Dawn Publications is dedicated to inspiring in children a deeper understanding and appreciation for all life on Earth. We aim to help parents and teachers encourage children to bond with the Earth in a relationship of love, respect, and intelligent cooperation, through the books we publish and the educational materials we offer online.
We began in 1979 with the publication of Sharing Nature with Children which flowed from the genius of Joseph Cornell for creating “nature games” that could give people a deeper appreciation and insight into nature. Nature games spurred a global revolution in environmental education. Over 600,000 copies have been sold in English, and the book was translated into 20 languages. And Cornell continued to get ideas for new nature games that were published in Sharing Nature with Children II and additional books. He established an international teaching program through Sharing Nature Worldwide.
In the early 90s Dawn expanded into children’s picture books with A Walk in the Rainforest (1992) and A Swim through the Sea(1994), both by Kristin Joy Pratt.
Over the ensuing decades Dawn has published scores of titles, comprising a unique line of nature appreciation books for young people. We pursue quality rather than quantity, limiting ourselves to only a half dozen or so titles a year. When selecting our new projects we look for inspirational content and quality art, as well as solid information. We aim to reach the hearts as well as minds of children. As nature publishers our material is essentially non-fiction, but usually told with such an engaging style and illustrated with such magical art that most of our books are probably best described as “creative non-fiction.”
Teachers love our books because they serve a dual purpose—meeting both literacy and science standards. “Explore More” sections, for both kids and adults, extend the learning with nonfiction information, literacy suggestions, and STEM lesson ideas. Whether they’re used as read alouds or independent readers, our books fit into reading collections in categories or modules including the water cycle, animals, habitats, birds, oceans, pollination, seed dispersal, life cycles, earth and space, food webs, plants and gardening, and biographies.
Each of our products is a unique window into the web of life that weaves us all together. We aspire to awaken children to the discovery that they are part of something magnificent.
