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The Earth's population is soaring, but its resources are finite. Can we provide food, water, energy - and televisions, cars and holidays - for everyone, and leave future generations more than a planet-sized rubbish tip? BBC News Online explores sustainable development in a six-part special.

Gutman, Dan. Recycle This Book: 100 Top Children's Book Authors Tell You How to Go Green. New York, NY: Yearling, 2009. Age Range: 8 and up Publisher's Description: This lively collection of brief essays (and a poem) by 100 outstanding children's and young adult authors teaches through example. Each selection highlights a small step (or steps) taken by the writer toward a greener Earth. From Mem Fox's very serious "When the Rain Refuses to Fall" to Robert Lypsyte's silly "Captain Mean-Green's Ten Rules to Save the Planet," readers are encouraged to reduce their consumption (and waste) of energy and goods. The essays are grouped by location: "Your Home," "Your School." "Your Community," etc., and most end with a practical, doable suggestion, from the humble-use a clothesline-to the more complex-set up a worm compost. The essays also provide insight into the lives and thoughts of many familiar and beloved authors such as Laurie Halse Anderson, Ralph Fletcher, Gary Schmidt, Lois Lowry, Susan Patron, and Rick Riordan. Several pages of Web sites offer a starting point for action and information. Highly useful for classroom and family discussions and science-project ideas.

Blood, Charles L., and Martin Link. The Goat in the Rug. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1976. Age Range: 4 and up Publisher's Description: Geraldine is a goat, and Glenmae, a Navajo weaver. One day, Glenmae decides to weave Geraldine into a rug. First Geraldine is clipped. Then her wool is spun into fine, strong yarn. Finally, Glenmae weaves the wool on her loom. They reader learns, along with Geraldine, about the care and pride involved in the weaving of a Navajo rug -- and about cooperation between friends.

dePaola, Tomie. Charlie Needs a Cloak. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1973. Age Range: 6 and up Publisher's Description: A shepherd shears his sheep, cards and spins the wool, weaves and dyes the cloth, and sews a beautiful new red cloak.

Taback, Simms. Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. New York, NY: Viking Juvenile, 1999. Age Range: 5 and up Publisher's Description: When Joseph's favorite overcoat gets old and worn, he makes a jacket out of it. When the jacket is more patches than jacket, Joseph turns it into a vest. When the vest's number is up, Joseph makes a scarf. This thrifty industry continues until there's nothing left of the original garment. But clever Joseph manages to make something out of nothing! (And that's the foreshadowed moral of the story.) In today's throwaway world, Joseph's old-fashioned frugality is a welcome change. Based on a Yiddish song from Simms Taback's youth (lyrics and music reproduced on the last page), the book is filled with rhythms and arresting colors that will delight every reader. As more and more holes appear in Joseph's coat, die-cut holes appear on the pages, hinting at each next manifestation. The illustrations are striking, created with gouache, watercolor, collage, pencil, and ink. Every inch of space is crammed with fanciful, funny details,

Larson, Jennifer S. Who's Buying? Who's Selling?: Understanding Consumers and Producers. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2010. Age Range: 6 and up Publisher's Description: This book offers easy-to-read introductions to the world of economics. Addressing readers as "you," Larson asks questions such as, "Did you ever get money for your birthday?" and "How do you decide what to do with your money?" (Do I Need It?). The everyday-life examples will demonstrate to children that they can play a vital role in the economic world. Clear, age-appropriate language explains new concepts well: "When someone works at a paid job, he or she earns money. This money is called income." Simple paragraphs of two to four short sentences appear in large colored fonts against bright backgrounds that change color with every page. Each title includes an activity such as making a spend-or-save list to help decide what to do with birthday money. The books' layout is interesting and fresh, and each page features a large, well-chosen photograph with a boxed caption. A caption in What Is Money, Anyway? states that "People trade goods at swap meets," which may confuse readers who only know swap meets as a place to buy merchandise. Margaret Hall's "Earning, Saving, Spending" series (Heinemann, 2008) covers similar topics of money, banks, allowance, credit cards, and checks, but is for first through third graders. Report writers will value her longer paragraphs with detailed coverage including history and global issues. Larson's books will help ease younger readers into the world of economics.

Rockliff, Mara. Get Real: What Kind of World are YOU Buying? Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Kids, 2010. Age Range: 10 and up Publisher's Description: Rockliff outlines how mass consumerism is harming our planet, and specifically how teens can use their purchasing power to enact change. She cites examples of products that teens use frequently (high-tech electronics, clothing, junk food, etc.) and explains how their production often harms the people who make them, the environment, and, potentially, the end consumer. She explains that a chocolate bar was most likely made with cacao beans harvested by exploited workers, and that a cell phone contains enough heavy metals to seriously harm our groundwater. She covers (un)fair labor practices, environmental pillaging, factory farming, excessive marketing, local vs. corporate stores, and the pervasive throwaway mentality that drives the whole cycle. The author's in-your-face approach makes her points while still engaging readers-she is never didactic or overbearing. She encourages teens to make a difference in their world by making small changes to things they do already-buying fair-trade chocolate or saving up for an organic cotton T-shirt. The pop-art illustrations are clever and illustrative of many points. The impressive bibliography provides lists of documentaries, websites, books, articles, and other sources to help teens find out how their favorite products came to be (and came to be so cheap). Learning more about how these products are made just might make some teens think twice about their buying habits.

This BrainPOP Jr. website provides both teachers and students with an interesting collection of background information on the use of natural resources and conservation efforts, while providing teachers with fun and exciting activities to implement in the classroom.

Deedy, Carmen Agra. Agatha's Feather Bed: Not Just Another Wild Goose Story. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers, 1994. Age Range: 5 and up Publisher's Description: Agatha, a sagacious old lady, sells her woven wares and imparts knowledge to all, "especially children: Everything comes from something, / Nothing comes from nothing ." This maxim reaches "six naked geese," who are chilly and demand the return of their feathers from Agatha's feather bed. Though "a little down in the mouth," Agatha promises a solution in three days. (The geese, meanwhile, register at the "Down Town Motel" where they "took a gander in the mirror.") Agatha's solution is inspired, as is Deedy's playful yarn. From its simple beginning--"Do you see that little shop sandwiched between two skyscrapers?"--to its intriguing conclusion--"Where do goose eggs come from, anyway?"--this finely crafted collaboration abounds with information and whimsy. It also teems with puns and word play, much of which may be of greater appeal to grownups than to the book's intended audience. Seeley's atmospheric illustrations are bathed in lavender, giving them a properly old-fashioned tone. Stylized patchwork borders contain examples of Agatha's truism--a flax plant stands by a bolt of linen, a stalk of wheat by a loaf of bread.