All my life I've been a nature lover. When I was a little girl I spent most of my waking hours in the warmer months out in the woods. I brought books to read there. There was peace and quiet, beauty, and the wonderful smells of earth and green, growing things. Natural settings have always provided me with places for my thoughts to wander and my imagination to fly.

One day several years ago I lay down in a field of tall grass behind my house in Marlborough, Connecticut, and fell asleep in the warm sunshine. I was awakened by something soft brushing my face. I slowly opened my eyes. There were several goldfinches fluttering around my face, their wing tips brushing my cheeks! Their curiosity brought them that close to me!

Amazing experiences like this happen almost every time I go out into nature. Children need to experience nature firsthand to develop a sense of reverence and love for the natural environment. But to get to know the wild world, we must see it on its own terms - not just in an aquarium in the classroom.

I hope that the books I write and illustrate will encourage you to explore the woods, to sit and listen, watch and wait. The animals will come out of hiding. Out of curiosity, the creatures will come closer and closer. Animals are fascinating, and watching creatures in their native habitat going about their business will develop a sense of the wonder and magic of nature.

But as well as developing in children an appreciation of nature, I am concerned with instilling in them the importance of working to make the world a better place. One individual can make a difference. I hope that The Great Kapok Tree : A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest will encourage you to act to save rain forests by writing letters to Congress or the World Bank or to preserve rain forest acreage through such organizations as the Children's Rain Forest. I hope that A River Ran Wild will arouse your curiosity about the history and present ecological condition of your local river and encourage you to act to clean it up if necessary and to protect it.

To me, democracy means participation. I hope my books encourage children to help keep our earth a clean and healthy planet. Preserving nature is necessary for the continuation of our species - but nature's beauty also provides food for the soul.

About the Author
Lynne Cherry received a B.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art and an M.A. in history from Yale University. Author of her own environmental newsletter for children, she is currently artist-in-residence at the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. She is also founder and director of the Orion Center for Children's Environmental Literature, which sponsors programs to help writers and illustrators develop books that will instill in children a love and appreciation for the natural world
Lynne's best-selling, The Great Kapok Tree, was named a Reading Rainbow review book, an American Bookseller's "Pick of the Lists" selection, and NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, and an IRA Teacher's Choice title for 1991. In her most recent Harcourt Brace book, A River Ran Wild, she weaves the remarkable story of the Nashua River into an ecological saga that encompasses over 500 years of American history.
Lynne lives in rural Connecticut.
copyright Harcourt Brace & Company
photo by Doug Mink

Selected books by Lynne Cherry

The Armadillo from Amarillo 
by Lynne Cherry, Lynn Cherry 
A young armadillo has great adventures while learning who he is and how he fits into the grand scheme of things. 
Reading level: Ages 4-8
School & Library Binding 1 Ed edition (April 1994) 
Gulliver Books; ISBN: 0152003592 

The Shaman's Apprentice : A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest 
by Lynne Cherry, Mark J. Plotkin 
The story of a young boy who dreams of becoming his tribe's next shamanby following the current shaman into the forest and learning the secrets of the plants.
Reading level: Ages 4-8