Lynne Cherry


Lynne with her canine companions, Jasper(left) and Rocky(right)

Q and A:
How Long Does it Take to Write or Illustrate a Book?


Lynne Answers:
"Depending upon the book it can take from a week to a year to write a book. With a group of fun-loving friends, it took one evening at a dinner party and the next morning at a brunch to write Who's Sick Today whereas, writing A River Ran Wild was, literally, an entirely different story.
I took off two years from writing to go to graduate school in order to study early American history and, only then, was I able to write an accurate history of the clash of value systems between the native americans and the early colonists. I wrote the first draft of The Great Kapok Tree on an Amtrak train from New Haven, Connecticut to Washington, DC."

Feature Book: Lynne's Autobiography Making A Difference in the World


Lynne Cherry began writing and illustrating as a 7 year old child. Some of her early books can be seen in her autobiography Making a Difference in the World In this book you can see Lynne as a baby in her mother's arms, as a child drawing at a card table in the basement, and as a teenager holding a little white dog that bears a strong resemblance to one of her current canine companions, Rocky.

A mangrove tree which is a feature in Lynne Cherry's upcoming book. Photo copyright by mangrove biologist, Candy Feller.

The Sea, The Storm and the Mangrove Tangle
published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, available (ISBN 0-374-36482-6) Mangroves are important ecosystems, protecting the coast from storms and erosion and providing havens and acting as nurseries to the ocean’s fish. This book follows the life of a mangrove tangle from seed to mangrove island. Illustrated Map endpapers show the mangrove animals and mangroves of the world. (to order call 888-330-8477 c/o Von Holtzbrinck publishing)

Books


How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch introduce kids to the scientists who, like detectives, are exploring the world to find out about the earth's climate. Like Indiana Jones, they brave freezing Arctic temperatures to study penguins and drill for ice cores in Antarctica. They study mud cores, tree cores and find many other clues to tell us about Earth's Climate History. The kids in the book learn the language of science and their data is used by many of these scientists in their studies. And at the end of the book there is a PIE CHART OF HOW MUCH CARBON A MILLION KIDS COULD PREVENT FROM GOING INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. This is an empowering book.

A New Book about Climate Science and Solutions by Lynne Cherry and photojournalist Gary Braasch
Renowned children’s author Lynne Cherry and award-winning photojournalist Gary Braasch have written this book of empowerment for our nation’s school children. The youth of today will inherit a planet unlike any other in the past, and they have the unique opportunity to fundamentally transform our world for the better. Cherry and Braasch have provided the education platform for this transformation to help today’s youth to effectively fight climate change.

Book Reviews:
Robert Coontz, deputy news editor, SCIENCE magazine:
"This beautiful and informative book fills a major gap in environmental writing for children. It covers a wide range of research, defining technical terms gracefully and naturally as they arise. The overall tone--urgent without being shrill, hopeful without being complacent--strikes me as just right. I happily recommend it."

Bill McKibben:
" This is a necessary book. It treats kids with respect--they deserve to know what’s going on. But they also deserve to know that there's much that can be done and much that is being done. In a word, it's empowering!"

The book can be ordered at a 10% discount online from the publisher at Dawnpub.com or from Barnes and Noble

LYNNE'S PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE IN BOSTON MARCH 2008

Thursday March 27: Teaching Climate Change to Kids with a "Citizen-Science" Focus 11:30AM-1:00PM 052A

Friday March 28, 2008: March of the Armadillo (How animals are changing their ranges in relation to global warming) 3:30 -4:30 Boston Convention center Room 156B seating capacity 132 with Juliana Texley and from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM SEATING 132


The Art of Reading
Published by Dutton Children's Books, 2005 in conjunction with READING IS FUNDAMENTAL
ISBN 0-525-47484-6

Twenty artists including Lynne Cherry describe their favorite childhood book and how it inspired them to become a children's book author/illustator. 96 pages. full-color illustrations. Dutton 800-631-8571
http://www.rif.org/art/illustrators/cherry.mspx

Lynne's most recent book, The Sea, The Storm and the Mangrove Tangle, shows how a mangrove ecosystem becomes more and more complex, and how, as it becomes more complex, it supports a greater variety of living things.

