Dive beneath the waves with us this week as we explore our world ocean. Did you know our planet is 70% ocean and only 30% land? Yet the ocean is less explored than outer space. Use these books to explore the wild, the weird, and the wonderful about our blue planet.
Planet Ocean: Why We All Need a Healthy Ocean by Patricia Newman; photographs by Annie Crawley
Readers will discover how closely THEY are connected to the ocean, regardless of where they live. Be sure to explore the dazzling QR code videos! Jeff Bridges, Academy Award winner and environmentalist, call this book a “must read.”
Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact by Jennifer Swanson
Discover how scientists prepare for exploring deep-space and deep-sea.
Plasticus Maritimus: An Invasive Species by Ana Pego; illustrated by Isabel Minhos Martins and Bernado P. Carvalho
Readers will explore plastic pollution in the ocean inspired by biologist Ana Pego’s life’s work.
Beneath the Waves: Celebrating the Ocean Through Pictures, Poems, and Stories by Stephanie Warren Drimmer
Enjoy amazing animal profiles, poetry, photography, and lots of great facts.
The Next Wave: The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceansby Elizabeth Rusch
Readers will meet the scientists and engineers working to tarnish our oceans for renewable energy.
Into the Deep: An Exploration of Our Oceans by Wolfgang Dreyer; illustrated by Annika Siems
Discover the latest scientific research through a ride on a submarine.
Secrets of the Seaby Kate Baker
Explore rocky pools, shoreline, and the deepest depths of the ocean.
Oceanology: The Secrets of the Sea Revealedby DK/Smithsonian
An informative and beautiful introduction into the ocean ecosystem.
Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motionby Loree Griffen Burns
This Scientists in the Field title explores the exploration of ocean trash.
Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kidsby Joseph K. Gados and Audrey DeLella Benedict
This title explores the creatures that call the Salish Sea home, from the rhinoceros auklet to the giant Pacific octopus.
Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including, THE STORY OF SEEDS, which earned the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia. She strives to inform, inspire, and empower her readers. Nancy also served as Regional Advisor Emeritus of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2020 international title about farm and food is THE FARM THAT FEEDS US: A Year In The Life Of An Organic Farm. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com.
Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that empowers young readers to act on behalf of the environment and their communities. Academy Award winner and environmentalist Jeff Bridges calls Planet Ocean a “must read.” Newman, a Sibert Honor author of Sea Otter Heroes, has also received an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Eavesdropping on Elephants, a Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy!, and a Eureka! Gold Medal from the California Reading Association for Zoo Scientists to the Rescue. Her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how young readers can use writing to be the voice of change. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.
Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month.Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!
Today we’re interviewing Amy Cherrix, author of EYE OF THE STORM: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code.
Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about Eye of the Storm and how you came to write it.
Download a Discussion & Activity Guide for the book.
Amy Cherrix: Eye of the Storm is the story of an elite group of NASA meteorologists and the Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel mission (HS3). These scientists and engineers re-purposed military drones to conduct high-altitude hurricane research. This Global Hawk drone was built for use in dry climates. Global Hawk is so delicate, it cannot take off during so much as a light rain shower, yet it can fly safely high above hurricanes–the most violent storms in nature’s arsenal. How’s that for irony? The drone is loaded with remote control science instruments that measure humidity, air pressure, temperature, and more. The Global Hawk’s pilot flies the aircraft using a computer mouse and keyboard from a control room on the ground that is hundreds, or thousands, of miles away from the aircraft.
I stumbled onto this incredible story while engaging in my favorite Saturday morning activity. I love to pour a big cup of coffee and surf the NASA.gov website (an activity I highly recommend to science enthusiasts and story writers). When I read about the HS3 mission, I knew I had a great book idea on my hands. I sent emails to the mission’s principal investigators and within an hour, replies from NASA were pouring into my inbox. NASA is a public agency and its scientists love to share their work. I accepted a generous invitation from the mission’s principal investigator, Dr. Scott Braun, and visited NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the coast of Virginia to observe the mission. I interviewed drone pilots, engineers, meteorologists, and mechanics. Every single person was deeply invested in the mission’s success. It was inspiring.
MKC: Anything you’d like to share about the time you spent with researchers while writing this book?
