There's a Book for That: National Parks Month
July is National Park and Recreation Month! In 2025, our national parks are facing significant challenges, including staffing shortages and funding cuts. “Since 1985, people in the United States have celebrated Park and Recreation Month in July to promote building strong, vibrant and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation. This year’s theme, “Build Together, Play Together, ” reminds us of the contributions of more than 160,000 full-time park and recreation professionals — along with hundreds of thousands of part-time and seasonal workers and volunteers — who maintain our country’s close-to-home parks. (NRPA).
The grandeur of nature is so good for all of us to behold and experience. The following books (including activity books) take you there, with classic and acclaimed stories, histories, memoirs, and travelogues set in our National Parks for all ages.
Yellowstone remains a national icon, one of the few entities capable of bridging ideological divides in the United States. Yet the park’s history is also filled with episodes of conflict and exclusion, setting precedents for Native American land dispossession, land rights disputes, and prolonged tensions between commercialism and environmental conservation. Yellowstone’s legacies are both celebratory and problematic. A Place Called Yellowstone tells the comprehensive story of Yellowstone National Park as the story of the nation itself.
Celebrate the beauty, history, and cultural importance of America’s 63 national parks.
Revised and updated, and featuring the newest national park, New River Gorge, USA National Parks: Lands of Wonder is a celebration of these magnificent spaces. Between its pages you’ll discover beautiful photography and inspiring ideas – perfect for planning your next adventure, whether you want to be alone amid the vast and haunting wilderness of Alaska’s Denali Park or get up close to the teeming tropical wildlife of Florida’s Everglades. All 63 national parks are covered in order of designation, showcasing what makes each one unique, with the help of maps, facts and figures, things to do, and when and where to experience it at its best.
The best-selling author of The River returns with a vibrant, lyrical novel about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than most people. When a clandestine range war threatens his closest friend, he must shake off his own losses and act swiftly to discover the truth and stay alive. Populated by a cast of extraordinary characters—famous scientists, tattooed bartenders, wildlife guides in slick Airstreams—and bursting with unexpected humor and grace, Peter Heller masterfully unveils a portrait of the American west where our very human impulses—for greed, love, family, and community—play out amidst the stunning beauty of the natural world.
If Emily Edwards knows one thing, it’s that you don’t go to a remote island by yourself. Ever the type A personality, Emily doesn’t want to hike around an unfamiliar island, but she’s determined to fulfill her late father’s national park bucket list, starting with Isle Royale National Park—home to wolves, bears, and hundred-year-old shipwrecks. She has no choice but to hire a tour guide, and there is only one that isn’t booked solid…
AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER
Banning Lyon was an average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX, but in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counselor falsely believed he was suicidal after giving away his skateboard. Days later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and what he was told would be a two-week stay turned into 353 days that would change his life forever.
After years of highs and lows that include being adopted by his attorney and mentor, falling in love and grieving the death of his fiancée, and being sued by the same doctors who mistreated him, Banning decides to take control of his life and finds hope in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park, where he discovers new purpose in being a backpacking guide. Through friendship, nature, and eventually giving therapy another chance, Banning summons the courage to keep moving forward.
From CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Conor Knighton shares informative and entertaining dispatches from what turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime. Whether he’s waking up early for a naked scrub in a historic bathhouse in Arkansas or staying up late to stargaze along our loneliest highway in Nevada, Knighton weaves together the type of stories you’re not likely to find in any guidebook. Through his unique lens, America the Beautiful becomes America the Captivating, the Hilarious, and the Inspiring.
My First Summer in the Sierra, whose heart is the diary Muir kept while tending sheep in Yosemite country, enticed thousands of Americans to visit this magical place, and resounds with Muir’s regard for the “divine, enduring, unwasteable wealth” of the natural world.
FOR YOUNGER READERS
Little mountaineers will love trekking around magnificent Glacier National Park, discovering the region’s unique attractions, outdoor activities, and wildlife, including Going-to-the-Sun Road, Logan Pass, Hidden Lake, Saint Mary Falls, Two Medicine region, Red Bus tours, glaciers, bears, elk, wolves, hiking, camping, and more. From grizzly bears to jagged mountains, this fun and educational board book tours young readers around Glacier National Park.
How did the Joshua Tree National Park in California come to be? Meet Minerva Hamilton Hoyt, an artist, activist, and environmentalist, whose determination saved the desert and helped to create the park, in this STEAM picture book.Long before she became known as the Cactus Queen, Minerva found solace in the unexpected beauty of the Mojave Desert in California. She loved the jackrabbits and coyotes, the prickly cacti, and especially the weird, spiky Joshua trees.
Stretching across a rocky plateau in America, carved deep into the rocks by the rushing Colorado River, lies the Grand Canyon. Its bands of rock tell us about millions of years of our planet’s history and the indigenous Hopi, Havasupai, and Navajo tribes amongst others that have ties to the land. Today at least five million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year. This stunning illustrated guide is packed with incredible facts about this natural wonders’ wildlife, people, geography, and history. The Grand Canyon has captured humankind’s imagination since the Ice Age. Now it is your turn to explore!
From the volcanos of Haleakalā National Park in Hawai’i to waterfalls of Yosemite to the churning ocean at Acadia National Park in Maine, I Am Made of Mountains takes readers on a tour to honor America’s great outdoors. Sixteen parks are highlighted, and the story follows a different child visiting each park and exploring the natural wonders of each location. The lyrical text paired with the expansive illustrations is an ode to the outdoors that will inspire nature lovers and National Park visitors of all ages.
ACTIVITY BOOKS
NATIONAL PARKS STICKEROLOGY: STICKERS FOR HIKERS, CAMPERS, EXPLORERS, AND MORE: STICKERS FOR JOURNALS, WATER BOTTLES, LAPTOPS, PLANNERS, AND SMARTPHONESCelebrate America’s national parks with 40 sheets of beautifully illustrated stickers featuring passport stamps, WPA national parks poster art, flowers, animals, birds, slogans, monuments, and more. From iconic vistas like the stone arches in Utah to backpacks, hiking shoes, and slogans like “Take the Trail Less Traveled,” this sticker book will get you excited for your next visit.
EXPLORE AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS DECK: EVERYTHING TO KNOW ABOUT ALL 63 NATIONAL PARKS by Jonathan Irish
This photo- and information-packed deck of 63 cards is an inspirational and informative bucket list showcasing each of America’s national parks. Each card offers the experience of visiting a particular park with a seasoned park ranger at your side to explain its history, geographic details, and what makes it special. Perfect for visitors and armchair travelers alike, this is the ideal way to learn about our nation’s greatest idea—the National Park System.
Filled with beautiful imagery of wildlife and landscapes from all 63 U.S. national parks, this is the perfect artistic escape and a great gift for nature enthusiasts, hikers, explorers, and more!
For more information on these and related titles visit: National Park and Recreation Month
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