On social media, I’ve been seeing posts about book club facilitators introducing green reads to children. “What a lovely idea,” I found myself thinking. I’ve always loved stories about the environment. I read post after post, and then I stopped.
Wait a minute! I’m reading green reads with my book clubbers too – A Very Naughty Dragon with two bunches of seven and eight-year-olds, and The Golden Eagle with the slightly older ones! So, I reached out to Archana, who runs AA’s Book Nerds, asking if she’d like me to jump on the bandwagon. I had no idea how structured her Green Reads mission was, but …
We’re trying to draw attention to our role as book club hosts and indies and our contributions in the kidlit space.
Archana Atri, AA’s Book Nerds
Perfect! And so, here’s where one of our explorations of A Very Naughty Dragon led us.
As planned, we started reading this book with the last few pages. Komodo dragons are classified as a vulnerable species, we learned, because there are only a few thousand of them left in the wild. They’re fascinating creatures with stinky breath. They can throw up at will to reduce their body weight when they’re in danger and have to run! So, I asked the children, “What other wonderful creatures do you know about?” And in the next class, here’s what they came up with.
“I want to talk about the Pink Fairy Armadillo,” said Zayn. “And the first thing I want to say is that they’re very much a real thing.”
“Zebras are my favourite animal,” said Driti. She told us about how zebra stripes are like fingerprints – no two zebras have the same stripes. Coincidentally, she was wearing a zebra-striped T-shirt in class!
“I have soooo much to say about red pandas!” said Ira, but she managed to keep it short and interesting, telling us about red pandas in the wild and in captivity.
“Do you know about Vaquita porpoises?” asked Aarya. She held up a jar, which she’d showed us a few classes ago. “I’m collecting money to save the Vaquita porpoise because there are only TEN OF THEM LEFT! I’ve collected 934 rupees so far.”
“Hyenas are from the cat family,” Aarav told us. “Some people think they look like dogs, but they’re more related to cats.”
Vania shared her screen with us as she spoke about the quokka – the happiest animal on earth because it looks like it is perpetually smiling.
“I want to tell you about manatees,” said Aashvi, holding up a toy manatee. “They’re the cows of the sea.”
And once again, as I heard the children talk about their favourite animals, endangered creatures and the fascinating world around us, I found myself thinking that young people will save the world. They just need a little help from the not-so-young.
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