The Sea, The Storm and the Mangrove Tangle
Published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2004
ISBN 0-374-36482-6

First a seed is jostled from a branch of a mangrove tree and floats far away to a lagoon in the Caribbean Sea. Then it takes root, sprouts leaves, and slowly begins to grow. Over many years, the mangrove will provide a home for numerous creatures of land and sea. In this richly illustrated chronicle of the life of one mangrove tree, Lynne Cherry details the abundant wildlife that depends upon its unique and wonderful ecosystem, one that is beneficial to so many, but one that also faces many dangers.


How Groundhog's Garden Grew
CLICK HERE TO SEE SCHOOL GARDEN TOOL KIT!

Published by Scholastic, 2003 ISBN 0-439-32371-1

Little Groundhog loves to eat his neighbor’s vegetables until he makes a friend who teaches him the joy of planting a garden of his own. As squirrel introduces Little Groundhog to the cycle of an entire gardening year, children will learn about gathering seeds in fall; storing them in winter; planting in spring; weeding and watering in summer; and a delicious, bountiful harvest at Thanksgiving time. An exuberant celebration of friendship, sharing, and the wonders of the natural world.


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, for teacher curriculum ideas, or to order a FREE teachers' guide, AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GREEN SCHOOLS, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 4-8

Making a Difference in the World:
Lynne's Autobiography

Published by Richard Owen Publishers, 2000 ISBN 1-57274-373-5

Lynne’s mother, Helen Cogancherry, is also a children’s book illustrator. In this book we see her mother’s influence as she paints Lynne’s portrait and encourages her, as a child, to write and draw. We also see Lynne planting a tree with her father. In taking us through her life of writing and illustrating books that teach about rain forests, bird migration, saving the ancient forests and cleaning up streams and rivers—Lynne shows children that they, too, can make a difference in the world.
(to order call Richard Owen Publishers at 800-336-5588)


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 5-10

The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin
Harcourt Brace, 1998 (ISBN 0-15-201281-8) Ages 6-10

Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush written and illustrated by L.C.
Harcourt Brace, 1997 (ISBN 0-15-292853-7)

Living on Earth--Click to listen to Lynne Cherry read A River Ran Wild on NPR

The story of a wood thrush's arduous first migration--across thousands of miles—from his nesting grounds in the Belt Woods of Maryland to his winter home in Costa Rica, and back again. For a review of this book, click HERE!


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, for teacher curriculum ideas, to learn how you can help songbirds survive, and to hear how this book--and letters from children--helped save a 600 acre bird sanctuary, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 6-11

The Dragon and the Unicorn
Harcourt Brace, 1995 (ISBN 0-15-224193-0)

A stirring environmental story and a lavishly illustrated original fairy tale about preserving old-growth forests.



TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Click here to see Folkmanis Dragon and Unicorn puppets
Reading level: Ages 6-11

The Armadillo from Amarillo
Harcourt Brace, 1994 (ISBN 0-15-200359-2)

Introduces Sasparillo, the armadillo, who sets off on an adventure to discover where in the world he is. This tale is an ecological jewel about Texas geography, history, and native fauna and flora.


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 5-9

The Big Book For the Planet
From Island to Island by Lynne Cherry

The places we live are like the islands in this story From Island to Island. Throughout human history, we have lived in a place, used up its resources and then moved on to another and another.

Now we are finally realizing about the limits to growth just like the little girl traveling from island to island, listening to her grandmother's tale--the history of their people.

A River Ran Wild
Harcourt Brace, 1992 (hardback ISBN 0-15-200542-0); (paperback ISBN 0-15-216372-7)

Living on Earth--Click to listen to Lynne Cherry read A River Ran Wild on NPR

An environmental history and a history of technology. It will aid in the teaching of values and philosophy (i.e. Are humans part of nature? Are they apart of the food chain, or separate and independent from nature?)


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 6-12

The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
Harcourt, Brace, 1990 ISBN 0-15-200520-x

This best-selling classic is an inspired look at what the Kapok tree means to the creatures that live in it—and what rain forests mean to the world’s ecology.

