Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Earth Day - Reason no. 41 on our 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book Campaign

Today is Earth Day, which means it's the last day of our Earth Day campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book, where we shared with you for 41 days 41 reasons provided by reader, authors and publishers in celebration of the upcoming 41st anniversary of Earth Day!

With more than 190,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea.. But we also want to hear what readers as well as authors and publishers we work with think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea.

We got great replies and you can find them all on our Earth Day 2011 page. Today we would like to share with you the last reply, no. 41:

Reason no. 41:
It just makes me happy to know that new trees are planted on behalf of my books. - Kelley

Thank you Kelley for sharing with us your thoughts on planting trees for your books! Thank you also to all the other readers, authors and publishers who sent us their replies. You're inspiration to all of us.

We also want to thank our partners who contributed wonderful prizes, including Strand Bookstore and Simon & Schuster Audio and many more authors and publishers whom we collaborate with. Last but not least, thank you to Susan Newman who designed the campaign's logo. Thank you all!

We had a lot of fun in the last 40 days. We hope that you enjoyed the campaign as well and found it interesting, valuable and hopefully inspiring!

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green Book of the Week - Two children's books of Eifrig Publishing for Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day we're reviewing today not one, but two new books released by Eifrig Publishing, a green publisher of Pennsylvania focusing on self-esteem and eco books for kids and also a new partner of Eco-Libris. These children's books that are a great fit for Earth Day, but also a great read for the rest of the year.


Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista

Authors: Suzanne Ridolfi and Dawn Griffin

What this book is about:
It is time for the Earth Day celebration, and it seems like all of Abby's great ideas keep turning into chaos. Join Abby as she learns about the real process of turning plastic bottles into clothing and stuns the class with her Earth Day project, while also learning an important lesson of persevering, even when being mocked for her efforts.

This book is a wonderful teaching tool for schools working on recycling/environmental units, with a truly tangible tale of what every child can do to improve the planet.

This beautiful book is printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
This is a great story, not just for Earth Day, but for all other days. At the beginning of the story, Ryan, one of the kids in the class as k the teacher "What can we do We're just kids" and she replies "We can all help, no matter how old or young we are." This is one of the main themes of the book, which educates kids that everyone, including kids, can go green and adopt greener habits - it's just a matter of awareness and will.

The story line is very interesting and together with the beautiful illustrations it creates a book that is both educational and fun. My 3-year old daughter enjoyed listening to it and kept asking me questions about the story and the ideas the kids had for Earth Day. I'm not sure how much she understood as she's still young but I won't be surprised if next year on Earth Day, she'll also try to make herself a dress from recycled bottles, as I definitely see her growing to be a recycling fashionista, just like Abby!

Well Earth Well Me!

Author: Kenda Swartz Pepper

What it is about:
has been created to empower small people to take little steps to make big changes. What are some of the choices you can make to help create a well earth and a well you? There are many options, ideas, and solutions! Well Earth Well Me!includes 15 tips for kids to maintain a healthy self and a healthy earth. But don’t just stop there, the best solutions are created from within your heart!

This beautiful book is also printed on FSC-certified coated 60% recycled PCW paper, which means it is saving trees and will last for generations!

What we think about it:
Just like "Abby's Adventures - Earth Day...and the Recycling Fashionista", this book is about increasing kids' awareness to environmental issues and showing them how they can do something about them. It's also not just educational tool, but also a fun book, which I believe to be a necessity when it comes to empower kids to do the right things.

The book is also providing a lesson that is also important to parents - the wellness of the planet equals in most of the time our own wellness. Whether it's about eating fruits, keeping trees alive, reducing electricity usage or even keeping our environment clean - in all cases it's a win-win no matter how you look at it.

This book provides a great way to parents and kids to explore together ways to go green and how to benefit both Mother Earth while improving their own well-being.


To learn more about these books and other great children's books of Eifrig Publishing, visit http://www.eifrigpublishing.com/. If you are interested in getting them for their schools, NPOs, or other organizations, please contact the publisher for discounted pricing.

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading

Celebrating the 41st Anniversary of Earth Day with 41 Ways to Green Your Reading

Today we're celebrating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day. We thought how we could contribute to this green celebration and decided to continue a tradition we started last year and present you with a list of 41 things you can do to green up your reading, hoping it would be of assistance to all the eco-conscious readers out there.

We hope you will find this list useful and that you will get back to it whenever you look for ideas on how to make your reading more eco-friendly. So here we go:


41 Ways to Green Your Reading

1. Join your local library

2. Exchange books with friends

3. Buy from local
independent bookstores (if you can't walk or bike there, purchase online)
4. Download audiobooks

5.
Check out BookMooch for friendly book swapping.
6. Buy books that are printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper
7. Try BookSwim, the Netflix-style online book rental service
8. Support book publishers and authors who partner with Eco-libris
9. Read books online by daily email and RSS feed at DailyLit
10. If you're an avid reader,reading ebooks on your e-reader is probably a greener option for you. Don't forget to check out ebook lending services such as eBookFling or BookLending.
11. Join a book club and share your green insights and ideas with other book lovers.
12. Buy used books
13. Rent textbooks or download eTextbooks
14. Donate books you don't want to keep anymore to your library
15. Buy books at
Better World Books, a unique social enterprise and a B Corporation.
16. Look for books on Freecycle
17. Check Indigo's website - They're the only large book retailer where you can filter books that are printed on FSC/recycled paper.
18. Learn more on the debate if eBooks are greener than physical books
19. Support publishers who are members of the Green Press Initiative
20. Use a reusable shopping bag while buying books in bookstores
21. Buy new and used books at Better World Books
22. Look for bookstores where you can print books instantly using their Espresso Book Machine
23. Buy books that are printed using print on demand (POD) technology
24. Support authors who are committed to the environment
25. Check RAN's
Rainforest-Safe Kids’ Books buying guide to learn which of the largest US children book publishers are really committed to protect Indonesia's rainforests.
26. Download individual chapters if you don't want to read the whole book
27. Buy from publishers who have established environmental policies.
28. Prefer bookmarks with seeds
29. Buy books from publishers who provide valuable green information online
30.
Visit bookstores that collaborate with Eco-Libris
31. Buy from publishers participating in our green books campaign
32. Buy children's books from passionate green publishers

33. If you're reading ebooks, look for ebooks on green issues
34. Use twitter and facebook to tell your favorite green authors how you appreciate their efforts to go green
35. Buy from authors who are self-publishing books with green content
36. Share information on green books you read with other readers on Goodreads
37. Support publishers that for them every day is Earth Day
38. Enjoy outdoor reading
39. Follow virtual book tours
40. Read
Rethinking Paper & Ink: The Sustainable Publishing Revolution to learn more on sustainable reading.
41. Plant a tree with Eco-Libris for every book you read!

Happy Earth Day!
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading