Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy (2023)

As I post this book review, I am feeling devastated about the destruction in Maui. This fire shows how fragile our environment is and this book gives clear, tangible ways you can preserve our environment…by using your yard! “Nature’s Best Hope” was originally an adult book and then a Young Reader’s version was adapted for kids. I highly recommend the Young Reader’s version for adults - it is such a quick, informative, engaging read for busy adults. Douglas W. Tallamy is a professor of entomology and wildlife ecology who has a practical solution for protecting wildlife and pollinators - start with your yard. He calls your yard, “Homegrown National Park.” Tallamy gives a brief history of environmentalists, like Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold. He talks about how our current “lawn culture” isn’t sustainable - the non-native plants and trees often don’t sustain pollinators like Monarch butterflies and birds and we (the U.S.) use 8 billion gallons of water everyday for watering our lawns!! What I love most about this book is that it is so engaging! I learned so much about bees, birds, butterflies, lawns, ecosystems and more and I never felt bogged down with facts.

Heart: For those of you who are close to me, you know that my first chapter book manuscript encourages kids to take action in their local ecosystems and become “Agents of Change.” This book has the same mission and it gives such great tips on how to make a positive difference in our environment. I absolutely love this book! 

Head: Read this book with your kids (I think it would be manageable from 4th graders to adults!). Read this book in your classrooms! It would be so cool to see schools implement some of this native planting in their open spaces. I am SO EAGER to do the Monarch Watch program with my kids. I love citizen science projects and this seems like a perfect one for my family to do! If you have younger kids who aren’t old enough to read “Nature’s Best Hope,” I highly recommend the picture book, “Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story” by Zeena M. Pliska to get them started on learning about pollinators.