction

Toby Alone by Timothée de Fombelle, translated by Sarah Ardizzone, illustrated by François Place

Toby Lolness may be just one and a half millimeters tall, but he's the most wanted person in his world, the world of the great oak Tree. Toby's father has made a groundbreaking discovery: the Tree itself is alive, lowing with vital energy, and there may even be a world beyond it. Greedy developers itch to exploit this forbidden knowledge, risking permanent damage to their natural world. But Toby's father has refused to reveal his findings, causing the family to be exiled to the lower branches. Only Toby has managed to escape, but for how long? And how can he bear to leave his parents to their terrible fate?

Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis

When her baby brother is kidnapped by crows, seventh-grader Prue McKeel ventures into the forbidden Impassable Wilderness—a dangerous and magical forest in the middle of Portland, Oregon—and soon finds herself involved in a war among the various inhabitants.

What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved A Dragon by Henry Clark

When three twelve-year-olds discover there are seven separate minutes a day they can do magic, they must use oddly specific spells to save a dragon, themselves, and the world.

The Light-Bearer's Daughterby O.R. Melling

In exchange for the granting of her heart's desire, twelve-year-old Dana agrees to make an arduous journey to Lugnaquillia through the land of Faerie in order to warn King Lugh, second in command to the High King, that an evil destroyer has entered the Mountain Kingdom.

Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

Obe Devlin spends a lot of his time cleaning up the creek that runs through what little is left of his family's once extensive farmland, and worrying about what the developers are doing nearby, and the pollution it is causing—but one day he finds a strange creature by his creek that eats plastic, and soon the animal he calls Marvin Gardens becomes his personal secret, which he believes needs to be protected from pretty much everybody.

The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman, illustrated by Tracy Nishimura Bishop

Kate's humdrum life is transformed when her eccentric Uncle Herbert brings her a colossal locomotive train, the Silver Arrow, as her eleventh birthday gift, leading her and her younger brother on a mysterious quest.

The Red Maze by Mark Siegel and Alexis Siegel, illustrated by Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun

Oona, Jax Amboy, and An Tzu must light the beacon on Moon Yatta and stop the evil force that threatens to rule the 5 worlds.

Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding, illustrated by David Wyatt

Upon moving to her aunt's seaside home in the British Isles, Connie becomes part of a secret society that shelters mythical creatures, and must use her ability to communicate with these beings to protect them from evil and the incursions of humans.

The Popper Penguin Rescue by Eliot Schrefer and illustrated by Jim Madsen

Long after Mr.Popper found his famous penguins a proper home, his distant relatives, Nina and Joel, move to a new house with their mother and find mysterious eggs in the basement.

Here Where the Sunbeams are Green by Helen Phillips

Sisters Madeline and Ruby travel to a Central American jungle to help find their missing father, a renowned bird watcher, only to discover a nefarious plot that puts their lives in danger.

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

Two middle-grade kids take a shortcut home from school and discover what looks like fuzzy mud but is actually a substance with the potential to wreak havoc on the entire world.

Marty McGuire Digs Worms!by Kate Messner, illustrated by Brian Floca

With help from her Grandma Barb, Marty builds a habitat for worms in her school cafeteria as part of the Save the Earth Project.

The Castle In The Sea by Mardi McConnochie

Twins Will and Annalie Wallace continue to search for their missing father. As Admiralty closes in, Will, Annalie, and their friends Essie and Pod must evade capture—and pirates—while tracking Spinner's movements around the world in their small sailboat. Following a coded list, they make contact with other former scientists living undercover, and learn disturbing information about the research their father stole and its connection to the global flooding that changed their world.

Little Fur: The Legend Begins by Isobelle Carmody

When half-elf, half-troll Little Fur learns that servants of the troll king aim to destroy her beloved trees, she embarks on an ambitious and dangerous journey into the human world in hopes of saving not only the wilderness she calls home, but the very earth spirit itself.

