Posts Tagged ocean life

STEM Tuesday — Oceans — Author Interview with Jennifer Swanson

By on August 27, 2024   /   Oceans, STEM Tuesday   /   1 Comment

 

 

I’m excited to welcome award-winning STEM author Jennifer Swanson

Jennifer Swanson

to the STEM Tuesday blog today.  She’s going to share her book journey with us.

 

 

 

 

 

Get ready to take a deep dive into the mysterious world of an underwater forest!

The Lost Forest book by Jennifer Swanson

The Lost Forest: An Unexpected Discovery Beneath the Waves (Millbrook Press, April 2, 2024)

A Junior Library Guild Selection

“A detailed, thought-provoking account of the work of scientists.”―Kirkus Reviews

“This book details the fascinating story of the dedicated scuba divers and their work to locate and preserve the area. No one has ever found such a unique habitat, and hopefully, no one will be able to disturb it as scientists work to keep it safe. Readers who enjoy earthly mysteries will enjoy this title. Reviewer Rating: 5″―Children’s Literature

“Swanson, who shadowed the scientists, documents their methods and discoveries in an appealing narrative, complemented by photos of the scientists in action. In the process, readers learn such amazing details as the dangers of diving, organizing experiments, gene sequencing, and finding new species.”―Booklist

 

 

ST:  Thanks for being here, Jennifer. What can you tell us about how your book, The Lost Forest, came to be published?

JS: Thanks so much for having me. I’m thrilled to share my story. Here goes:

This book was tons of fun to research and write! Why? Because I got to hang out with two amazing science teams and watch them in action as they researched an amazing discovery under the sea. My book journey is a lesson in making connections with people. I am lucky enough to be good friends with one of the scientists that was an expert on my Astronaut-Aquanaut book. His name is Dr. Brian Helmuth, and he works at Northeastern University and Nahant Marine Science Center. I’ve known Brian since 2016 when I reached out via email to ask him to be an expert on
my Astronaut-Aquanaut book and we have stayed in touch since then.

In April 2020, he was a member of a team of scientists from Ocean Genome Legacy
Center and the Nahant Marine Science Center at Northeastern University that had received a
grant from the National Science Foundation to dive on an ancient underwater forest discovered
off the coast of Alabama.

Introduction page from the book, The Lost Forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the email I received from Brian in April 2020, he asked me if I’d be interested in writing a children’s book on the team’s research journey.My response was, “Would I? Absolutely!”
So, Brian talked to Dr. Dan Distel, the principal investigator of the project and suggested
that I become an ad hoc member of the team. They both agreed, and the rest, as they say, was
history. I got an inside view of how a real science team conducts their research. I was SO
excited!

Team of scientists from The Lost Forest book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why is this forest so awesome? This forest isn’t just any forest, it’s composed of cypress
wood. Cypress doesn’t normally grow in water, so it makes sense that this forest was once on
land. Researchers determined that the forest was approximately 60,000 years old. Talk about
As an adjunct member of the team, I was invited to go on one of their research trips into
the Gulf of Mexico—to go out to the real site (kept secret so that furniture companies wouldn’t
harvest it to make furniture).

Unfortunately, we all know what happened in 2020 (covid!), so the dive scheduled for September 2020 didn’t take place. Instead, the team had virtual meetings todiscuss what they had learned from their dive in late 2019. I was invited to participate in several of these meetings. It was so thrilling, seeing the photos, the videos, and hearing the team discuss their findings.
An underwater forest from the book, The Lost Forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team was awesome! I interviewed them all and they gave me access to all of their
reports, photos, and videos. It was so exciting to get an inside look at how scientists conduct
research in the field. The entire team helped to edit the book and were with me every step of the
way. They were SO great to work with!

