Development and Management of the LTER Schoolyard Children's Book Series

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The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network consists of 26 widely distributed field projects supported mainly by NSF. LTER successfully launched a ?Schoolyard Children?s Book Series? as one component of a broad-scale, long-term effort to combine scientific research and science education through the LTER Schoolyard (K-12) program. The mission statement for the Schoolyard Series is: ?to engage children and their families in learning about the earth's ecosystems, both locally and internationally, through narratives that reflect the dynamic research being conducted at the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research Sites.? Two books have been published in the Schoolyard Series: ?My Water Comes from the Mountains?, by the Niwot Ridge (CO) LTER and ?The Lost Seal? by the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctic) LTER. This proposal is for establishment of a Fund to support the development of books in the series and distribution of books to educators and children at each of the participating LTER sites. The purpose of the Fund is to enhance the value and impact of the Schoolyard Series for the individual LTER sites and to maintain the overall momentum for the Schoolyard Series, towards a goal of publishing one to two books per year. The Fund will be managed by the non-profit, LTER-linked Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, which will also accept support for the book series from other organizations and individuals. The expectation is that new books in the Schoolyard Series will be acquired by libraries that choose to have the complete series. Advances to authors and illustrators will be paid back into the Schoolyard Series Fund for use to support future book projects.