Little Green Children Books Review & Giveaway (3 winners!)

My children love being read to.  I try to read at least one book to them each day.  I think the earlier you start reading to them the better.  I love spending this quality time with my children.  We have many favorite books but overall, my favorite to read to them are ones that teach them a lesson.

I am always trying to teach my children about taking care of the Earth and the actions they can take.  I recently had the opportunity to review some adorable books from Simon and Schuster called Little Green Books.  Little Green Books is a new eco-friendly series from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.  These books cover a wide variety of subjects, teaching children about the dangers of global warming, the benefits of recycling, what they can do to help endangered animals, and much more.  Little Green Books plant the seeds of eco-friendly consciousness at an early age so that we can grow a generation of earth-friendly readers.

In addition to containing wonderful reading material, the manufacturing of these books is also environmentally friendly.  Little Green Books are printed on recycled materials.

I was generously sent 9 books to review.

   Come along with a mother and daughter as they dig up soil, plant a flower bed, and water the seeds to make their very first garden. Together they watch the colorful vegetables grow, grow, grow! This book teaches a first concept of colors as well. The book has a handle die-cut through on every page so kids can take the book with them wherever they go!

You can pitch in, too! Join the fun on this interactive journey while learning to clean the air, reduce pollution, recycle, and more. Nine double-sided puzzle pieces are included in this book so kids can create two different puzzles! This board book is printed on 70% postconsumer-waste recycled material.

Come along on an Arctic adventure with a little girl and her father and learn all about polar bears! This 8 x 8 storybook shows how global warming affects two baby polar bear cubs and their family. Includes tips for kids on what they can do to help slow down global warming.

Peek into this diary of an aluminum can as it goes on a journey from inside a bauxite rock under the beaches of Jamaica, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and finally to a recycling plant where it emerges into its new life...as a baseball bat!

Meet Little Monkey and his friend Little Panda as they spend their day eating their favorite foods and playing together! Little ones will love to cuddle with this supersoft fleece cloth book that's made out of cotton and recycled Polartec® fleece. This book is machine-washable and comes packaged in a chipboard box that's made from 100% recycled material. It's the perfect gift for a baby!

Everyone's talking about the environment these days, especially kids. But what can kids do? A lot! This book is filled with cool coloring pages, Earth-saving tips, fun facts, and easy activities kids can do to help the environment. It's just what kids need to be green all by themselves!

Meet Max the Little Monster. He is a cute, furry green monster who is an environmental nightmare. Among other things, he leaves on all the lights, keeps his computer plugged in, blasts the TV, hoards his old toys and uses so much toilet paper it clogs the toilet until finally, his excessive ways cause a power outage. With no TV to watch, computer to play on, video games to play with, Max finds there is a whole big world outside that he can make a difference in the environment.

Max the Little Green Monster is a cute, furry green monster that loves the outdoors (especially the beach), but Max and his friends don't like cleaning up after themselves! After a picnic on the shore, they leave a big mess behind and go scuba diving. Max is excited to meet lots of new ocean-swimming friends from crabs to colorful fish to an ink-squirting squid, but along the way he learns how his carelessness and littering may have harmed the beautiful ocean. The Little Green Monster then goes on a quest to clean and protect the beach and finds out what it means to be environmentally green.

I was SO impressed with these books.  As soon as we got them my kids wanted me to read everyone of them AND they actually sat through and listened!  My 1-year old loves the soft plush books and I love that they are machine washable.  They are very cute stories and he loves to look at the pictures.

My 3-year old loved the Max the Little Green Monster Books.  He wants to pick up now and is learning that we don't litter from these books.  He also enjoyed the Polar Bear story- he is an animal lover so this one really interested him.

My 5-year old REALLY enjoyed all of the books.  I read her The Adventures of an Aluminum Can and I even learned from this book.  It shows where aluminum comes from and how it is recycled.  The My First Garden was another of her favorites as we have our own garden she helps me with.  This book has the cutest illustrations.

These books are great for teaching your children about protecting our Earth.  The story books also contain a glossary in the back so your children (and yourself) can learn green terms such as postconsumer and compost.  These books would also be great in a classroom or as a gift.  They can be purchased at many major retailers such as Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.  (View each book for a listing)

Little Green Books website is also filled with tons of valuable information.  They offer green games and tools for parents and teachers.

THREE winners are going to win FIVE Little Green Books each!!!

{Rules}
1. Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above
2. You must do the mandatory entry
3. Leave 1 comment for each entry including e-mail and/or link (ie if you blog about this for 3 entries you need to leave 3 comments)

{Main Entry Requirement}
Visit Little Green Books & let me know your favorite 2 books or your favorite thing about these books

{Additional Entries}
1."Like" The Simple Things on Facebook (1 entry-leave a comment with your fb id)
2. "Like" Simon & Schuster on Facebook (let them know you entered this giveaway) (1 entry-leave a comment with your fb id)
3. Subscribe to The Simple Things (2 entries-must verify email)
4. Follow The Simple Things & SimonSchuster on Twitter (1 entry- leave you twitter id)
5. Tweet about the giveaway-feel free to copy and paste text: (1 entry-leave link)
I entered to #Win Little Green Books (eco-friendly living) @ashlesmommy07 #Giveaway http://alturl.com/u59on (Ends 8/19)
6. Grab my button (2 entries-must leave link to your page)
7. Follow me on GFC (1 entry)

This contest will end Friday, August 19 2010 at 11:59 p.m. PST. The winner will be chosen using random.org. Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email. If the winner(s) do not claim their prize in the 48 hour period, a new winner(s) will be chosen at random

Disclaimer: I did not receive any form of cash for this review and this is written based on my own honest opinion (other people opinions may vary). I was provided with the product(s) to be reviewed but this does not affect my review and opinion of the product(s)