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Go Green: How to Build and Earthy-Friendly Community Taylor knows that going green and making a difference has to go beyond the doorway to your home. This guide takes the reader beyond...

Eco-Dog Give your dogs a green life, because if it is good for you and the earth, it's gotta be good for your dog, too.

Be Green A big message is delivered to us in this very small book. Advanced greenies may be overly familiar with what Sheehan has to say, but the illustrations and gentle, inspiring words deliver a message...

Squeaky Green The boys that brought you Method products-nontoxic cleaning for your home-have brought you this great guide to detoxing your home..

Gorgeously Green As Julia Roberts claims in its forward, this book "is a bible of hope and help, quite simply a good place to start."

Living Like Ed Ed Begley Jr. embraced an eco-lifestyle before it was cool. His green guide therefore caters to a more practiced greenie-readers looking for more serious info than what's found in most current green lit.

Green Chic Go green in style with this simple collection of tips. Like any good beginner class, it's fun, but it's not all fluff.

Green, Greener, Greenest Borngiorno was motivated by a personal event to switch her focus to health journalism. During this journey, she discovered that what is good for your health is good for the planet as well.

Go Green: How to Build and Earthy-Friendly Community
by Nancy H. Taylor
Gibbs Smith, 2008

Taylor knows that going green and making a difference has to go beyond the doorway to your home. This guide takes the reader beyond standard personal tips and offers advice community action.

You will not want to miss the useful chapters on sustainable building and helping schools and hospitals go green. If your community needs a recycling program, shop no further-this book's for you. In fact, this guide has advice on pretty much everything for the community-minded greenie.

Eco-Dog
by Corbett Marshall & Jim Deskevich
Chronicle Books, 2007

Give your dogs a green life, because if it is good for you and the earth, it's gotta be good for your dog, too. This guide includes sections on earth-friendly grooming, food, housekeeping and healthcare.

Chockfull of clever ideas, the authors have some especially unique thoughts on treats, suggesting such replacement yummies as frozen bananas or unsalted popcorn instead of milkbones. They also beg the question: Why not forego those store-bought plastic atrocities in favor of a raw carrot or apple as a chew toy?

The book is filled with tactics and simple projects for you and your pet to show your green spirit together.

Be Green
by Monica Sheehan
Running Press, 2008

A big message is delivered to us in this very small book. Advanced greenies may be overly familiar with what Sheehan has to say, but the illustrations and gentle, inspiring words deliver a message that can resonate for friends and loved ones just beginning their eco-oddyssey. Sometimes the simplest messages are the best to share with the ones that you love.

Squeaky Green
by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry
Chronicle Books, 2008

The boys that brought you Method products-nontoxic cleaning for your home-have brought you this great guide to detoxing your home.

Organized by the rooms in a standard home, the guidebook covers everything you need to know to green your cleaning. Each chapter begins with a check list and finishes with an action list. The bathroom chapter includes a discussion about anti-bacterial soaps that led this reader to take a vegetable peeler and her fave paraben-free soap to create cuter, healthier soap curls than their plain-jane chem-laden counterparts.

The ultra-portable, spiral-bound format makes this one user-friendly read. It is infectious when you start, so get ready to detox!

Gorgeously Green
by Sophie Uliano
Collins, 2008

As Julia Roberts claims in its forward, this book "is a bible of hope and help, quite simply a good place to start." Uliano provides tools to make her one-change philosophy come to life.

Reading through Uliano's eight simple steps-all which echo the theme of treating our environment and ourselves with kindness and compassion-perhaps you'll identify a change or two that you can incorporate into daily life.

This book is a good bet for a book club, and also offers resources on its website for readers interested in beginning their own Gorgeously Green group.

Living Like Ed
by Ed Begley, Jr.
Potter, 2008

Ed Begley Jr. embraced an eco-lifestyle before it was cool. His green guide therefore caters to a more practiced greenie-readers looking for more serious info than what's found in most current green lit.

Begley's not on a high horse though. He has helpful tips for all levels of environmentalists, including "Easy Changes," "Not-So-Big" and "Big Changes." "Rachelle's Turn" includes notes from Ed's wife, who brings an accessible tone to the book.

Offering specifics on recycling is one of the book's highlights. Begley encourages readers to check with their recycling program administrators on questions such as the recyclability of Post-Its. People who already know all there is to know about recycling may also enjoy the precycling info.

Green Chic
by Christie Matheson
Sourcebooks, 2008

IACP Award winning author, culinary educator and recipe developer, Raghavan Iyer offers this huge and important master’s thesis of Indian food, culture and resources in nearly 832 pages. Yes, there really are 660 curries according to Iyer, and the bottom line in this book is 701 recipes. This book is nothing short of a treasure chest of authentic Indian dishes with the true flavors of India’s many regions.

Green, Greener, Greenest
by Christie Matheson
Sourcebooks, 2008

Go green in style with this simple collection of tips.

Like any good beginner class, it's fun, but it's not all fluff. For example, even if you already know CFLs are the cat's meow, there's still more to learn. What do you do with these CFL bulbs when done? A gal with style would know to go to IKEA, where they've got a recycling program addressing that very dilemma. Matheson also shares how to workout in style with resources for eco-friendly clothes and yoga mats without PVC.

Planning on curling up tonight with the latest catalog? This book will empower you to get your name off that mailing list. Remember, going green is all the rage and this book will help you stay in vogue!

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* The Good Reads Girl was drawn by Denise Simon, a Chicago-based freelance illustrator.
Check out her work at deniseannsimon.com.

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