Amy: The scariest part of writing this book was not knowing if the team would have a hurricane to study while I was visiting Wallops Flight Facility. What would I write about if nothing happened while I was there? But sometimes, things just work out for the best. Hurricane Edouard formed soon after my arrival and was the best storm the HS3 team had studied to date! It was an ideal sample, staying far out to sea, not threatening land, and it spun for days. They were thrilled and it was an unexpected honor to be present at such a high-point of the mission.
MKC: Why do you choose to write STEM books?
Amy: I write STEM stories because I have always been insatiably curious about science and the natural world. When human beings try to overcome the forces of nature—whether it’s gravity, or the weather—challenges abound. Scientists confront these impossible challenges everyday. That’s their job. I’m fascinated by that kind of determination, patience, and persistence.
Amy Cherrix is the acclaimed author of In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race, as well as two middle-grade nonfiction books in the award-winning Scientists in the Field series: Backyard Bears: Conservation, Habitat Changes, and the Rise of Urban Wildlife and Eye of the Storm. Her newest STEM picture book is Animal Architects (9/7/21), from Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster. www.amycherrix.com
MKC: For readers who loved The Eye of the Storm, what other middle-grade books would you suggest?
Amy: I highly recommend every book in Houghton Mifflin’s Scientists in the Field series, of which Eye of the Storm, is a part. There’s something for everyone; thrilling stories about science in the fields of geology, biology, seismology, meteorology, genetics; just about any branch of science you can imagine. These books show young readers that science is much more than a white coat and a laboratory. Science is adventure!
MKC: Could you share where you are right now on a current project and how you’re approaching it?
Amy: I’m working on a new STEM picture book series for Beach Lane Books called Amazing Animals. I just finished the first book in the series that publishes on September 7, 2021 called Animal Architects, illustrated by Chris Sasaki. Many animals, both on land and in the sea, build amazing structures to help them trap food, attract mates, or hide from predators. From undersea cities of coral, to a mother penguin’s palace of pebbles, the natural world is a construction zone. I spent months reading books, watching nature videos, taking notes, and studying photographs to collect their stories. The second book, Animal Superpowers, publishes in fall 2022. I approached Animal Architects with a spirit of wonder. I wanted to inspire readers’ curiosity. To do that, I created a list of the various structures animals and insects build. Then I imagined what questions young readers might ask of nature’s builders. The answers I found surprised me at every turn. For example, before writing this book, I’d never given termites a second thought. But I learned that some species of termites build giant, naturally air-conditioned towers. How cool is that? These tiny insects work together as a colony to build a home that helps them survive as a group. We can learn a lot from nature. I hope this new series inspires young readers to ask their own questions about the natural world, and consider what actions they can take to protect our planet and its creatures.
Win a FREE copy of EYE OF THE STORM!
Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.
Good luck!
Your host is Mary Kay Carson, author of Wildlife Ranger Action Guide, The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson
How is one supposed to write a Writing Tips & Resources post tied into natural disasters? Besides being an apt descriptor of 99.9999% of my writing drafts, the tragedy of a natural disaster has very little to do with writing, right?
Well, my work here is done. Stay safe everyone, take care, and I’ll see you for my next STEM Tuesday post in three months!
(STEM Tuesday Voice-Over Narrator: Hays went back to watching college basketball. Again, he’s taken the easy way out and shirked his duties as a STEM Tuesday “expert”. All in favor of banishing him from ever taking another step onto the STEM Tuesday stage, say—)
Wait! Don’t banish me yet. I’ve just had a revelation, albeit a revelation triggered by my favorite team’s upset loss in the tournament and a completely busted bracket. Nevertheless, it’s still officially classified as a revelation.
Natural disasters actually can tie into a Writing Tips & Resources post. How? Let’s pull back and have a look at the big picture.
This image is created from eight images shot in two sequences as a tornado formed north of Minneola, Kansas on May 24, 2016. Photo by Jason Weingart Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Natural disasters affect everyone. They can come without warning or they can come as forecast. They come by land, sea, and air. They come in all shapes and sizes, just like writers. There is one thing, however, common to natural disasters. They wreak havoc. Take another look at the excellent book list for Natural Disaster Month. Havoc. Havoc. And more havoc.
Three things a writer of any age can learn from natural disasters.
