Adirondack author and illustrator Sheri Amsel celebrates the natural wonders around her with stories, poems, educational books and detailed drawings. She discusses her work with producer Paul Larson, and they talk about her alphabet and numbers books for small children, as well as her guidebooks for older readers. Author Visits is an online series exploring the inspiration behind literature, as well as the process of writing and publishing books.
Author Bio
Sheri Amsel’s interest in the outdoors began in her teens working summers for a Wilderness Program in Vermont. Trained and mentored by their wilderness guides, Sheri began taking groups of kids into the Canadian Rockies, Wind Rivers in Wyoming, Zirkel Wilderness in Colorado, and the Green, White and Adirondack Mountains of the Northeast. Sheri then went on to receive degrees in botany and zoology from the University of Montana, a Masters degree in anatomy and biomedical illustration from Colorado State University and a summer internship at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC in scientific illustration. Sheri then taught science at three colleges before starting to publish field guides and children’s books with nature and environmental education themes. All along her goal was to inspire fascination with wild places and lead kids (and their parents) outside to explore. Since then Sheri has visited more than 500 schools nationally with science programming and professional development, spoken at National Conferences (NSTA, STANYS, AAAS) on integrating outdoor education into classroom science, helped dozens of schools develop educational nature trails, and created more than 5,000 pages of online science resources for use by schools worldwide. In 2009, Sheri was awarded the Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Environmental Education of Youths, by the Garden Club of America. Sheri lives with her husband in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.
Book Info
A Wetland Walk: A colorful picture book of an adventures exploring a wetland. Fact page at the end.
Drawing Adirondack Wildlife: A step by step guide to drawing the most common wild animals found in the Adirondacks.
Adirondack Nature Guide: Adult & young adult field guide to plants & animals in the Adirondacks.
Wild Science – Activities that Bridge Outdoor Exploration with Classroom Science: 96-pages of illustrated activities, experiments and games for 3-8th graders (and younger students with an adult guide to help read along).
The Everything Kids Environment Book: 130 pages of cool illustrated environmental information, activities, experiments and games. Have fun while saving the planet!
Adirondack Alphabet: Alphabetical tour of the Adirondacks with wildlife and historical sites for each letter of the alphabet. Hidden Cecil on every page.
Adirondack Counting Book: Counting the 46 high peaks and the animals and plants found there. Find hidden Cecil and his lost gear throughout the book.
365 Ways to Live Green for Kids: 200 pages of environmental activities, experiments, and games for at home, school, and play. This is a text only handbook for readers, parents, and teachers.
Web Resources
Website: http://www.exploringnature.org or http://www.adirondackillustrator.com
Blog: http://www.exploringnature.org/wordpress
Twitter: http://twitter.com/explore_nature
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Sheri-Amsel/1321305541