Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the National Parks with an Interview with Award-winning Author Mary Kay Carson– and a giveaway!

Happy 100th Birthday National Parks!!

What better way to celebrate the anniversary of our nation’s greatest natural attraction than with Mary Kay Carson, a children’s author who gave us a peek into the United States’ very own backyard playground in her book:

 

Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Backyard

BIO BLURB:

Mary Kay Carson is an author of over 50 nonfiction books for young people.  Her books include a number of titles in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s award-winning Scientists in the Field series, including The Park Scientists, a 2015 Ohioana Book Award Finalist and The Bat Scientists, an ALA’s 2011 Notable Children’s Books for Middle Readers. Her book Exploring the Solar System was the 2009 recipient of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Children’s Literature Award and the State Library of Ohio selected Beyond the Solar System as a Choose to Read Ohio book for 2015 & 2016. The author lives in Cincinnati with her photographer husband Tom Uhlman and their dog Ruby in a century-old house surrounded by urban green space, deer, hawks, woodchucks, and songbirds. 

Thanks for joining us, Mary Kay. We have some great questions for you about your books, your love of SCIENCE, and how you research and write amazing books like the Park Scientists.

 

 Why do you like writing books about science?

I hadn’t really planned on writing for young people, but I landed a much-needed job writing news and feature articles for a science magazine at Scholastic for 4-6th graders called SuperScience. Within the first few months on the job I’d interviewed scientists, written and sketched out a 4-paneled carton that explained center of mass, helped choose photos to accompany a feature article, traveled to a school to interview kids measuring champion trees, come up with story ideas, and assisted the hands-on activities editor in tinkering with experiments set up in the hallway. What can compete with that? Plus kids love science. It taps into their natural wonder of the world around them.

 

Do you have a favorite memory of first studying science? A teacher who inspired you?

I do have a vivid memory of doing that classic surface tension demonstration with pepper and soap in Mrs. Dockery’s fourth grade class. Seeing the floating pepper magically scoot away from the bar of soap made a real impression on me! I took a number of very well taught biology classes in high school and also attended a year of special vocational high school at the Cincinnati Zoo, too.

 

You work on the award-winning Scientists in the Field Series by Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt. Can you tell us a little bit about how you select your topic? Do you get to pick it yourself? Do you have to approach the researcher yourself, too?

Yes, yes, and yes! It’s a long-running series, but each title is individually acquired. I choose topics that interest me and have not yet been covered in the series. Then I find a researcher (or research group) willing to participate, write up a proposal, submit it, and hope for the best! It’s a limited series—one or two titles are released twice a year—so it’s pretty competitive and often there’s a long lag time between contract and publication.

 

Who takes the fabulous photographs for your books? Do you work together to figure out the book’s layout?

 

For my books in the Scientists in the Field series, Tom Uhlman (http://tomuhlmanphoto.com) is the ace photographer. These are very photo-driven books, each featuring original photography so the photographer and photo resources are part of the submission pitch and acquisition terms. Tom has photographed six SITF books, but ours are the best! (We’re married, full disclosure.) Graphic design and layout is handled by the publisher, though they’re pretty open to our input and vision for the book. And all the photos submitted are coded into the manuscript so the designers know their appropriate placement.

 

 How is each actual research trip? Can you give us examples of what you get to do on the trip?

It can take a lot of logistical planning, but once Tom and I are actually in the presence of the researcher we usually just tag along as she or he does what she or he does. For the Park Scientists book this included a Gila monster tracking trip—hiking through the desert with radio telemetry equipment listening to beeps; seeing how citizen scientists measure giant saguaro cacti in the field; tagging along as Yellowstone’s geologists measure temperatures and gases coming out of a hydrothermal vent; and camping in Great Smoky Mountains with a scientist collecting the tips of red-cheeked salamanders.

 

Do you have a funny or even scary story that happened to you on one of your trips that you can relate?

Absolutely! A funny one is when we were working on the Inside Biosphere 2 book out in Arizona. Biosphere 2 is a huge place. There’s three acres of forest, savannah, ocean, and desert under the greenhouse structure and an entire subterainean support structure underneath it all where all the HVAC and water systems clean, create, and shuttle “weather” to the various ecosystems above. It’s real maze down in this so-called Technosphere and an easy place to get lost, which we did. It’s connected to the ecosystem by mostly hidden doorways that lead to narrow identical metal spiral staircases. We were supposed to be meeting a scientist on the opposite side of the ocean, but kept popping up staircases in the wrong ecosystems!

