Santa Cruz Author Wins National Green Earth Book Award

Santa Cruz resident and author Paul Fleischman received the national 2015 Green Earth Book Award for his Young Adult Nonfiction book, Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines. The award honors books that best inspire youth to appreciate and care for the environment.

Mr. Fleischman’s book shows students how to evaluate environmental issues by using politics, psychology, history, and an understanding of economics and the media, and then offers them the tools they need to become informed, responsible global citizens. He uses of specific examples and references many related books, documentaries, articles, lectures, and interviews.

“As issues surrounding the stewardship of our planet resonate across the globe, Green Earth Book Award winning books can inspire youth and provide the answers our next generation of stewards will need to carry the mantle forward,” said Amy Marasco Newton, president and founder of The Nature Generation, an environmental education nonprofit organization.

Mr. Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, hearing his father, Sid Fleischman, read his books aloud chapter by chapter, as they were written. Both Paul and his father Sid won the Newbery Medal; Paul for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices in 1989, and Sid for The Whipping Boy in 1987.

His novels, poetry, picture books, and nonfiction are known for their breadth and innovation; he also has received a Newbery Honor for Graven Images, and was a National Book Award finalist for Breakout. His book Seedfolks has been used in citywide reads across the country. In 2012, he was the United States’ nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award for the body of his work. He currently lives in Santa Cruz.

Mr. Fleischman received his award at the annual Green Tie celebration held in Washington, D.C. - a culmination of a yearlong Growing Green Readers program that includes book donations, eco-author visits and eco-reading challenges held across the nation. Prior to the awards ceremony, he and the five other winning authors visited schools in and around the nation’s capital and handed out over 500 books donated by The Nature Generation.

Other award winners include: Picture Book: The Promise, by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin; Children’s Fiction: Deep Blue, by Jennifer Donnelly; Children’s Non-Fiction: Plastic, Ahoy!: Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch , by Patricia Newman and Annie Crawley; and Young Adult Fiction: Threatened, by Eliot Schrefer.

An expert panel of judges representing teachers, professors and environmental professionals chose the winners from over 100 nominations. The books are promoted throughout the year and teachers, librarians, and parents are encouraged to make these books available children and young adults. More information about the award and winners can be found at www.NatGen.og.

The Nature Generation is an environmental non-profit that inspires and empowers youth to make a difference. The organization reaches our nation’s youth through innovative environmental stewardship programs in literature, science and the arts. For more information, visit www.NatGen.org. For details on the winning book, visit eyeswideopenupdates.com.