Modeling & Predicting
There was a news blip from the time period after the worst of Hurricane Katrina had passed and before the 2008 financial crisis. It was the usual politics vs science funding BS that is so frustrating for a basic research scientist. A politician went on a rant about the “wasteful” funding in an appropriations bill about a grant awarded to a scientist at a major Texas university to study using GPS to determine and map exact heights on the earth’s surface. As you can probably imagine, the politician ranted on and on about the sheer stupidity of such an endeavor. If the scientist wanted to know how far something was off the ground, why don’t they just go outside and look at it instead of bloating their budgets with tax dollars?
When the reporter tracked down the research scientist, he explained his research was focused on developing this aspect of GPS technology to better map elevation data. The ultimate goal was to be able to model geographical regions most susceptible to dangerous flooding with specific rainfall patterns. (I wish I could find the source reference but I can’t. I will continue to search for it, though, and post it here if I find it.)
Establishing models by establishing the science. That’s the goal. Better models help explain the world around us. Better models help us to predict the natural world, including natural disasters. The ability to model and predict allows us to stay safer and survive when Mother Nature strikes.
A writer does something similar. They experiment to find out what processes work for them and what doesn’t work. Their individual writing process becomes the model and the model allows them to tell whatever story they want to tell. That’s kind of like a prediction for creating stories that accomplish what the writer wants to accomplish. Janet Slingerland did an exceptional STEM Tuesday In the Classroom post last week that highlights mapping, which is a form of modeling, as a tool.
Planning & Preparation
Being a lifelong resident of tornado alley, we are brought up to plan and prepare for the tornado season. Tornado drills, safe havens indoors and out, supply boxes, and many other preparations are part of everyday life from March to November. We learn to pay attention to the weather report. We learn to know what to do in case of a tornado watch and a tornado warning so when these situations arise, we can be ready.
Planning helps a writer by providing a course of action and a direction. Preparation through practice and learning gives the writer the tools needed to successfully reach that destination. Through planning and preparation, a writer knows what to do when situations arise and is ready to tackle those hurdles.
React & Recover
The cost to humanity from natural disasters is beyond measure. There is no price tag to the emotional, physical, and mental toll a disaster leaves in its wake. However, there is often a sliver of hope that arises from the destruction and chaos. People help each other. Families, households, neighborhoods, communities, nations come together to help each other recover. Out of the rubble springs a new future. Rebuilt and, hopefully, rebuilt better.
Writing is similar. The first draft, and in some of our cases, the second, third, and fourth drafts are often chaos. Havoc on the page. We recover through revision. We revise through community. Writing groups, critique partners, beta readers, etc. all help our writing spring anew from the rubble of an early draft. Just as one would rely on the kindness of a community to recover from a natural disaster, rely on the kindness of the writing community to lift your words.
Tree ridge in flames during the 2018 Woolsey Fire, California, US. Photo courtesy of Peter Buschmann, United States Forest Service. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usforestservice/45923164272 We’re All In This Together
There you have it. A few ways to learn from natural disasters ways to improve your writing. Never forget, however, no matter how much havoc and chaos exist internally and externally, there’s a great community of writers there for support and encouragement.
Just write.
Start with one word and then follow with the next word. Repeat.
Just write.
This is perhaps the best of the whole list of STEM Tuesday Writing Tips & Resources.
Just write.
The world needs your story.
Typhoon Molave on October 27, 2020. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, 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/training-related topics at www.coachhays.comand writer stuff atwww.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 the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.
The O.O.L.F Files
Natural disasters are serious business to which a serious amount of STEM both contributes and is advanced. The drive to learn more about natural disasters continues with the ultimate goal of protecting life and limb. This month’s O.O.L.F. Files explores some of these entities and how they work to advance the knowledge base to keep us all as safe as possible.
“NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.
From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it.”
That first line just about says it all! Enriching life through science!
Due to the increase in the sheer number and severity of disasters and emergencies, FEMA has catapulted to one of the most important federal agencies in coordinating disaster response.
This month brings the ten-year anniversary of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The tragedy is an example of the multi-layered effects of a natural disaster at its worst.
In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with award-winning author John Claude Bemis about his new graphic novel, Rodeo Hawkins & the Daughters of Mayhem. John Claude Bemis is the...
From the Mixed-Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting.
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