 

Do you have a favorite of your SITF books?

Emi and the Rhino Scientist holds an honored place in the my heart. It was the first SITF book I wrote. It was plucked from the slush pile and featured a scientist at the Cincinnati Zoo, where I’ve known people for decades. Plus Emi was a very special rhino, curious and friendly, patient and a terrific mom. She’s since passed away and her species is more endangered now (perhaps 100 left on the planet) than when we wrote the book ten years ago, so it’s meaningful to me on many levels.

Can you tell us about the new SITF book you are working on?

Mission to Pluto will be released later this year. It’s about New Horizons, the first spacecraft to visit the Kuiper Belt and Pluto. We got to go back east for the Pluto flyby event last July, which was super exciting! It’s finished though, so can’t really say we’re working on it. Tom Uhlman and I just signed on to do a Tornado Scientist book about a researcher studying tornadoes in the southern US. We did a bit of storm chasing this spring, but will really gear up for next season’s storms. Watch out!

 

This is the 100th year celebration of the National Parks. Are you planning or participating in any activities for that? 

Tom Uhlman and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Tucson Festival of books this year where we spoke at their 100 Years of National Parks tent about Park Scientists. The two scientists featured in the Saguaro National park chapters kindly agreed to speak as well, and brought along a live Gila monster!

The local NPR station here in Cincinnati has a terrific Saturday morning radio program called The Book Club @91.7 which I was interviewed for in connection with the Cenntenial, too. You can hear it here: http://wvxu.org/post/mary-kay-carson-park-scientists

 

Prize TIME!

Mary Kay has generously donated a signed copy of her Park Scientists book to one lucky winner. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us why you think the National Park system is so important.

And to learn more about Mary Kay and all her other amazing books, please go to  www.marykaycarson.com.

Share this:

• Email
• Tweet
• Share on Tumblr
• 
• Pocket

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Jennifer Swanson

Science ROCKS! And so do Jennifer Swanson's books. She is the award-winning author of over 40 nonfiction books for kids. Jennifer Swanson’s love of science began when she started a science club in her garage at the age of 7. While no longer working from the garage, you can find Jennifer at her favorite place to explore the world around her. www.JenniferSwansonBooks.com
Jennifer is also the creator and administrator of #STEMTuesday and #STEAMTeam2020

By Jennifer Swanson on August 8, 2016   /   Book Lists  

37 Comments

1. 

   Stanley Willis

   10:42 am on August 15, 2016

   It is wonderful to see a childhood friend share her love of our country history. How 100 years ago they thought of our future. With Mary Kay books of inspirations that we can continue there dreams another 100 years….
   Plus there is nothing like leaving the city. To a place untouched by man….
   • 

     Mary Kay Carson

     10:52 am on August 15, 2016

     Thanks, Stan. Means a lot coming from a fellow old-timer! 🙂
2. 

   Maria Marshall

   10:44 pm on August 14, 2016

   Our NPs are so important. Can’t wait to read your book.
   • 

     Mary Kay Carson

     9:06 am on August 15, 2016

     Thanks, Maria! I agree 100%!
3. 

   Mary Kay Carson (@marykaycarson)

   6:21 pm on August 11, 2016

   Hopefully you’ve gotten some park nature in this summer! Thanks
4. 

   Mary Kay Carson (@marykaycarson)

   6:18 pm on August 11, 2016

   There is a lot of history/culture in the NPs, isn’t there? 🙂 The Scientists in the Field series’s website is posting lots of related content about the series and the books in it these days…www.sciencemeetsadventure.com
5. 

   Mary Ann Rosswurm

   2:56 pm on August 10, 2016

   Thanks to our leaders who 100 years ago created a National Park System for preserving the natural beauty of our national parks and for making them accessible for us to enjoy. I have been fortunate to visit many of these parks. Having a book such as Mary Kay’s book increases our knowledge and appreciation of these treasures.
   • 

     Mary Kay Carson

     1:12 pm on August 12, 2016

     Thanks, Mary Ann! Not much heard about NPS and/or environmental stuff this election cycle…grrr