We Are Better Together

by Bill McKibben, Stevie Lewis (Illustrations)

From environmentalist and bestselling author Bill McKibben comes a hopeful, inspiring picture book celebrating the power of human cooperation and the beauty of life on Earth, beautifully illustrated by artist Stevie Lewis.

When we work together, we humans can do incredible things.

We share the responsibility to address climate change and our changing planet. It is critical that we act collectively to protect our beautiful, fragile world.

Renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben and the incredibly talented artist Stevie Lewis team up to bring this gorgeous picture book to life.

Celebrating the amazing things people can do, it’s an inspiring message of hope.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Environment, Nonfiction, Cultural, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

Published April 19, 2022

About the author

Bill McKibben is the author of Eaarth, The End of Nature, Deep Economy, Enough, Fight Global Warming Now, The Bill McKibben Reader, and numerous other books. He is the founder of the environmental organizations Step It Up and 350.org, and was among the first to warn of the dangers of global warming. In 2010 The Boston Globe called him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist," and Time magazine has called him "the world's best green journalist." He studied at Harvard, and started his writing career as a staff writer at The New Yorker. The End of Nature, his first book, was published in 1989 and was regarded as the first book on climate change for a general audience. He is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He has been awarded Guggenheim Fellowship and won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billmc...

Reviews

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying all of the picture books that are releasing and capture the discussions about climate change. This is another to add to add to your list to share with your little ones. It is a love letter to the beauty of the earth, but also a close look at human cooperation and what happens when we work together. I think a lot of parents and caregivers will appreciate the message of the importance of everyone working together as a team. The author and illustrator notes contain some great additional information. There is quite a bit of diversity in the characters who are in the background of the story. The artwork is great, vibrant and colorful which is indicative of the beauty of this planet. This is definitely a title worth looking forward to once it releases.

[Adrianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book about how we can accomplish anything if we work together set in context of climate change and environmentalism. There was nothing wrong with the book--the digital picture were bright and lovely and the all the text said the 'right' things--but it sort of rang hollow for me. As an adult, the best part were the long author and illustrator notes in the back.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book. It's hard to stay hopeful in face of impending climate catastrophe and political strife. It's hard to feel like we have the power to do anything about it. I like that this book acknowledges our imperfection and smallness when we try to work alone, and reminds us that love and cooperation are the keys.

"It's love that lets each of us see we're not the most important thing on Earth, and that's okay. It's love that welcomes us imperfect into the world. We live on an unbearably beautiful planet. A planet that needs us humans to play together, to cooperate. We're capable of acting together to do remarkable things."

When we look beyond ourselves, we see that we have the responsibility to make the world a better place for everyone, but the flip side of that coin is that we don't have to carry the load alone.

[YingYu Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book transcends a message of hope-- that humans can work together and make do, so nature can thrive.

While the message is clear and warm, the illustrations are even more powerful in my opinion. It shows people of different ethnicities, ways of appreciation of nature, approaches of activism, and in the end, it urges us to do it now than ever.

[Syntha Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly illustrated by Lewis

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous illustrations!

[Marathon County Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book guides kids through the power of humanity and what we can achieve when we all work together. Beautiful illustrations walk readers through what we all can do to help our amazing planet, from planting trees to advocating for animals to feeding the hungry. The book shows us that love can be our guiding force: love for each other and love for the planet, “…a beautiful, fragile place - worthy of protection.” I loved the line that says “…love lets each of us see we’re not the most important thing on Earth, and makes us okay with that,” to point out that we’re all connected, depend on each other, and have a responsibility to each other. As the author says, “we’d best get started soon!”

Sarah M. | Marathon County Public Library
See this book in our catalog.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an audio copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the beautifully written book I can only imagine the pictures would be just as stunning. I only wish they would have sent some with the audio version. The book itself used amazing beautiful and creative imagery. I loved it and got lost in it. A must have for both home and school libraries. Really positive, focused on hope and dreams. Both big ideas and little things we can all do to make a change as long as we do it together. This being an audio book was great. I really liked the narrator.

