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 450,000 copies have been sold in English, and the book was translated into 15 languages. And Cornell continued to get ideas for new nature games that were published in Sharing Nature with Children II. He established an international teaching program through Sharing Nature.
In the early 90s Dawn expanded into children’s picture books with A Walk in the Rainforest (1992) by Kristin Joy Pratt, a talented 14 year-old junior high school student. The book was essentially her class project on the rainforest—an alphabet book with vibrant artwork done with magic markers. Two years later, we were pleased to publish A Swim through the Sea(1994) by the then-16 year-old Kristin. This time she illustrated it in lustrous watercolors.
Over the ensuing two 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 project 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 by that budding genre, “creative non-fiction.” Each of our products is a unique window into the web of life that, grounded in nature, weaves us all together.
We aspire to awaken children to the discovery that they are part of something magnificent.
