For Immediate Release: April 27, 2005

Contact: Sheila Ruth, 888-203-4068, sruth@imaginatorpress.com

BALTIMORE: Keeping a promise made two months ago, children's publisher Imaginator Press sent its first check to fund protection of monarch butterfly habitat in Mexico's devastated oyamel forests. Because a monarch butterfly plays a prominent role in Imaginator's top-selling title, The Dark Dreamweaver by Nick Ruth, the publisher donates 15 percent of direct-to-consumer sales, plus 5 percent of all other net income from the book, to the Michoacan Reforestation Fund, a nonprofit organization that works to rebuild those forests, protect the monarchs' traditional wintering grounds, and at the same time harness an environmentally and economically sustainable resource to benefit the local population.

The company includes a packet of milkweed seeds with every direct order, so the buyer can create his or her own monarch habitat--as Ruth did with his own son, inspiring him to write the acclaimed book.

Watching each monarch egg turn to caterpillar, and then to chrysalis, and then to butterfly, Ruth created The Dark Dreamweaver, his richly textured young adult fantasy novel: in Remin, the world of dreams, David, a boy from our own world, battles the evil sorcerer Thane, aided by the imprisoned wizard Houdin, condemned to endless reincarnations through the butterfly life cycle. The book is illustrated by Sue Concannon.

Named an American Booksellers Association Book Sense Children's Pick and a Finalist for the prestigious Ben Franklin Award. The Dark Dreamweaver has been praised in several national and Maryland publications—including Heartland Review, Independent Publisher and others, the book also contains a glossary of resources and information about monarchs. Ruth is already hard at work on a sequel.

The first check from Imaginator, covering sales during February and March, is enough to plant 326 new trees. Imaginator will send another check to MRF every quarter, and hopes to fund the purchase of thousands of trees over the next several years--providing security for hundreds of thousands of monarch butterflies whose winter habitat will be saved from destruction.

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