Parenting books are adding chapters on green living. Here's a guide to some of our favorites:

Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home, by Christopher Gavigan, comes from our friends at the organization of the same name. The book offers a great look at how everyday products expose our kids to chemicals linked to childhood cancer, asthma and allergies, birth defects, ADD & ADHD, developmental disorders, learning disabilities, and autism. Fortunately the solutions can be simple and this book shows us how to do what needs to be done with a minimum of time and money.

Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Care, by Alan Greene, is a comprehensive look at all the ways we can contribute to a healthier home and upbringing for our children. The book looks at healthy home issues of immediate concern, as well as longer-term trouble spots, and takes a welcome holistic approach to its many subjects.

Green Babies, Sage Moms: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Your Organic Baby, by Lynda Fassa, is focused on creating an organic existence for younger kids. Three sections cover pregnancy, life with a newborn, and toddler years. Within these stages, readers will find lots of advice about organic choices and solutions as well as information about non-toxic living in general. Coverage here isn’t deep, but it is wide, and lets new parents cover the bases without being overwhelmed.

The Complete Organic Pregnancy, by Deirdre Dolan and Alexandra Zissu, looks primarily at pregnancy. It talks about common household hazards that present a potential threat to developmental progress in utero and offers a deep well of preventative suggestions, alternative solutions, shopping tips, and more. There are also organic recipes and parenting essays from notable writers, including Barbara Kingsolver and Seventh Generation's own Gregor Barnum.

Organic Baby: Simple Steps for Healthy Living, by Kimberly Rider, could be considered a sequel of sorts to The Complete Organic Pregnancy. The book explains how to care for your newest family member, from outfitting the nursery to the food you feed your baby. The book’s spiral-bound design lets its pages lie flat for easy reference. Don't miss the unique last chapter about how to take your baby out into the world without leaving your healthy living principles behind.

The Organic Baby & Toddler Cookbook, by Lizzie Vann and Daphne Razazan, discusses what to do at meal time. Here are dozens of natural whole food recipes for culinary success that even picky eaters will love. Divided by age group, each section offers a series of recipes that address food-related developmental issues like introducing new flavors and textures while matching changing nutritional needs with deliciously healthy eating.

The Toxic Sandbox: The Truth About Environmental Toxins and Our Children's Health, by Libby McDonald, is a primer on a handful of the largest current toxicological threats to children’s health: lead, mercury, plastics, PCBs, flame retardants, air pollution, and pesticides. Included are the why-it-matters details for each issue, where these threats can be found and what parents can do about them. Particularly useful is the sections on key steps every parent should take and another that details the questions you should ask your pediatrician and dentist.