Compared to just a few years ago, more and more children’s books on the environment are being published in India. The ‘environment’ and ‘environmental education’ now loom large in the consciousness of educators, schools and teachers, particularly in view of the recent Supreme Court judgement. They have all scrambled to comply with it and have tried to meet adequately the requirements of environmental education, whether it is suitable teachers or resource materials or even juggling the timetable in order to accommodate an additional subject. Somewhere in all this there is the danger of losing sight of the real purpose of environmental education – developing in students awareness, understanding and sensitivity about the environment. How, otherwise, will future conservationists and environmentalists or even a concerned citizenry emerge from the young people of today? Children are extremely receptive to environmental issues and that it is easy to develop sensitivity and concern in them provided the teaching-learning process is child-friendly.   That is why it is laudable indeed that an effort is being made to bring out books about the environment for children and it is to be hoped that they will be easily and widely available for teachers and children. However, in books that aim to educate and sensitize, not only does the presentation have to be suitable for the intended readership, issues of language and vocabulary need to be addressed as well, particularly for Indian children. If they have sufficiently developed reading skills, they might make a guess at unfamiliar words or language. This is particularly so for fiction where the force of the narrative keeps the child interested. In information books, on the other hand, this does not necessarily hold true, and too many unfamiliar words and phrases can have a turning off effect. If a child finds a book difficult for any reason it is likely to be put aside, thus defeating the whole purpose of producing the book. Unfortunately, many adults working with or for children, whether as teachers, writers or publishers, find it difficult to see things wholly from a child’s point of view.   This is what seems to have happened in some of the books among the clutch under review. For example, young children find it easier to read text which is bold and on a clear background. Some of the books under review miss out on this simple matter – white text on yellow or light ...