Understanding climate change and how to best take care of the environment starts with education and what better way to educate yourself and your children than with books? If you've been searching for bedtime stories that will teach your kids important lessons about the earth, you've come to the right place. These three books are mainly focused on recycling but there are an array of children's books out there that cover all aspects of the environment such as caring for plants and animals, the causes of pollution, and the dramatic impact of deforestation.

1. Why Should I Recycle? by Jen Green

This enlightening children's book written by Jen Green and illustrated by Mike Gordon is intended for kids five and under and demonstrates the importance of taking care of the environment by means of recycling. At an age when children are asking a myriad of different questions, Why Should I Recycle?  seeks to provide answers to their environmental questions through a narrative told by a schoolteacher. The story also gives details about how to reuse things, compost food waste, and recycle clothes.

2. We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child

Charlie and Lola are popular characters in children's literature, so who better to teach kids about recycling? We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers follows the story of Lola as she learns about recycling from Charlie who teaches her how to recycle her old toys instead of throwing them away. Once entered into a recycling competition, Lola has to reach a goal of recycling one hundred plastic, metal, and paper items, in order for her to get her very own real live tree to take home and plant. A fun bonus: the book also contains a tree poster which kids can use to track their recycling progress at home.

3. The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alison Inches

Have you ever kept a diary or perhaps taken a peek into someone else's? What about the diary of a plastic bottle? For the first time, you can explore the inner thoughts and better understand the very thing that keeps ocean conservationists up at night. The diary entries found in The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle are fun and humorous yet still underline the importance of recycling.

Are there any books that you would add to the list?