Earth Day for intermediates

Earth Day and what should I read to my 4th and 5th grade classes? Something about the forest, rivers, oceans, animals, fuels, extinction, Rachel Carson, the commons? Should we read about our carbon footprint?

I chose The King's Fountain, by Lloyd Alexander. I tell the kids that I think it's one of the most important books in our library. It's the story of a poor man who lives in a village controlled by a king. The king has decided to build a fountain for his pleasure, even though the fountain will divert all the water from the village. The man searches for someone to appeal to the king (the strongest man,  the scholar, the most eloquent man,) finally realizing that it's up to him to approach the king himself. The King's Fountain is about taking personal responsibility. It's about relying on ourselves, instead of experts. 

I like to point out that the book is a collaborative effort on the part of writer, Lloyd Alexander and the artist, Ezra Keats. I show the kids books by both writers. Picture books by Keat and fantasy novels by Alexander.  I read the the book's afterword, in which the men talk about their decision to write a book about personal responsibility. I talk about the fact that stories begin in different way - some begin with a character, some with a situation, some with ideas- and this one begins with an idea. It begins with a value. 

I talk to the kids about the fact that this story was inspired by both Jewish parables and Sufi stories. Sufism is a form of mystical Islam. Sufis believe that some things are best expressed indirectly, through stories. The stories of Nasruddin and the fables of Aesop are both said to have been inspired by Sufis. My students know Nasruddin through the wonderful book, The Hungry Coat, but that's another story. I show them one of our books of Aesop's fables. Some people think that Aesop's fables are stern preachy dull stories, but they aren't. They are witty and intelligent and full of humanity. We'll need each of these things to dig ourselves out of the ecological mess we're in.