The Green Literacy Handbook

“The Green Literacy model empowers students to be active participants in their learning through critical thinking, dialogue, and creation. The Green Literacy Handbook provides practical support for teachers to position students to connect literacy skills with nature and the environment in ways that are engaging, relevant, and accessible.”

“This book encourages young people to think critically and confidently about their relationship to the world around them. As a parent, I value this approach to preparing students to work through the environmental challenges they will inherit.”

“This handbook is an essential companion for educators in a variety of places and spaces that provides a flexible and helpful framework that honors educators’ unique journeys and sparks critical conversations for our students. It is a resource that empowers us to help cultivate a new generation of thoughtful storytellers and stewards for our planet.”

“The Green Literacy Handbook deserves to be in the hands of teachers everywhere, including teachers in urban schools and those who do not think of themselves as especially ‘green.’ Overflowing with pedagogical insights, transformative activities, excellent reading recommendations, horizon-expanding questions, and much more, the handbook maps out student-centered approaches that promise not only to turn K–5 classrooms into laboratories of environmental-justice thinking but to prepare young learners for lives of meaningful environmental action. This is a book that our educational system has needed, badly, for many years.”

“The Green Literacy Handbook by Jen Cullerton Johnson and Mary K. Gove expertly combines the core practices and principles of authentic and disciplinary literacy. Not only does it provide effective strategies for how students can strengthen their literacy skills. It also offers engaging strategies that will encourage students to comprehend and communicate like a scientist. This book serves as a helpful resource for elementary teachers who use the subject of science as the vehicle for students to learn how to read and respond to complex informational text.”

“As clergy, we teach that we are partners with the Source of life to tend and guard the Earth. Instilling environmental literacy in children nurtures both responsibility and reverence—tools they’ll need to care for the Earth and each other.”

“The Green Literacy Handbook is an inspiring and practical guide for educators, parents, and community leaders who want to empower young people to think critically, act responsibly, and lead positive change. The emphasis on youth empowerment positions students not as passive recipients of information but as active participants in shaping their environments and futures.

“Grounded in systems thinking and filled with adaptable models, strategies, and resources, this handbook shows how small actions can spark lasting impact. As Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai once said, “My little thing was planting trees.” In the same way, this book is Jen Cullerton Johnson and Mary K. Gove’s “little thing”—a powerful tool to cultivate youth voice, transform classrooms, and help schools and communities grow toward a more sustainable future. In the spirit of Wangari Maathai’s legacy, The Green Literacy Handbook reminds us that every educator has the power to plant seeds of change. This book is a valuable guide for turning those seeds into thriving, sustainable learning experiences.”

“The Green Literacy Handbook is that rare commodity—a book that is both inspiring and useful—for the audience it addresses directly (teachers, curriculum developers, program directors, environmentalists) as well as those who will be impacted (families, communities, organizations, cities—essentially all citizens of the imperiled world).

“The book is simple in the best sense of the word—beautiful, coherent, sensible, and clear—yet it is not an easy read. Johnson and Gove demand a good deal of the reader, interspersing into the text opportunities for thought and reflection, for imagination and connection, for exemplification. What they are doing, of course, is illustrating what they urge the reader to do with those who will be before them as students.

“The design of the book makes it easy to move forward and back with ease. (This is not a book to be read once and shelved. It is one that will show signs of wear over the years, pages worn by repeated flipping, probably by multiple readers.)

“The layout is serious (clear and sequential, with sharp fonts and prudent use of italics and boldface), but it is also playful. The authors use “sticky notes” to signal ideas they believe deserve special attention (which works), and insert smart symbols to signal actions—an egg timer for a pause, for example, a lightbulb for an idea, a lightning bulb for an example. Also throughout, on lovely gray leaves, they offer apt quotes from luminaries in green literacy: Wangari Maathai, Baba Dioum, Rachel Carson, James Danoff-Burg, Greta Thunberg, Roy Bennett, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and others.

