Connecting Children to Nature American Literature: 1890-Today is an exhibit that began in the Spring of 2011. The exhibit was created by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Conservation Library. The goal of the exhibit is to show how nature-related stories can connect children and their families to the natural world. In addition to the exhibition, a website and book catalog have been created. The website offers information about selected books, two blogs—one for exhibition discussions and one for sharing curriculum with educators, students and families, memories and reflections, book lists and learning activities. The books on the book list range from Seed Babies, by Margaret Morley, published in 1898, to Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv, published in 2007. All the books on the list use creative storytelling and beautiful illustrations to pull the reader into the “real” natural world. Here is the entire list:

Seed Babies by Margeret Warner Morley: 1898

The Wild Animals that I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton: 1899

Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson: 1901

Old Mother West Wind by Thornton W. Burgess: 1910

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey: 1948

Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling: 1946

A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry: 1956

The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson: 1956

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein: 1964

Ranger Rick Magazine by National Wildlife Federation: 1967

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George: 1972

Sharing Nature With Children by Joseph Cornell: 1976

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen: 1987

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen: 1987

Flotsam by David Wiesner: 1988

Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman: 1988

Flotsam by David Wiesner – 1998 (Caldecott Award Winner)

Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman – 1988

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Chief Seattle; Illustrated by Susan Jeffers {Native American Perspective]

Project Learning Tree: Activity Guide K-6 – American Forest Council – 1990

Wild Song: Poems of the Natural World – Edited by John Daniel et al. – 1998[Nature Poetry]

Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit by Richard Louv – 2006