Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Award Winning Author Jill Vanderwood Helps Kids Teach Kids How To Go Green Simply By Living Green Themselves


With World Water Day, Earth Hour and Earth Day just around the corner, environmental awareness is at the forefront of our consciousness. Award winning author Jill Vanderwood believes that children can teach other children and adults about going green simply by living green themselves. Her children’s book, What's It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids by the Way They Live, describes how kids as young as four to seventeen are making better choices every day

Recycling, going green, reuse, clean energy and environmental awareness are all very popular buzzwords today. The mere use of buzzwords however does nothing to create real and lasting change. Only actions create change. It is this type of action that is described in Jill Vanderwood’s award winning book, What’s It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids by the Way They Live.

“There are three things,” stated Ms. Vanderwood, “that influenced me to write What’s It Like, Living Green? When we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, I wondered if we had really made a difference for the planet. Next, my neighbor, Nicole, who is now thirteen, recycles aluminum cans so she can buy a Christmas gift for her everyone in her family. Third, my sister and my niece Azura drive an older Mercedes, fueled with used cooking oil. These are but a few of the examples found in the book.”

What's It Like Living Green? has won three national awards. The book was the recipient of the National Indie Excellence Award in the Green category. It won Motivational Minds’ 2009 Teen Development Award in the pre-teen category and also won the 2009 Best Books Award in the Green/Alternative Energy/ Conservation category given by USA Book News. What's It Like, Living Green has been featured in Ideal Bites newsletter (a Disney company) suggested green reading list for kids. Ms. Vanderwood has been quoted and featured on Disney Family iparenting.com. In addition, her books have been featured in the Staten Island Advance ‘Kids in the City’ column.What's It Like, Living Green was featured on the Green Team Utah website and Ms. Vanderwood was featured on the site as a Green Hero.

The book features stories describing how kids are making a real difference in the world. What’s It Like, Living Green? presents contributing authors who live green, such as Ryan Hreljac from Canada, who started Ryan's Well Foundation by providing clean water to a village school in Uganda at the age of seven, and Devon Green from Stewart, Florida who began Devon's Heal the World Recycling at the age of five. Here you will learn, from real families, how to make greenchoices as simple as putting on a sweater rather than turning up the heat. The book demonstrates how easy it is to reduce, reuse and recycle to create a healthy environment for the future.

“What’s It Like, Living Green?” continued Ms. Vanderwood, “is a great book for families who want to live green, and is of special interest as a teaching tool for schools. The book is written for ages 10 and up, but can be read with younger children.”

This book is available on Amazon.com and can be ordered through Baker and Taylor, Ingram's or through any local retailer. A portion of the book proceeds will be donated to Edwin Watts Southwind Park and Erin's Pavilion, in Springfield, IL, and Hibiscus Children's Center, to help build a playground for abused and neglected children in Jensen Beach, Florida. Ms. Vanderwood is available for interview and can be reached using the information below, or by email at throughtherug@earthlink.net.

What's It Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids, by the Way They Live
ISBN: 1-4392-2477-3
EAN: 9781439224779
CreateSpace Publishing

Profile:
Jill Ammon Vanderwood lives in West Valley City, Utah with her husband Bill. She is a mother and grandmother who hopes to bring kids together to make a difference for the planet. Jill participated in the first Earth Day in Portland, Oregon. She is a public speaker, teaches workshops, and was the winner of the 2008 Writer of the Year Award, from the League of Utah Writers.

Ms. Vanderwood has appeared on Motivational Minds Radio, The Children's Authors Show radio, Blub Radio with Sally Shields and Dr. Kent and Conversations Live Radio with Cyrus Webb as an author and literacy advocate. She was also interveiwed on KODJ radio in Salt Lake City, Utah and appeared on Channel 4 News in September for her Literacy Action Fundraiser.

Contact:

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Email: throughtherug@earthlink.net
Web: www.jillvanderwood.com
Phone: 801-891-3370