David Sobel - Co-director, Center for Environmental Education
". . . just the invitation teachers, parents and children need to get them exploring the ponds and lakes in their neighborhoods. . ."


Beth Stout - National Wildlife Federation
". . . This colorful book is an invitation to kids to learn and care more about ponds, lakes and other wetlands . . ."


Book Description
Take a close look at your local lake, pond or woodland pool. Don't mind the mud - see it from a kid's eye view. Here is the journal and scrapbook of Klint, a young Planet Scout who kept notes for a year on his discoveries and became engrossed by the daily drama of turtles, crayfish dragonflies and water skimmers. After writing and illustrating three best-selling nature books as a teenager, Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini has now created a model nature journal. Based on her cousin Klint, she portrays an inquisitive boy who keep a journal/scrapbook as he explores lakes and ponds. The result is both fun and informative. David Sobel, co-director of the Center for Environmental Education, raves about this book as "a gift to the place-based education movement in North America. This lusciously illustrated picture book/field guide/treasure hunt is just the invitation teachers, parents and children need to get them exploring the ponds and lakes in their neighborhoods." The journal format creates a text that is easily accessible, but deep in information and intrigue.


About the Author
FLauded as a young ``Eco Star" by the Cousteau Society, and inducted into the Kid Heroes Hall of Fame by E: The Environmental Magazine, Kristin Joy Pratt demonstrates not only an infectious love of nature that promotes environmental awareness among children, but also a ``can do" positive attitude toward life that has helped make her so popular. Kristin's best-selling first book, A Walk in the Rainforest, written in 1991 at age 14, began as an English homework assignment. More than 100,000 copies have been sold. At age 16, inspired by a marine biology class and her concern about contamination of the world's oceans, Kristin wrote and illustrated A Swim through the Sea. It was selected as an outstanding book by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council, and already almost 90,000 copies of this book have been sold. In 1995, at age 18, Kristin turned the spotlight on the fragile ``invisible ocean" of air around us, and wrote and illustrated A Fly in the Sky. In 2001 Kristin brought attention to the wildlife in our local ponds and wetlands in her beautiful Salamander Rain: A Lake & Pond Journal. By now Kristin had become something of a children's heroine as a popular speaker at schools, museums and aquariums all over the U.S., and an inspiration for what even a young person can do given talent and the right attitude. Kristin was a complete unknown when she sent her first manuscript to Dawn Publications. But what she said caught the publisher's eye. ``Environmental awareness, at a very early age, is the key to preserving our world," she wrote. ``When young children gain a knowledge and respect for nature they in turn love and protect it. If this book takes one small step towards that end it will have served its purpose."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Take a close look at your local lake, pond or woodland pool. Don't mind the mud - see it from a kid's eye view. Here is the journal and scrapbook of Klint, a young Planet Scout who kept notes for a year on his discoveries and became engrossed by the daily drama of turtles, crayfish dragonflies and water skimmers. After writing and illustrating three best-selling nature books as a teenager, Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini has now created a model nature journal. Based on her cousin Klint, she portrays an inquisitive boy who keep a journal/scrapbook as he explores lakes and ponds. The result is both fun and informative. David Sobel, co-director of the Center for Environmental Education, raves about this book as "a gift to the place-based education movement in North America. This lusciously illustrated picture book/field guide/treasure hunt is just the invitation teachers, parents and children need to get them exploring the ponds and lakes in their neighborhoods." The journal format creates a text that is easily accessible, but deep in information and intrigue.

Author Biography: FLauded as a young ``Eco Star" by the Cousteau Society, and inducted into the Kid Heroes Hall of Fame by E: The Environmental Magazine, Kristin Joy Pratt demonstrates not only an infectious love of nature that promotes environmental awareness among children, but also a ``can do" positive attitude toward life that has helped make her so popular.

Kristin's best-selling first book, A Walk in the Rainforest, written in 1991 at age 14, began as an English homework assignment. More than 100,000 copies have been sold.

FLauded as a young ``Eco Star" by the Cousteau Society, and inducted into the Kid Heroes Hall of Fame by E: The Environmental Magazine, Kristin Joy Pratt demonstrates not only an infectious love of nature that promotes environmental awareness among children, but also a ``can do" positive attitude toward life that has helped make her so popular. Kristin's best-selling first book, A Walk in the Rainforest, written in 1991 at age 14, began as an English homework assignment. More than 100,000 copies have been sold.

At age 16, inspired by a marine biology class and her concern about contamination of the world's oceans, Kristin wrote and illustrated A Swim through the Sea. It was selected as an outstanding book by the National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council, and already almost 90,000 copies of this book have been sold.

In 1995, at age 18, Kristin turned the spotlight on the fragile ``invisible ocean" of air around us, and wrote and illustrated A Fly in the Sky. In 2001 Kristin brought attention to the wildlife in our local ponds and wetlands in her beautiful Salamander Rain: A Lake & Pond Journal. By now Kristin had become something of a children's heroine as a popular speaker at schools, museums and aquariums all over the U.S., and an inspiration for what even a young person can do given talent and the right attitude.

Kristin was a complete unknown when she sent her first manuscript to Dawn Publications. But what she said caught the publisher's eye. ``Environmental awareness, at a very early age, is the key to preserving our world," she wrote. ``When young children gain a knowledge and respect for nature they in turn love and protect it. If this book takes one small step towards that end it will have served its purpose."

FROM THE CRITICS

David Sobel

This lusciously illustrated picture book/field guide/treasure hunt is just the invitation teachers, parents and children need to get them exploring the ponds and lakes in their neighborhoods. Be prepared . . . the author's infectious joy will reach out and tickle you enough to get you to put on your boots, grab a net and make your own discoveries.

Beth Stout

Wild places like wetlands provide habitat for a diversity of plants and animals and they are great for hands-on explorations of nature. This colorful book is an invitation to kids to learn and care more about ponds, lakes and other wetlands that are found closer to home than we think.

Children's Literature