 

QR codes to see the scientists actual dive video of the underwater forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m beyond proud to tell their story.
So, I invite you all to check out the book! Millbrook Press put QR codes that lead the
reader to the actual videos that the scientists took while diving. It’s incredible!
Watch my  book trailer HERE

 

You can read more about the book and purchase it HERE 

To learn more about me and the rest of my books, please visit my website:
https://jenniferswansonbooks.com/
Also, check out my podcast for kids and families. We interviewed Brian about the
Underwater Forest https://solveitforkids.com/podcast/episode-1-mapping-underwater

 

ST: Thanks for sharing your story with us, Jennifer

JS: It was my pleasure. Science ROCKS!

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STEM Tuesday — Oceans — Writing Tips & Resources

By on August 20, 2024   /   Oceans, STEM Tuesday   /   Leave a comment

Gateway STEM

Ocean Fever is alive and well in Northcentral Kansas! You read that correctly. Ocean Fever has hit my home in the heartland. The wave of all things ocean-related has swept up the reading life of a family about as far removed from the ocean as one can be in the continental United States. 

It all started with a non-fiction picture book. 

The book was SHARKS, a title in the World of Animals Series. It was a book that showed up one day in our home library. I imagine it came from an elementary classroom cull pile from either my wife’s or my daughter’s classroom or a classroom in the schools where they teach. By whatever means, it arrived in our home and quickly became a staple of my two grandkids’ read-aloud pile when they visited. 

SHARKS has been read at all times of the day to one or both of them. It is a particular favorite as part of the bedtime reading regimen when they spend the night. The two of them, ages 5 and 3, can recite vital information about the sharks presented in the book and often correctly predict which shark is coming with the page-turn. Their favorite shark, by far, is the hammerhead shark.

This interest in sharks led to my wife ordering another browsable nonfiction book, DK’s Smithsonian book, OCEANS! Our Watery World As You’ve Never Seen It Before. What a monumental hit! We read it at almost every visit. The youngest retrieves the book from the basket as his first choice even back when he could barely carry the book across the room. He knows about every page and can tell me about undersea volcanos and how their lava can form islands. We not only know about sharks, but also about deep-sea vessels, coral reefs, currents, tides, and sea birds. All from the comfort of our Kansas home.

I consider this tangible evidence of the magic of books and the power of STEM nonfiction. The spark ignited in a picture book of sharks, grew into a fire of curiosity about all things ocean-related. 

Last December, our family visited the recently opened Sobela Ocean Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo. It is an excellent facility! Both grandkids were in heaven from the first step inside the building. Their excitement hit a fever pitch at one of the first exhibits. While watching sea turtles, fish, and several species of sharks swim by in the huge tank, a hammerhead shark swam across the glass viewing area mere feet in front of them! Eureka! 

We moved through the facility and they correctly identified jellyfish, sea horses, and manta rays. I could see the light in their eyes flash with recognition of creatures from the OCEANS! book. Thank you, DK!

What lesson did this crusty, old STEM Tuesday contributor learn? From his grandkids, he learned we can share and consume all the writing craft and resource information we want but we should never forget or discount the value of our end user…the readers! 

STEM not only provides a well of knowledge to readers but STEM can light a fire in them to learn more and experience more in their lives. 

Even if that experience is to love sharks and the ocean from their landlocked homes in the middle of the country.

It’s a powerful magic, people!

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal-opportunity sports enthusiast, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/life/training-related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101,  are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around X under the guise of @coachhays64 and @MikeHays64 on Instagram.

 

The O.O.L.F Files

This month on the Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files is all about Oceans. Dive into the links below to explore the depths and maybe even discover something new about life under the sea!

Sobela Ocean Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium

Scholastic Shop link for OCEANS! Our Watery World As You’ve Never Seen It Before

Science and Nature Books from DK Publishing

National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Monterey Bay Aquarium – One of my favorite STEM social media sites to follow!

Artificial Reefs (A nice article explaining artificial reefs with a discussion of the positives and negatives associated with them.)

My 2020 STEM Tuesday Writing Craft & Resources post on Sharks

File:Hammerhead Shark (PSF).png

 

 

 

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