Resume
LYNNE CHERRY'S RESUME
EDUCATION
1998: M.A History from Yale University
1982-1985: Courses In International Relations at Princeton University during artist-in-residency
1973: BFA from Tyler School of Art, Phila, Pa.
Teaching Certificate from Temple University, Phila. Pa.
FELLOWSHIPS
2006 Metcalf Science Writing Fellowship
2000: Science Writing Fellowship from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
1997: Science Writing Fellowship from Marine Biological Institute, Woods Hole, Ma. Included a week long course at MBL and 2 weeks at the Toolik Research site on the North Slope of Alaska
ARTIST IN RESIDENCIES
Not paid positions but a way of working in an educational environment and helping institutions to bring their research/science to children and the general public through children’s books.
January - March 2022 - Artist-in-Residency at Archbold Biological Station, Venus Florida
2019 - 2020 - Visiting Scholar at The Benjamin Center, SUNY, New Paltz, NY
2017-2018 Marine Biological Lab (MBL)Woods Hole, Cape Cod, MA
Summers 2007 -2019 intermittently Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole, Ma.
October 2012 - October 2013 Artist-in-Residencey at Global Green/ Young Voices for the Planet , Washington, DC.
June- July 2012 Artist-in-Residency at Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondaks
Nov. 2011 - Sept. 2012 Visiting Scholar at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY.
Summer 2011- Artist-in-Residence at Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, Ma.
2010-2011- Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at University of Colorado, Boulder.
2009 - Artist-in-Residence at Friends of the Earth, Washington, DC.
2007-2008: Artist-in-Residency at National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, West Virginia
2005-2006: Artist-in-Residency at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
2001-2003: Artist-in-Residency at Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University
1998-2000: Artist-in-Residence at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Botany Dept.
Jan.-Feb. 1999: Artist-in-Residence at Geosciences Dept., U. Mass., Amherst
1996-1997: Artist-in-Residence at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and at the Ecosystems Center. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.
1994-1996: Artist-in-Residence at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Md.
1990-1994: Artist-in-Residence at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Md. (near the Chesapeake Bay). Acted as historical consultant and illustrator for Java History Trail project. Organized teacher-training conference with the Center for Children’s Environmental Literature.
1989: Artist-in-Residence at World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC and Resident at WWF’s base camp in the Amazon Rain Forest while researching and illustrating The Great Kapok Tree.
1983-1985: Artist-in-Residence at the Princeton Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University. Harriet and William and the Terrible Creature is an allegory about the wise use of renewable resources and was dedicated to the Center.
CAREER AS CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR
Books internationally published: in Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Japan, Sweden as well as U.S. Spanish-language editions.
Lynne Cherry's books encourage teachers to involve their students in “Participatory Democracy”. Her stories reach the children on an emotional level and the teacher uses them as take-off points for environmental education and community action.
For example, a student wrote to Lynne Cherry that after his teacher read his class A River Ran Wild he told her that orange foam had appeared on the creek where he played. The teacher took the class to investigate, following the creek upstream until they came to the factory pipe discharging the orange foam. The teacher used this as a lesson about local government and participation: they contacted the EPA and local officials and were successful in stopping the flow of the foamy orange pollution.
Lynne Cherry learned of the Episcopal Church’s plan to develop 600 acres of old-growth forest that had been entrusted to it by Seton Belt. She encouraged children to write to the bishop of the church in Washington, DC and the children’s letters were greatly responsible for the preservation of Belt Woods.
CAREER AS A FILMMAKER: YOUNG VOICES FOR THE PLANET
After writing and/or illustrating 30 children’s books Lynne turned to filmmaking. The film project grew out of her book, co-authored with photojournalist Gary Braasch How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming.
Lynne has now produced and directed a documentary film series YOUNG VOICES FOR THE PLANET. Each of the 13 films show youth solutions to the climate crisis. They present positive success stories of youth, 11-17, taking the lead and reducing the CO2 emissions of their homes, schools and communities through win-win scenarios.
The entire YOUNG VOICES FOR THE PLANET film series can be seen at http://www.youngvoicesfortheplant.com/youth-climate-videos and on YouTube and on DVD.
Conferences:The Young Voices for the Planet films have been screened at many international conferences such as ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Museums), NSTA (National Science Teacher's Association) and NAAEE (North American Association of Environmental Educators).
Museums & Science Centers: The films have been screened at science centers and museums such as the American Museum of Natural History in New York City during their climate exhibit, at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and at the Oceans Day Conference in Copenhagen during the COP15 Climate Negotiations-- the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Talks in December 2009. The films were screened 13 times during COP15 often followed by youth panel discussions. Over 1000 young people attended COP15 to speak about how climate change must be addressed so that they can live in a habitable world.
