In 2013, North Vancouver-born and raised illustrator, writer and graphic designer Jennifer Harrington started Eco Books 4 Kids, a publishing company devoted to creating entertaining, educational children's books with a low eco-footprint.

Harrington is the author of their first release, Spirit Bear (Red Tuque / Eco $19.95), illustrated by Michael Arnott. The story follows the adventures of a white spirit bear cub named Annuk, living in the Great Bear Rainforest of BC. One day, while testing his fishing skills, the little spirit bear slips and falls into the river and is swept downstream, away from the safety of his mother. Alone and lost, Annuk makes an unlikely friend and summons his courage to evade predators until he can reunite with his family.

Spirit Bear was republished in hardcover in 2016 after it won the First Nation Communities Read Award. The new version contained additional educational information such as a map of the Great Bear Rainforest, information pages about the spirit bear, the Gitga'at First Nation, a Teachers' Package, plus a key to the 24 animals introduced in the book along with their conservation status. Spirit Bear has an associated Teachers' Package that is curriculum-based and is designed for educators wishing to use Spirit Bear as a tool in classrooms to teach children about Canadian animals and animal life-cycles.

Previously she illustrated the series A Moose in a Maple Tree, which includes the titles A Moose in a Maple Tree, The Night Before a Canadian Christmas and Canadian Jingle Bells.

While moving back to B.C. in 2016, Jennifer Harrington released her new ABC book from her Eco Books imprint dedicated to educating children about Canada's diverse wildlife, ABC Animal Babies of Canada (Eco $11.95), illustrated by Michael Arnott. In case you're wondering, I is for Indigo Bunting; Q is for Quail; U is for Urson (Canadian Porcupine) and X is for Xantus's Murrelet. Z is for Zooplankton. 978-0-9920320-3-6

BOOKS:

Spirit Bear (Red Tuque / Eco, 2014) $19.95 ISBN 978-0-9920320-0-5 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-0-9920320-1-2 (epub).--ISBN 978-0-9920320-2-9 (animated epub)

With illustrator Jennifer Harrington, Troy Townsin co-authored A Moose in a Maple Tree - The All Canadian 12 Days of Christmas (Polyglot, 2008)

ABC Animal Babies of Canada (Eco, 2016) $11.95

[BCBW 2016]