Earth Works: Recommended Fiction and Nonfiction About Nature and the Environment for Adults and Young Adults - Softcover

Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn, native New Yorkers, veteran newspaper reporters, and winners of many awards together and separately, now work at The New York Times. Dwyer is the coauthor or author of three other books. Flynn, a special projects editor at the Times, was the newspaper's police bureau chief on September 11. He previously worked as a reporter for the New York Daily News, New York Newsday, and the Stamford Advocate.

The entries, arranged by author under 59 topics, contain standard bibliographic information plus ISBNs. Most subtopical sections contain books for young adults, sometimes with grade level noted. Notations of books for older teens (OT), mature teens (MT), highly recommended works (HR), and also recommended works (AR) complete the citations, followed by a brief annotation. Dwyer introduces each topic with a paragraph in which he highlights significant titles and authors and refers to related titles in other sections. Specific LC subject headings are used in the subject index, and there are author and title indexes. Asterisks identify Native American authors.

Earth Works works on several levels: for readers' advisory, curriculum development, collection building, and literary enrichment. It complements other bibliographies such as The Island Press Bibliography of Environmental Literature (1993), which includes more scientific titles, government documents, technical materials, electronic indexes, and journal titles. A bibliography for children, E for Environment (Bowker, 1992), includes evaluations and age levels. Environmentalist's Bookshelf (G. K. Hall, 1993) annotates 500 "best books." Earth Works is more current, treats more titles, and is HR (highly recommended) for all age levels.