A Crack In The Sky by Mark Peter Hughes

In a post-apocalyptic world, thirteen-year-old Eli, part of the most powerful family in the world, keeps noticing problems with the operations of his domed city but his family denies them, while in the surrounding desert, the Outsiders struggle to survive while awaiting a prophesied savior.

One White Dolphin by Gill Lewis, illustrated by Raquel Aparicio

When a baby albino dolphin caught in old fishing netting washes ashore, Paralympics sailing hopeful Felix and English school girl Kara work with veterinarians and specialists to save and reunite the dolphin with her mother, setting off a chain of events that might just save the reef from the environmental effects of proposed dredging.

Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French

In northern California, Julian Carter-Li and his friends fight to save a grove of redwoods from an investment company that plans to cut them down.

Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies by Jill Wolfson

Eleven-year-old Termite, a foster child with an eye for the beauty of nature and a talent for getting into trouble, takes on the loggers in her new home town when she tries to save the biggest tree in the forest

Night of The Spadefoot Toads by Bill Harley

When his family moves from Tucson, Arizona to Massachusetts, fifth-grader Ben has a hard time leaving the desert he loves, but when he finds a kindred spirit in his science teacher and ends up trying to help her with some of her problems, he finally begins to feel at home.

Stinky Cecil in Operation Pond Rescueby Paige Braddock

The hilarious tale of a group of amphibians (and one free-range hamster) who set out to save their tiny pond home from one very large steamroller.

Forest World by Margarita Engle

Sent to Cuba to visit the father he barely knows, Edver is surprised to meet a half-sister, Luza, whose plan to lure their cryptozoologist mother into coming there, too, turns dangerous.

Gone to Drift by Diana McCaulay

12-year-old Jamaican boy, Lloyd, is searching for his beloved grandfather, a fisherman who is lost at sea. Lloyd suspects that his grandfather has witnessed an illegal capture of dolphins for the tourist trade and that he has come to harm. Interspersed with Lloyd's quest on land and sea is a second voice -- of the grandfather himself. Marooned on a rock, he describes his life growing up in a rural fishing village in a long-gone era.

Young Adult Fiction

The Fires Beneath The Seaby Lydia Millet

Cara's mother is missing and the rest of her family is ignoring the problem or is busy with other things. But when a watery spector begins to haunt the family's Cape Cod home, Cara and her brothers realize their scientist mother may not have been who they thought she was. With the help of Cara's best friend Hayley, the brothers and sisters embark on a quest that will lead them from Cape's hidden, ancient places to a shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. They're soon on the front lines of an ancient battle between good and evil, with the terrifying Pouring Man close on their heels.

Trickster's Girlby Hilari Bell

In the year 2098, grieving her father and angry with her mother, fifteen-year-old Kelsa joins the magical Raven on an epic journey from Utah to Alaska to heal the earth by restoring the flow of magic that humans have disrupted.

City of the Beastsby Isabel Allende

When Alexander Cold's mother falls ill, the fifteen-year-old is sent to stay with his eccentric grandmother in New York. A tough and prickly magazine reporter, Kate Cold takes Alex along with her on an expedition to the Amazon to verify the existence of the fierce, gigantic, legendary creature known as the Beast. Joining them on their adventure are a celebrated anthropologist; a local guide and his daughter, Nadia; a doctor; and a local entrepreneur. But not everyone's intentions are pure--and dangerous discoveries await Alex and Nadia as they embark, with the aid of a jungle shaman, on an epic journey into the realm of the mythical Beasts of the Amazon.

The Bodies of The Ancientsby Lydia Millet

The Sykes family are hoping to enjoy a normal Cape Cod summer. But there are strong and surprising forces lined up against them and there will be unexpected revelations and the highest price will have to be paid.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

In 2015, when England becomes the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing in a drastic bid to combat climate change, sixteen-year-old Laura documents the first year of rationing as her family spirals out of control.

The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher

In a world where water has become a precious resource, Vera and her brother befriend a boy who seems to have unlimited access to water and who suspiciously disappears, prompting a dangerous search challenged by pirates, a paramilitary group, and corporations.

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Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.