Winnetka Author Lynn Sanders Publishes New Children's Book To Raise Awareness For Endangered Species

Dancing With Tex: The Remarkable Friendship To Save The Whooping Cranes is already being praised as “a beautiful, compelling, real-life story of love and caring between a human and his endangered, feathered friend” because of its eternal message of having faith, belief and perseverance in achieving one’s goals. The story is authored by award-winning Winnetka writer, Lynn Sanders, beautifully illustrated by world-class talent, Sergio Drumond, with design and editing by Ann Knipp. The ebook was released in late May, becoming a hot seller on Amazon, and the print version was just released.

Lynn Sanders, President of Difference Makers Media (formerly Park Avenue Marketing), has helped a wide range of corporate clients, business owners and nonprofit organizations over the past 30 years tell their stories through writing, media and marketing to attract results. (www.DifferenceMakersMedia.com) Now, she has taken her expertise into a new territory, children’s literature, to inspire youth through a true story. Sanders learned about this story from an off-camera conversation in 1995 with Dr. George Archibald, during a video project at The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Fascinated by George's unique tale of a bond between species, Sanders wanted to make the story into a children’s book. She never realized it would take over a decade to accomplish!

Dancing With Tex describes the real friendship between George Archibald, co-founder of The International Crane Foundation, and Tex, a rare Whooping Crane who believed she belonged with people. At the time, the Whooping Cranes were on the verge of extinction. Every egg mattered. To help Tex lay a fertile egg could save the species. But it would take unusual measures. George would need to be accepted as her dancing partner because all cranes dance before laying an egg, and Tex only related to people. It took six years along with special shots, but George’s efforts resulted in Tex’s chick, which made an impact in saving the Whooping Cranes. That success even led to an appearance for George on the Johnny Carson show.

“Children need to recognize their value in transforming our planet,” says Sanders.“We can do that by inspiring them with positive stories. As we’re bombarded by negative media, I feel we must make a conscious effort to give our youth empowering stories. Stories like this one can motivate young people to believe in their dreams, and raise environmental awareness.”

Like the main character, Sanders also overcame numerous setbacks to publish the story. The book was almost published by a traditional press, but the company ran out of funding. In 2008, Sanders and two colleagues, Jenny Stafford and Russ Coutinho, created a children’s musical, “A Whooper’s Tale: The Incredible Story Of Tex” from this story. The show received rave reviews for two nights at Theatre Building Chicago, before the theatre was sold. (The musical is still available for production.) Sanders is seeking sponsors to bring this important story into schools and nature centers to raise environmental awareness across the nation.

For more information or to listen to the free audio book, visit: www.DancingWithTex.com.

The book can be found on Amazon at: http://bit.ly/DancingTex and available at local bookstores. A free e-book version will be available on Amazon from August 6-8th, 2016. For more information, contact Lynn at 847-501-2867.

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