Film Festivals: The Young Voices for the Planet films have been shown in many film festivals such as Telluride Mountainfilm and Wild & Scenic; Through their traveling film festivals, the films have reached over 250,000 viewers. Thousands saw the films at the 2011 and 2012 Miami Film Festivals.
Awards:Three of the YVFP films won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the MY HERO film festival,
PBS invited Lynne Cherry to screen and discuss the films to their producers at the WGBH Idea-Lab in Boston in 2012.
National Geographic is embedding the Young Voices for the Planet film Plant for the Planet on their National Geographic Education website and linking to the other YVFP films and a curriculum on the YVFP website (click on "For Teachers") created by Urban Ecolab with NSF funding.
Teacher Workshops: The films are also screened at in many Teacher workshops. During a week of talks and film screenings at Lenoir Rhynes University, Lynne Cherry spoke to elementary school students, teachers and the public from throughout North Carolina. The films have been screened at many other conferences and workshops including CIRES at University of Colorado, at Framingham University. in Massachusetts and at University of Tennessee.
Catalogues: The films are featured in such eminent Education catalogues as Windows on the Universe and Acorn Naturalists.
PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND BOOK AWARDS RECEIVED
2010 Lynne delivered the Brandwein Lecture at NSTA in March, 2010.
2009 Friend of the Forest Award from Phipps Botanical Garden, Pittsburgh, Pa.
2009 Awards for How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming by Lynne Cherry & Gary Braasch:
-- Izaak Walton League of America Book of the Year Award
-- Winner --2009 AAAS/Subaru Best Science Book Award
-- Green Earth Book Award -- Honor Book
-- Moms’ Choice Awards 2009 Gold—Green Earth
-- selected for NSTA Recommends (National Science Teachers Association)
-- ForeWord Magazine 2008 Best Book of the Year Award Finalist
-- John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers
-- School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2008
-- National Parenting Publications Association Gold Award
-- Winner of Publishers' Weekly 2008 - Green Books For Kids Selection
-- Winner of The National Best Books 2008 Award/ Young Adult Education
-- USA Booknews
-- Brodart—Librarians’ Picks for November Prime Magazine featuring Science Titles
-- Selected as an IPY-Endorsed Polar book by International Polar Year
2006-2008: Art from The Armadillo from Amarillo included in an exhibit at the Meridian Center, Washington, DC.
How Groundhog’s Garden Grew nominated for Arizona Young Reader Award
-2005- The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle included in the Society of Illustrators' 25th Anniversary Exhibit: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration.
----Three of Lynne Cherry's books chosen for the list of 40 Best Classic Nature Books of the Century by the American Horticulture Society and the Native Plant Society: The Great Kapok Tree, The Shaman's Apprentice and How Groundhog's Garden Grew. Cherry was the only author with three titles on the list.
---The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle awarded the 2005 Green Earth Book Award by the Newton Marasco Foundation which created the award to promote books that inspire a child to grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for his or her natural environment." Along with this honor comes a $2500 monetary award, as well as a gift of $500 to be donated to an environmental cause of the author's choice.
---The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle wins a 2005 Skipping Stones Honor Award for Educational, Entertaining & Exceptional Books,
---How Groundhog's Garden Grew chosen by the National Science Teachers' Association for the NSTA notable list.
1999- The Shaman’s Apprentice chosen by National Science Teachers’ Association as a NSTA Outstanding Trade Book of the Year.
--The Shaman’s Apprentice chosen as Smithsonian Magazine’s Pick of the List
--1988—Flute’s Journey chosen to receive the KIND Children’s Book Award for 1998 by the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education.
--1997—Lynne Cherry chosen as a Science Writing Fellow of the Marine Biological Institute at Woods Hole which included a week-long molecular biology course and two weeks at the Toolik research Station on the North Slope of Alaska.
--Flute’s Journey chosen as The American Booksellers’ Pick of the List
--The Dragon and the Unicorn nominated for the 1996-1997 Georgia Children’s Picture Storybook Award.
--The Dragon and the Unicorn included in Children’s Books Mean Business sponsored by ALA (American Library Assoc.) and ABA (American Booksellers Assoc.)
--When I’m Sleepy selected as Parents’ Choice
1995—The Dragon and the Unicorn chosen as American Booksellers Pick of the List
--The Armadillo from Amarillo selected for the 1995 Teacher’s Crown List
1994—A River Ran Wild selected for the 1994 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Master List
--The Armadillo from Amarillo selected for American Booksellers Pick of the List
1993—Lynne Cherry named NAAEE Environmental Educator of the Year (North American Association of Environmental Educators)
--A River Ran Wild selected as a title for the Children’s Crown Collection
--A River Ran Wild selected as a READING RAINBOW REVIEW BOOK
--A River Ran Wild finalist for Hungry Mind Review Children’s books of Distinction Award.
