AUTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR MILLS TO HOST FREE READING, ART SESSION; KIDS TO RECEIVE PERSONALIZED COPIES OF CELEBRATED NEW BOOK

APRIL 16, 2025 — St. Vartan Park Conservancy is pleased to announce that award-winning author-illustrator Julia Mills (pictured) will be the featured book personality at the free St. Vartan Park Earth Day on April 26.

Mills, also an accomplished art teacher, will host a book reading and interactive art session as part of the event. In the special session, young attendees will receive a free copy of Mills' celebrated new hardcover book 'Robinson's New Thing,’ which Mills will personalize for each child. 

The nature-driven book shares an important message: Positive experiences with others are more valuable than material belongings.

The magazine Kirkus Reviews praises Mills' new book as "thought-provoking. It should spark fruitful discussions about what matters most in life, while the charming protagonists cut endearing figures in Mills’ cozy illustrations."

This year's St. Vartan Park Earth Day, to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the eastern side of the park, will include a puzzle and book swap and other environmentally conscious activities. Specific times of event activities will be added soon to the event’s online home.

In partnership with Books of Wonder, an author-illustrator reading and giveaway of a newly released book has been part of St. Vartan Park Earth Day since 2023 (pictured). 

Support St. Vartan Park

Your 100-percent tax-deductible donation of any amount below to the all-volunteer St. Vartan Park Conservancy will be used to help improve the public St. Vartan Park and its public surroundings.

History of St. Vartan Park Earth Day

The decision to stage the first St. Vartan Park Earth Day on April 24, 2021, was in part an upshot of the year-old pandemic. A yearning among community members to be outside and to focus on the environment brought more than 200 individuals together for a cleanup of the neighborhood.

The River School (P.S. 281) on First Avenue directly across the street from the east side of the park has always been a key part of the event. Two parents at the elementary school in 2021 — Andrea Au Levitt (below, third from left in the St. Vartan Park garden at the 2023 earth event) and David Sall (second from right) — started recruiting others to help after Sall formulated a plan to start the event on the Saturday following Earth Day.

 The outreach was strengthened through the participation of the Green Team, the school's environment-focused group supervised by The River School science teacher Adriana Romanzo (far right) that would host select event activities. Other volunteer community leaders, including P.S. 116 parent leader Erica Wolf (fourth from left), Alliance for Kips Bay officer Sandra McKee (seventh from left) and future St. Vartan Park Conservancy founder Kevin O’Keefe (kneeling) — helped the event grow with various support sponsors and volunteer groups.

The first two annual earth events secured the park’s playground and athletic field for activities. The event reached beyond neighborhood cleanup to include such activities as plantings, compost demonstrations, recycling, and environment-themed relay races

After O’Keefe led a successful campaign to open the park’s garden to the general public after years of closure, he launched the Conservancy in 2022 with an added commitment to expand the St. Vartan Park Earth Day to the garden. In 2023, the garden hosted event activities, including the start of an annual gathering that features a celebrated environment-focused children’s picture book. Complimentary copies of the book are given to young attendees with an interactive experience with the book’s author and/or illustrator.

The annual celebration has become known for its family-friendly appeal, with the political news outlet Politico among those that have highlighted children and their parents working together for the environment as part of news coverage of the event.

Several elected officials — including United States Congressman Jerry Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine (above, eleventh from left), New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez (tenth from left), New York State Assembly Members Alex Bores (next to Gonzalez) and Harvey Epstein (next to Levine), and New York City Council Members Keith Powers (center right in blue sweater) and Carlina Rivera (below in jean jacket at the 2022 earth event) — have embraced the annual event for its community togetherness and to share plans for environmental advances.