Genre: Eco-fiction, Illustrated Storybook

A young girl’s transformative journey through despair to connection with Earth’s wisdom offers hope for our planet’s healing.

One with All

Through vivid illustrations and poetic storytelling, this book eloquently captures a profound message about humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Starting with a depiction of the overwhelming sadness and despair the protagonist feels when witnessing the planet’s destruction, the narrative evolves into a beautifully symbolic dream sequence. Animals and natural elements become guides, helping her rediscover hope, resilience, and a vision for a harmonious Earth. This poignant tale emphasizes interconnection, reciprocity, and the power of imagination to inspire change—key ideas that resonate deeply in the current ecological crisis.

The book creatively integrates ideas about living sustainably, nurturing the planet, and facing personal fears and doubts as a means of empowerment. Through allegorical encounters with animals such as the jaguar and buffalo, the story becomes a touching meditation on the responsibilities each of us has toward creating a healthier planet. Children and adults alike will find themselves reflecting on how imagination and small actions from the heart can ripple outward, profoundly affecting the broader web of life.

The text handles its themes delicately, ensuring accessibility to a younger audience while carrying meaningful insight for all ages. With evocative phrases such as, “She saw the forests and oceans as extensions of her true identity,” the book effectively reinforces the idea that we are not separate from Earth but deeply part of its fabric.

This book deserves to win the Words of the Earth Award for its masterful blend of storytelling and environmental advocacy. It captures the heart of what the award symbolizes—promoting an imaginative yet urgent connection with the planet and its future. The story’s capacity to instill hope, encourage personal accountability, and highlight the possibilities for positive change mirrors the essence of the award’s mission, making it a timeless contribution to eco-conscious literature.

View the book on Goodreads here.

About the Book of the Earth Award

Book of the Earth Award winners are works of fiction and nonfiction that exemplify the intricate connection between literature, the natural world, and the boundless realms of human thought. These pieces explore our planet’s ecosystems, environmental challenges, and the imaginative possibilities that shape our understanding of ourselves and our planet as well as its past, present, and future. Here, we also feature books that honor, reflect, or draw inspiration not only from Earth’s ecosystems, landscapes, and elemental forces but also from the vastness beyond—outer space, alternative dimensions, and imagined worlds. Yet, even when venturing far beyond our planet, every Book of the Earth Award winner remains grounded, conceived by minds shaped by the Earth and its diverse experiences.

This collection brings together narratives that inspire thoughtful reflection on our relationship with Earth and our place in the cosmos. Whether exploring our natural world or imagining distant galaxies, these stories highlight how deeply the roots of human imagination are planted in the Earth. From classic environmental writing to modern fiction, poetry, and speculative tales, the series offers a rich concoction of ideas that celebrate the beauty, complexity, and challenges of our planet and beyond.

By blending reality with imagination, our featured pieces illuminate how literature can help us explore both the wonders of our world and the mysteries of the universe. Through these stories, we discover hope, innovation, and the potential for harmonious coexistence, while envisioning futures that inspire change and reflecting the choices we must make today on our home planet.

To nominate a book, submit it through our Review Requests page.