--A River Ran Wild named as IRA (International Reading Assoc.) Teacher’s Choice for 1993.
--1991-1993—Exhibit of The Great Kapok Tree illustrations at Children’s Museum of Manhattan
The Great Kapok Tree part of an exhibit at Chicago Botanical Garden’s Rain Forest Exhibit
--The Great Kapok Tree 1994-1995 Iowa Children’s Choice Award
1992—A River Ran Wild chosen as CBC-NCSS (Children’s Book Council-National Council of Social Studies) Notable 1992 Children’s Trade Books in the Filed of Social Studies
-A River Ran Wild named an “Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children in 1992” by the CBC-NSTA (Children’s Book Council-National Science Teachers’ Association)
-A River Ran Wild named CBC Children’s Choice
-A River Ran Wild named IRA (International Reading Assoc.) Teacher’s Choice
-A River Ran Wild selected as title for The Children’s Crown Collection, Austin, Texas
-The Great Kapok Tree recipient of NY State Reading Association’s Charlotte Award (winners selected by children)
-A River Ran Wild on Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Seller List
-A River Ran Wild launched Harcourt Brace’s new Gulliver Green/HBJ imprint—an environmental imprint conceived by Lynne Cherry
1991- The Great Kapok Tree selected as a READING RAINBOW REVIEW BOOK
--The Great Kapok Tree chosen as an NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children
-The Great Kapok Tree named an IRA Teachers Choice for 1991
--Chipmunk Song selected as a READING RAINBOW REVIEW BOOK
--Where Butterflies Grow included in the children’s Book Council’s Catalogue and exhibition “1991 Children’s Books Mean Business”
1990--The Great Kapok Tree chosen as American bookseller’s Pick of the List
--The Great Kapok Tree on Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Seller list
--Chipmunk Song included in “1990 Children’s Books Mean Business”
1989-1987-Society of Illustrator’s Annual Show and Award
1988-The Please Touch Museum’s Annual Children’s Book Award (Phila, Pa.) for Who’s Sick Today?
1985-1989-The Original Art Exhibit of Outstanding Children’s Book Art
1984-The Snail's Spell nominated for the Golden Sower Award
1983-The New York Academy of Science Annual Children’s Book Award for The Snail’s Spell
--N.J. Institute of Technology Award for Outstanding Children’s Book Illustration
1980-New York Society of Illustrators Annual Award
-Boston Art Directors Club Award
-Connecticut Art Directors Club Award
1979-New York Society of Illustrators Award
LYNNE CHERRY'S BOOKS
Published by Dawn Publications:
How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming by Lynne Cherry and Gary Braaschhardback and paperback, 2003
Published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux:
The Sea, The Storm and the Mangrove Tangle published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2003 (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)
Published by Scholastic(to order books, call (800) 724-6527 x3)
How Groundhog's Garden Grew
An exuberant celebration of friendship, sharing, and the wonders of the natural world.
Books Published by Harcourt Brace (to order books, call 800-543-1918)
The Shaman's Apprentice by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin, 1998 (ISBN 0-15-201281-8). An ethnobotanist learns from the Tirio shaman—medicine man—about the healing plants found around this rain forest village in Suriname.
Who's Sick Today, 1998 (ISBN 0-15-2018867) 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.
Flute's Journey, 1997 (ISBN 0-15-292853-7) 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.
The Dragon and the Unicorn, 1995 (ISBN 0-15-224193-0) A stirring environmental story and a lavishly illustrated original fairy tale about preserving old-growth forests.
The Armadillo from Amarillo,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.
A River Ran Wild, 1992 (hardback ISBN 0-15-200542-0); (paperback ISBN 0-15-216372-7) is 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?)
The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest, 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.
Books Published by E.P. Dutton (to order call 800-526-0275)
Seal (ISBN 0-525-45796-8), Grizzly Bear (ISBN0-525-45793-3), Snow Leopard (ISBN 0-525-45797-6), Orangutan (ISBN 0-525-45794-1) little board books published (1998) to introduced very young children to endangered species.