Overall, it was a great listen. Only about 5 mins to hear the whole book. I would love to read more by this author.

[Abbie McKinley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shares the overall theme that humans are better together when we come together to work together. We can do amazing things when we have each others support and team work. The illustrations in this book are so detailed and really fun to look at. If I used this book in my classroom, it could be used for many different topics. I could use it for a lesson on teamwork and how our class is a family and we support each other. In my future classroom, I want my students to be a family and each others support system - so I could use this book in the beginning of the year to support this idea. This book could also be used to introduce different science topics like climate change, space, solar power, and other big topics about our earth. Would love to have this book in my classroom!

[Anna Tharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as it demonstrated all of earth's beautiful qualities as well as all of the amazing things that humans have done, created, and helped develop as a result of this. It explained the importance of cooperation and working together with one another in order to create the best outcome. This book not only had an environmentalist approach, but also a very uplifting and hopeful tone that we are capable of great things if we work together. I plan to use this in my classroom possibly during earth week or a time where we are focusing on preserving our planet and allowing students to come up with their own ideas.

[Tori Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book talks about the power in community when humans work together for common good and all we can accomplish when we do so. It provides some examples of when humans have worked together and the good that came out of it to illustrate this. I would use this book to encourage students to be kind humans and work together and emphasize that so much good can happen when we work together. I would then do a classroom community building activity then we would make a list of how we can do our part in bettering the larger community. Then we would pick out and pursue a community service project to do as a class and debrief our impact and how it felt after.

[Jayna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note- I received a copy of the audio for review. I have not seen the illustrations for this book. I hope they are as gorgeous as the cover!

A very short book about how humans can accomplish anything if they work together. While the book covers a variety of topics, the main one is climate change.

The audio- the sound effects are great. I am not a fan of the narrator though. There were times she mumbled. She had a lisp at times.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Aolund · Rating 3 out of 5]

A message-y book about human cooperation and ingenuity in the face of climate change. A good message! Just a little boring and abstract, and definitely a "message" book rather than a "story" book.

Themes: Environmental Justice, Cooperation, Teamwork, Climate Change
Age range: Kindergarten-Early elementary

[Katy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about our great planet and that we need to protect it. The book goes through history of people in relation to Earth as well. I would use this book to launch a project about saving the planet. I would read the book and then have students make plans or a service project in relation to saving the planet. Such as recycling, growing our own food, etc.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet messaging, and I get the intent. But I have come to the conclusion that it makes people feel better to think that they are making a dent in climate change with their individual efforts, and really, our tiny efforts will make no difference until major policy change and effective environmental legislation occurs.

Also, the noses on the illustrations bugged me.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out this environmental message for the preschool to second grade set. Read my full review here.

#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #HenryHoltandCompany #WeAreBetterTogether

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring childrens' book to motivate the very young to become concerned and involved in the environment at a very early age. My only complaint is that I thought that the book was too short. The artwork of the illustrator, Stevie Lewis is simply wonderful.

[Arlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to see Climate Optimism especially for young readers. You can still feel the urgency of climate change, but you feel empowered and more like you're a part of a greater community of humans around the globe. And the pictures are beautiful!! Great work :)

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super pretty book, I didn't get to read this one as much except for one story time and I had a little girl who was 2 years old and it was hard for her to sit thru all of the books since this was the last one, it didn't get the attention it deserved

[A.V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Beautiful illustrations and pointed in its message for protecting the planet and environment and each other without going over the top with complexities. There's even some anti-big oil capitalism.

[Mandy Robek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book sharing how we can work together as a community to make changes in our climate. I think it will pair well with books about Greta Thunberg.

[OjoAusana · Rating 4 out of 5]

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* pretty cute little book, would reread or recommend

[Norkett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story on making a difference as it relates to climate change.

[Greg S · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute! but I wish there was more of a story

[Dawn Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very unoriginal title, and boring to boot!!!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful book about how we are better together when we work as a team. It's a great book for a belonging and togetherness theme. The illustrations are really lovely, bright, and colorful.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations.

[Joleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book! Well done!