On Friday, December 2nd at 7PM award-winningauthor, illustrator, and filmmaker Lynne Cherry will be presenting a public lecture at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. Cherry will focus on her life's work creating books and videos that inspire young people - the inheritors of the Earth - to engage in conservation.

Cherry is the author and/or illustrator of more than 30 award-winning books that capture the imagination and encourage respect for the environment. Her vividly illustrated best-seller The Great Kapok Tree is used in schools to convey the importance of the rainforest. Similarly, her book A River Ran Wild has been built into 4th and 5th grade curriculums, where it informs lessons on watershed cleanup and restoration. And her magical book Flute's Journey: the Life of a Wood Thrush was instrumental in focusing national media attention on saving Belt Woods in Maryland.

Cherry has an unwavering passion for the environment and lectures nationwide on how children can make a difference-"if they feel strongly about something, they can change the world." Her most recent offerings include a book on global warming, How We Know What We Know about Our Changing Climate, and a video series, Young Voices for the Planet, which focuses on how students are taking environmental action. Her lecture will feature several of these vignettes, including the story of Olivia Bouler who, at 11, raised $200,000 for Audubon's bird rescue efforts following the Gulf oil spill.

Cherry is currently an Artist/Writer-in Residence at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem

Studies, where she will be working on her next environment-inspired offering. She has held previous Artist-in-Residence positions at the Smithsonian, Cornell University, the Marine Biological Lab, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Princeton University.

Free and open to the public, the lecture is geared toward adults but appropriate for

children 3rd grade and up. The event will be held in Cary's auditorium, located at 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Rte. 44) in Millbrook, New York. For more information, call (845) 677-7600 x 121 or e-mail freemanp@caryinstitute.org. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

A book signing will follow the lecture; Merritt Bookstore will be offering books for sale. The intricate illustrations in Cherry's picture books are a joy, and her messages are ageless.

For more information about the Cary Institute's Artist/Writer-in-Residence Program,

visit: http://www.caryinstitute.org/resident_artist.html

www.caryinstitute.org