Praise from Dr Seuss: for The Great Kapok Tree
“Dear Lynne Cherry, I wish I could draw and paint as well as you do! That is a beautiful and powerful book…My Lorax doesn’t fell quite so lonely now that your great birds and beasts have come to join him.” Ted Geisel (Dr Seuss)

Click here to read the spanish version, El Gran Capoquero.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 4-8

Where Butterflies Grow
by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C.
E.P. Dutton, 1989 ISBN 0-525-67284-2

Living on Earth--Click to listen to Lynne Cherry read this book on NPR

Scientifically accurate drawings show the metamorphosis of a Black Swallowtail butterfly from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.

TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.
Reading level: Ages 4-8

Chipmunk Song
by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C., 1987

A child imagines shrinking down to the size of a chipmunk and seeing the world from that vantage point.

For a review by a child reader, go to this site: Reading Rainbow: Episode, The Salamander Room!
Reading level: Ages 4-8

The Snail’s Spell
by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C. 1985; paperback1988 ISBN 0-14-050891-0

Published in 1988, this is the first book that Lynne Cherry illustrated in full color. A boy imagines that he has shrunk down to the size of a snail.
Reading level: Ages 3-7

When I'm Sleepy
by Jane Howard, illustrated by Lynne Cherry

E.P. Dutton, 1985 ISBN 0-525-45561-2

A child imagines sleeping with various animals...in a swamp with turtles, on icebergs with pengins, in a nest with a baby bird. This is a wonderful way to introduce the concept of "habitat" to young children. .

Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Orangutan
E.P.Dutton, 1987 ISBN 0-525-45794-1

This book introduces very young children to endangered species. Orangutans are endangered because their habitat is being destroyed--and as people encroach on their forests, they are hunted for meat. Birute Gimlike (SP) has tried to save these wonderful creatures and you can read more about her battle in --- (her book) .

Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Snow Leopard
Published by E.P. Dutton,1987 ISBN 0-525-45797-6

Snow Leopards are endangered because they are hunted for their fur. In this little board book--one of the Endangered Species series--Pre k to 2nd grade children can read about these magnificent cats.


Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Grizzly Bear
ISBN0-525-45793-3

Grizzly bears are endangered because their habitat is being destroyed. However with the protection of hundreds of acres in the western United States, grizzlies may survive.
Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Seal
ISBN 0-525-45796-8

This is one of four little board books to introduce Pre-K children to endangered species. Harp seals are endangered because they are hunted for their fur. The environmental group, Greenpeace, drew attention to the plight of harp seals and came up with a creative solution to save them...They went up to the Arctic where the seals were being hunted and sprayed them with green spray paint. Why would spraying them with green spray paint save the seals? Can you guess why?
Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Cuando Tengo Sueno
When I'm Sleepy in Spanish
E.P. Dutton ISBN 0-525-45562-0


TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK, and for teacher curriculum ideas, CLICK ON THE TITLE.

"Cuando tengo sueno, a veces quisiera acurrucarme en una canasta, o dormirme ien un nido mullido.
Cuando tengo sueno y me estiro y bostezo, me pongo a pensar como seria dormir in un pantano."

Reading level: pre-K to grade 2

Who's Sick Today?
Harcourt, Brace, 1998 (ISBN 0-15-2018867 paperback)

Beavers with fevers, a gnu with the flu and a snake with an ache quiet children’s fears about visiting the doctor or going to the hospital. Who’s Sick Today also introduces simple rhyme to inspire children to write their own.


Reading level: pre-K to grade 2



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ABOUT How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
A non-scary book about Climate Change Science an

How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
A non-scary book about Climate Change Science and Solutions for grades 4 -8.
The Sea, The Storm and the Mangrove Tangle
A seed from a mangrove tree floats on the sea until it comes to rest on the shore of a faraway lagon where, over time, it becomes a mangrove island that shelters many birds and animals, even during a hurricane.

How Groundhog's Garden Grew CLICK HERE TO SEE SCHOOL GARDEN TOOL KIT!

How Groundhog's Garden Grew will inspire children to explore gardening fun!
Amazon.com Feature!
The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
You can "read" the first few pages of The Shaman's Apprentice on Amazon.com
Click here to read it!
Climate Change Science and Solutions
The Great Kapok tree has been read by millions of children and translated into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese.



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