creativity Archives - Page 17 of 36

I Got a Chicken for My Birthday
by Laura Gehl (Author) and Sarah Horne (Illustrator)

Booktalk: What a birthday girl wants more than anything from her Abuela are tickets to the amusement park. Instead she gets a chicken. But this chicken is no ordinary chicken; it has plans! With a lot of hard work, and help from lots of other animals, this chicken may just end up building the girl the best birthday gift ever!

Snippet:

Guest Post by Laura Gehl

Laura Gehl spent many happy hours reading books as a kid, and now she gets to spend many happy hours…and many frustrated, banging-her-head-against-the-wall hours…writing books for kids. Pretty much the best job ever. Except for the banging-her-head-against-the-wall part. These days, she also gets to spend many happy hours reading books to her own four kids. Which is only fair, since she gets most of her ideas from them!

Q. Describe your writing process.
A. I am constantly scribbling ideas on note pads I keep everywhere–by my bed, near the shower, in the kitchen, in my purse, and so on. I collect those scribbled thoughts and email them to myself to store in a virtual folder called “picture book ideas.” When I’m ready to start a new book, I pick an idea and plunge into writing. Sometimes it feels like I’m trudging through knee-deep mud. Those ideas get put aside. But other times, I can tell from the beginning that magic is happening. Those are the ideas worth pursuing.

The first draft is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. I write in complete isolation, but if anyone could see me typing away, I would have a huge goofy grin on my face. Then comes the hard part. Revising. Getting critiques. Trying to figure out how to fix the problems. Waiting until the perfect ending presents itself. Revising again. And again. And again. But then comes my other favorite part–when a revision truly comes together. I can feel the magic happening again, and the big goofy grin reappears.

Q. Tell us about your latest book.
A. I Got a Chicken for My Birthday is about a little girl named Ana who asks her grandmother for tickets to the amusement park. Instead, Abuela Lola sends a chicken. Ana tries to look on the bright side–fresh eggs!–but it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary chicken. This chicken has a list, and a plan. This chicken recruits Ana’s pets. This chicken is building . . .something. . .in the back yard. And this chicken might just be the best birthday gift ever!

I Got a Chicken for My Birthday started out with a chicken in a bathtub building a library. Other than the engineering chicken, everything else changed over the course of many, many revisions. But I am thrilled with how the book turned out. And Sarah Horne’s art adds so much to the spare text. My very favorite of Sarah’s touches is Ana’s hamster, who finds a large and unusual hamster wheel. I can’t tell you any more without spoiling the surprise in the book!

This is a story about not judging a book (or chicken) by its cover. About how an unexpected gift can be exactly the right gift. And about the special relationship between a grandparent and a grandchild (the book is dedicated to my in-laws, who are amazing grandparents). I hope kids will enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for sharing your new book, Laura!
It’s so nice to “meet” you after sharing your other books:

Peep and Egg: I’m Not Hatching

Peep and Egg: I’m Not Trick-or-Treating

My Pillow Keeps Moving

The Lizard Lady
by Jennifer Keats Curtis (Author), Nicole F. Angeli (Author), and Veronica Jones (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Join the Lizard Lady as she cuts her way through thick Caribbean forests searching for critically endangered St. Croix ground lizards. Hunted to extinction on the island of St. Croix by invasive species brought by colonizing farmers, these lizards are now only found on surrounding islands in the US Virgin Islands.

Co-author Nicole F. Angeli is the Lizard Lady — can she help save these animals? A day in a life of a woman scientist can be anything but boring.

Snippet: The lizards are hard to see, But Nicole is an expert tracker. Sometimes she hears the lizards before she can even see them.

Shhh! Do you hear that?

SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH

A lizard is hungrily prowling, looking for small prey–cockroaches, moths, termites, ants, and small hermit crabs–in the leaves.

Guest Post by Dr. Nicole Angeli and Jennifer Keats Curtis

Dr. Nicole Angeli is a wildlife scientist and postdoc at the Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit at Auburn University. She is the co-chair of the Caribbean PARC sub-group and a Smithsonian Institution research collaborator. She integrates landscape and population modeling to inform conservation decision making. Scientists from the time of Darwin have predicted that species with limited capacity to adapt to changing environments decline, while species with more capacity to adapt persist. Her research program is connected by the question, “Why do some species persist, while other closely related species go extinct?”

Children’s author Jennifer Keats Curtis wants to help bring children closer to the animals in their own backyards. By diligently researching her topic and interviewing real experts, including children working to help preserve and protect local wildlife, the long-time journalist has developed a knack for teaching young children about important ecological issues and what they can do to help.”

Q. Describe your writing process.
A. Dr. Nicole Angeli: The main method of academic communication is the written word. We have several dozen common journals where we submit papers and perspectives, and on this basis I consider myself and all scientists professional writers.

I generally write 2 – 3 hours each day, either generating new content or editing old science. However, I’m usually writing for a very technical audience using the jargon of my discipline. The Lizard Lady was fun because I was able to write to a completely new audience of people.

When Jen and I began to correspond on the manuscript, she translated many concepts that I thought clear-cut. Once the bones of the story were laid out, I was mostly reading for accuracy. Jen and the folks at Arbordale Press used their expertise to translate concepts and help me to communicate better with children.

A. Jennifer Keats Curtis: Well, I frequently describe my writing process as throwing up on paper. I take everything that I’ve learned about my topic and chuck it up on paper. Not literally . . I guess it’s “technically” called a brainstorm. Since I’m not a scientist, it’s sometimes quite a learning curve when I work with experts like Nicole! I obviously can’t use everything that I’ve learned so I take that messy brainstorm and determine which parts I want to use for the story and then put it together, sort of like solving a jigsaw puzzle. For this book, Nicole is the brains. She IS the Lizard Lady. I just get to help her tell her story to young learners.

Q. Tell us about your latest book.
A. Dr. Nicole Angeli: When Jen and I met, we shared an enthusiasm for telling the story of the success of the St. Croix ground lizard – it was her innovation to include me as a lead character. I was a bit embarrassed but later embraced my role. She was right, it’s a large part of the story.

The Lizard Lady is fundamentally the story of every successful conservation action. A small group of people take an interest and engage in action. In The Lizard Lady, a group of scientists got interested and decided to save the St. Croix ground lizard. The Lizard Lady describes the scientific process of conservation monitoring. It’s all true, and it’s a story happening across our country and our world for species in peril. I’ll add that the gorgeous illustrations by Veronica detail as much of the science as the words.

A. Jennifer Keats Curtis: The Lizard Lady is a gorgeously illustrated nonfiction about a fabulous female scientist who is saving a little ground lizard from extinction. I’m so excited to introduce Nicole and the concept of conservation biology to kids. Nicole was a little nervous about being the central character in this book but she is the story and this fun-to-read book highlights her important role in saving an animal from extinction. We also get to use her as a role model for budding scientists, especially young girls. Nicole is cool and tough. She loves being outdoors and hacking through brush to find these elusive reptiles and rescue them. I’ve been providing background about the book to students during school visits and kids never fail to clap when I tell them about her work.

Thanks for sharing your new book, Dr. Nicole Angeli and Jennifer Keats Curtis!