Press Release – February 2007                                Contact:          Sheri Amsel

                                                                                                            P.O. Box 84
Link to Newspaper Article                                                                    Elizabethtown, NY

                                                877-418-3765 (Toll free)

Link to Pictures and More Info                                                             518-962-4977
                                                                                                            sheri@exploringnature.org

Noted Nature Author/Illustrator Launches Children’s Web Site

www.exploringnature.org focused on

‘What kids like, librarians need, and teachers wish for…’

            Noted nature science author and illustrator Sheri Amsel has turned her talents to developing a web site to make science learning fun for students and teachers.

            The author and illustrator of more than 20 books on science and nature topics, Amsel says her web site brings something new to the Internet.

            “I feel this is different from other sites,” says Amsel, “because it is purposefully related to National Science Content Standards to the benefit of elementary-aged students, particularly K-6, and their teachers.  It was developed after visiting more than 200 elementary schools, over many years, and listening to what kids like, librarians need, and teachers wish for.”

The web site currently includes more than 1,000 species of animals, including information and illustrations by Amsel.  In addition to the student-friendly database, the site features a young explorer’s adventure section, wildlife movies, and step-by-step instructions on how to draw animals.                

            For teachers, the web site includes numerous science activities and downloadable lesson plans and handouts.

            Amsel says some 1,200 schools, with more than 500,000 students, have already signed up on the web site, reaching across the U.S. to Australia, New Zealand, and with student and teacher participation from Chile and Israel.   

            With undergraduate degrees in botany and zoology, a master’s degree in anatomy and biomedical illustration, and an internship at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. in scientific illustration, Amsel’s work includes: writing and illustrating children’s and adult’s nature books, school and library workshops, outdoor education and nature trail development, and teaching college science.

            Amsel works out of her home studio in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.