When I'm Sleepy by Jane Howard illustrated by Lynne Cherry (ISBN 0-525-45561-2)
Cuando Tengo Sueno When I’m Sleepy in Spanish (ISBN 0-525-45562-0)
Where Butterflies Grow by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C. (ISBN 0-525-67284-2)
The Snail’s Spell by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C.1988 paperback (ISBN 0-14-050891-0)
Chipmunk Song by Joanne Ryder/illustrated by L.C., 1987
PRAISE FROM REVIEWERS AND LETTERS FROM FANS
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)
“Because Cherry studies nature, her work is true to life. Every illustration is carefully drawn and scientifically accurate.” Time Magazine
“…she traveled to the Amazon to research the illustrations… It shows. She’s drawn the animals and vegetation in great detail and with loads of color;” New York Times Book Review
A River Ran Wild
Dear Lynne, I wanted to take this opportunity to commend you for all of the work that you do to promote environmental awareness among our children. You have truly made a difference.” Al Gore
Flute’s Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush
“Insatiable curiosity, dedication to environmental activism, and artistic talent have placed this gifted author at the forefront of children’s literature.” Living Bird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University
The Armadillo from Amarillo
--“An ecological jewel that sparkles with multifaceted spin-off possibilities.” School Library Journal
The Snail’s Spell
-“The adventures in learning provided by author and artist is captivating, encompassed in a book that grownups will appreciate as well as children for its sheer beauty.” Publishers Weekly
If I Were in Charge of the World
--Lynne Cherry’s drawings are superb. If I were in charge of the world, I’d see that she had enough ink for a lifetime and nothing to do but draw,” Nashville Banner
LECTURER
Lynne Cherry has been invited lecturer to dozens of conferences and schools internationally, speaking about integrating environmental children’s books into school curricula, how teachers and students can make a difference in their communities and in the world, how a democratic system requires participation, and local hands-on projects for community action. Some of the places where he has lectured are listed below:
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University; Princeton University; National Marine Educators Association Annual Conference; Geosciences Department, University of Massachusetts; Botany Department, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Missouri IRA (International Reading Association); International Expeditions Workshop in Peru; Pathways to Literacy; Wyoming State Reading Council; Colorado IRA: NSTA National Science Teachers Association Annual Meeting; Kentucky IRA; Arkansas State Reading Association; Ohio IRA; Florida NSTA: National Zoo, Washington, DC; New England Aquarium, Boston, Mass,; Baltimore Aquarium, Baltimore, MD; Phipps Botanical Garden, Pittsburgh, Pa; Selby Botanical Garden, Sarasota, Florida; Whole Language Umbrella, Seattle, Washington; American Horticultural Society’s National Children’s Gardening Symposium, Callaway Gardens, Georgia; Holden Arboretum, Peninsula, Ohio; Innovative Northwest teacher, St. Louis, Missouri; Lourdes College Rain Forest Institute, Sylvania, Ohio; Montana State University, Billings, Montana; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona; Tennessee Technological University, Cookville, Tenn., Illinois Reading Council, Illinois; Tohono Chil Park and Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute, Tucson, Arizona; Milwaukee Zoo, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Knoxville Zoo, Knoxville, Tenn.; Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Pennsylvania Science Teachers’ Association; Florida Reading Association, Orlando, Florida; Northern California Independent Booksellers Annual Convention, San Francisco;, Ca.; Vancouver Reading Assoc, Vancouver, British Columbia; Niagara Frontier Reading Council, Orange Park, NY; Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnatti, Ohio; Oregon Reading Association’s Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon; Alabama Reading Association Annual Conference; Florida Reading Association Annual Conference; Shenandoah University, Winchester, Va., Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference; Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education conference; Greater Houston Area Reading Council Conference, Houston, Tx; Ontario Reading Association’s Annual Conference; South Carolina Reading Association’s Annual conference; University of Western Montana’s Children’s Literature Conference; Nebraska Reading Association’s Annual Conference; Frostburg State University’s Annual Children’s Literature Conference; New England Library Association’s Annual Conference, New Hampshire; New Jersey Reading Association’s Annual Conference; Northeast Regional Social Studies Association’s Annual Conference, Boston, Mass; California Reading Association’s Annual Conference; Eco-ED World Environmental Congress, Toronto, Canada; Texas Reading Association’s Annual Conference; International Reading Association’s Annual conference; Michigan Reading Association’s Annual Conference; New Jersey Association of Environmental Educator’s Conference; US Botanical Garden, Washington, DC.
Professorships:
Visiting Fellow/Artist-in-Residence/Lecturer at Cornell University
Faculty at Amazon Rainforest Workshop (travelelearn.com)
Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at Princeton University</> (PEI), Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton, NJ
Visiting Professor, Antioch, New England, Keene, New Hampshire
Assistant Professor in Illustration at George Washington University, Washington, DC
The Center for Children’s Environmental Literature
In 1992, Lynne founded the Center for Children’s Environmental Literature, an organization of educators, librarians, children’s book authors & illustrators, scientists and citizens committed to connecting children to the natural world through literature and education and to making environmental education materials accessible to parents and teachers. For ten years, CCEL publication Nature’s Course, a newsletter for teachers which presented children’s books as resources for teaching about the environment in creative and inspirational ways. Each issue focused on a certain concept of question that could be explored through children’s literature.