“Complementing those heralds, tucked here and there, also on leaves, is information on books they recommend, complete with title and author. Addressing a current appreciation for lists in a world replete with information, Johnson and Gove offer some of their own in a section titled, Twelve Insights.

“Nothing about the comments on design should diminish the solemnity underlying the book. The authors bring expertise and passion to the task. They have studied and worked in the fields of education and environment. They care about the next stages in the world. But they are hopeful, so the book has as much lightheartedness as it has informed determination. It is inviting and encouraging and supportive. Each chapter opens with Chapter Snapshots, for example, and ends with Teacher’s Corner. There are suggestions for “blackboard” exercises that exemplify the point: with questions posed above empty space (perfect for a handout), followed by an illustration of how it would appear on an actual blackboard, with responses appearing in bold italics, as though filled in by participants.

“The book is rich in resources for those who will be taking it into the classroom. Johnson and Grove offer learning theory in language that is challenging but accessible, then translate the concepts into possible approaches—describing scenarios, conversations, assignments, and even games—all leading (of course) to strategies, which participants conceive as individuals and then as part of communal responsibilities.

“One of the strategies they recommend, the sequence of Engage, Empower, Shift, serves as an organizing factor in the book. They deliberately intend to engage readers with theory, empower them with thematic design, then shift responsibility—in element called Your Own Design.

“As experienced educators, the authors are often willing to offer reflection on what works. In commenting on their suggestions for working with participants who have just read the same book, for example, they counsel that it is important to give students permission to react to the book, rather than being told that they must respond in a particular way. ‘Students are more likely to engage in critical thinking when they are involved in the valuing process.’

“Indeed, the title circumscribes the readership in a way that is unfortunate. It is a book that will serve educators across the age spectrum—preschool through adult learners. “Throughout, Johnson and Gove have “planted” suggestions for further reading—scholarly texts, formal institutional reports, general nonfiction, and readings and viewings for youth and young adults. The book includes a sixteen-page, well-presented References and Resources.

“The book is rich enough that it invites and demands response by the reader, essentially demanding discussion, connection, engagement, empathy, and the quality they most espouse—trust.”

“I first met Jen in 2011 when she was awarded the Green Earth Book Honor Award for Seeds of Change. She continues her journey to make the world a better place for humanity. Her innovative personality, creativity, and concern for the Earth have kept her moving forward with new ideas and continuous hard work. The Green Literacy Handbook is her most recent endeavor, empowering us all with environmentally friendly ways to educate and motivate our children. Along with the collaboration with the coauthor Mary K. Gove, you will be inspired with the jam-packed, fun-filled, and highly valuable content found within. It’s user-friendly and filled with wisdom and activities that are not overwhelming. Enjoy reading it cover to cover, dog-earing the pages that speak to your needs as you go.”

“The Green Literacy model empowers students to be active participants in their learning through critical thinking, dialogue, and creation. The Green Literacy Handbook provides practical support for teachers to position students to connect literacy skills with nature and the environment in ways that are engaging, relevant, and accessible.”

“This book encourages young people to think critically and confidently about their relationship to the world around them. As a parent, I value this approach to preparing students to work through the environmental challenges they will inherit.”

“This handbook is an essential companion for educators in a variety of places and spaces that provides a flexible and helpful framework that honors educators’ unique journeys and sparks critical conversations for our students. It is a resource that empowers us to help cultivate a new generation of thoughtful storytellers and stewards for our planet.”

“The Green Literacy Handbook deserves to be in the hands of teachers everywhere, including teachers in urban schools and those who do not think of themselves as especially ‘green.’ Overflowing with pedagogical insights, transformative activities, excellent reading recommendations, horizon-expanding questions, and much more, the handbook maps out student-centered approaches that promise not only to turn K–5 classrooms into laboratories of environmental-justice thinking but to prepare young learners for lives of meaningful environmental action. This is a book that our educational system has needed, badly, for many years.”