The Science Project

I like your description of adult to kid's books as 'crossing media' -- its true! although by the sound of it in the Huffington Post, Gore's book for kids is the same book with new chapter titles and 'lots of pictures' -- ha! (wouldn't the adult version be good with lots of pictures?)

The point about classification is well taken; in my own research I included books on the environment, ecology and the weather but they seemed on the verge of 'not science' as well. I definitely don't think the theme is anything new, though the volumes you've pointed out are a particular genre of contemporary eco-conscious -- i think that the older books that had eco-conscious messages built into them tended to be more like nature guides and the like; maybe they're precursors to the eco-crit genre you've identified?

p.s. the next generation of eco-conscious might be these Made with Care books by DK -- it makes you think about how other eco-crit books are printed! i like the self-referential blurb about how they'll give away a children's reference book elsewhere when you buy one of these (eco and social conscious all rolled into one)

1st comment - on classification, I think the point I wanted to make is that some areas of children's literature have articulated eco criticism in terms of being explictly outside (even against) the scientific community. But in the recent works, we can see a reflection of more contemporary environmental politics where science is seen as both at fault and of use. I think you are right about the ecoconscious nature guides being precursors, but like anything talking about ecology (or associated topics of 'conservation', 'nature', 'climate change' - nomenclature can be key here...) they have very complex histories, and vary a lot from country to country too. The connection between environmentalism and nationalism, for example, is a lot more overt in German history than we always note here. At the risk of being abstract to the level of simplification, we can see the 'nature' of kid's non-fiction as a sort of boundary object, with multiple definitions worked over it (Bruno Latour's big on this sort of theorising. Also Ulrich Beck).

2nd comment - wow, those are interesting! I was going to mention in the post Kensuke's Kingdom which was one of the first books to use the FSC logo, and interestingly uses the character in the book to make an environmental message. The writer even is quoted as saying 'next time your parents are buying a piece of furniture, think of the book and tell them to look for the FSC logo'(or words to that effect - it's on the Egmont press release somewhere).

(on 2nd comment) Interesting -- the book is inciting action beyond reading, in a very direct and intentional way -- this makes sense if the eco-conscious genre moves toward more responsbile production values (and doesn't, if production doesn't -- a lot of printing is still horribly wasteful)
there is also the fundamental incompatibility of 'selling' an environmental message through a mass-produced and economically-driven medium. (maybe this goes without saying, but if the publishers were really concerned with environmental sustainability they would all need to overhaul printing and distribution processes -- or move to the web ;)

I can't really comment on whether non-fiction eco-books can be classified as science books or not, but what is noticeable across both fiction and non fiction is that the child is cast in the role of a saviour of humanity from an ecological disaster (this point is also made by Karin Lesnik-Oberstein and Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor). While you can see this as part of a ‘trendy’ modern-day political agenda, in fact, it is very much in vein of Romantic ideas about childhood and the perception of children as somewhat savage and more attune to nature. While there are exceptions (The Secret Under My Skin by Janet McNaughton is a great example), many SF novels still promote the view that technology is opposed to nature, rather then reflect the idea of sustainable living in which the former is crucial to the preservation of the latter. Such examples are Exodus by Julie Bertagna or The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.

Noga - although I agree with you, I think a lot of these books (fiction and non-fiction) are, at the same time, also sampling other ideas about relationships between science, technology, the child and nature. A lot of recent books are really very complex (Mortal Engines, Artemis Fowl) and I worry that jumping to find the Romantic vision everywhere puts us in danger of reducing them somewhat...? A lot of talk on science/ nature/ technology etc can appear self-contradictory, but I think we should recognise that.

Latour's good on all of this stuff.

Have you read Kenway & Bullen's paper applying a reading of the Risk Society to YA dytopia?

Alice, is the paper you mention in your last comment this one:

Elizabeth Bullen, Elizabeth Parsons, Dystopian Visions of Global Capitalism: Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines and M.T Anderson’s Feed

http://www.springerlink.com/content/44882u1860x63141/

?

Ps: that paper is available online here:

http://www.deakin.edu.au/dro/view/DU:30007625