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STEM Tuesday — Earth Day 50th Anniversary Celebration– Interview with Author Mary Kay Carson

By on April 28, 2020   /   Earth Day, STEM Tuesday  

 

 

 

I’m excited to turn the tables on Mary Kay Carson, who usually does these interviews and invite her to speak about her newest (really cool) book,

Wildlife Ranger Action Guide 

 

Be a Hero for Local Wildlife!

Birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals live all around you – and you can help protect them! Use the field guide pages to learn about which species you’re likely to see in your area. Then turn your backyard into a sanctuary by creating an animal-friendly habitat where wild residents can find food, water, shelter, and places to nest and raise their young.

 

 

Here is a spread of the inside of this awesome book:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of the books you’ve written are about space or weather, how did you come up with the idea to write Wildlife Ranger?

Providing habitat for local wildlife is a real passion of mine. My husband and I live in the city, but chose to buy the 100+ year-old home we did fifteen years ago because of the acres of urban green space that surround it. We’ve been able to watch all kinds of critters take up residence as invasive plants has been removed, native plants encouraged and cultivated, dead trees left standing, and lawn abandoned! And I want kids to feel similarly empowered. To know that they can help wildlife right in their own backyards by providing one or more of the Big Four—water, food, shelter, and nests. Kids love animals, and presentations about how scientists are helping endangered animals are some of my most requested during school visits. And while kids are drawn to the well-publicized plight of pandas, tigers, and penguins, there isn’t a whole lot a young person in Iowa can do to help those faraway animals apart from raising awareness or donating money from a bake sale. But helping the wild animals that live all around us? That’s something anyone of any age can do.

I do love to write about space and weather! But biology is actually my background. My degree was biology (systematics and ecology), I served in the fisheries program as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I have quite a few animal books under my belt—Emi and the Rhino Scientist, The Bat Scientists, Do Sharks Glow in the Dark?, etc. But I’d have to say that it was my years of experience writing for Audubon Adventures that most inspired me to propose the idea of Wildlife Ranger Action Guide. I knew there were lots of fun projects out there for kids to do that would truly help wildlife.
 Was it difficult to do the research on each animal? Can you share something unexpected or unusual you learned about some of the animals.

Our home is filled with field guides, so I can’t say the research was difficult. I am embarrassed by how much I learned along the way, however. After all, these are animals I’ve seen most of my life. But somehow I never realized that green darners migrate nor knew that cottontails can have six litters a year. SIX! I’m ready for native wildlife trivia night!

Was it fun to write in this style, ie. more expository than narrative?
I like expository writing when it really speaks directly to readers. I try to imagine myself speaking to a group of kids thirsty for facts—but also a bit fidgety—when writing expository text. Clarity, brevity, and friendliness are paramount. I’m not a big fan of rambling, stream-of-consciousness, expository text for young readers.

 

This book seems to just beg for readers to take with them outside. Is that how you hope that readers use it?
This book should be filthy! Covered in dirt and warped from damp grass, smudged with paint and sticky with glue from projects. Seriously! A pristine copy of Wildlife Ranger Action Guide is just sad.

 

Can you give your readers tips on how to record data on animals they see or how to make journal?

Choose a format that works for you. Some kids are more likely to use something they’ve invested time into or personalized, like a Wild Notes Notebook. (Download template pages here.) But there are also apps for recording observations for the smart-phone savvy, too. In these times of global climatic changes, tracking when flowers bloom  and birds migrate has never been more critical.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about the book?

My photographer husband, Tom Uhlman, did the photos of all the step-by-step kid projects. (A good number of the animal photos in the Field Guide sections are his, too.) Kudos to him for all the kid-wrangling of neighborhood and friends’ children! It was a fun challenge to think so visually. Not only how do I write up projects and information in ways that interest readers, but how (and what!) to show so they can successfully make a Paw Printer or Coffee Tub Nest Box by looking at the photos and text. Those photo shoot days were long and messy! Also, that’s our beloved cat, Shamu, on page 38.

Thanks so much for sharing your book with us, Mary Kay! If you’re interested in winning an autographed copy, please comment below or give this post a shoutout on Twitter and tag @mixedUpFiles and @marykaycarson.
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Author Jen SwansonScience 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
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Interview: Mae Respicio Talks About Theme And ANY DAY WITH YOU

By on April 22, 2020   /   Author Interviews  

I met Mae Respicio when our debut middle-grade novels released in the same year, 2018, and I was so impressed with her as an author and a person. Now Mae has a brand new MG coming out, ANY DAY WITH YOU. The novel got a starred review from Publishers Weekly and will be on shelves in just a couple weeks, on May 5, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Mae Respicio

Mae Respicio

Mae is a star at working themes into her writing, so I’m thrilled that she’s on The Mixed Up Files to talk to us about that today.

Hi, Mae, tell us about your new MG book!

Of course—and thanks for having me here—I can’t wait to share ANY DAY WITH YOU with readers! The story revolves around twelve-year-old Kaia, who loves the beach, making movies, and creating effects make-up. When Kaia’s ninety-year-old great grandpa, Tatang, decides to return to his homeland of the Philippines, she doesn’t want him to go. Kaia and her best friends make a movie about the Filipino folklore Tatang loves to tell, and they enter it into a summer film contest thinking that if they win, it’ll stop him from saying goodbye. The book is all about family, friendship, and how we navigate change… an early reader told me she thought it was the warm hug we could all use right now and I love that—it’s a feel-good book for these times.

What gave you the idea for this story?

ANY DAY WITH YOU has a lot of personal connections for me. It’s set in sunny beachside Los Angeles, one of my heart-homes where I lived for many years. It has a filmmaking element, which is a world I’ve been a part of (fun fact: I met my husband when we both worked for the Walt Disney Animation Studios, and he did the teeniest bit of interior art for the book!). The story also features “maker-kids”—I’ve got 2 at home!—and as a girl I always loved to draw and create things. Finally, Tatang’s storyline came to be because it’s loosely inspired by my childhood—my grandparents lived with my family for a little while, so intergenerational relationships played a big role in my life. Somehow I combined all these elements and Kaia’s story was born.

ANY DAY WITH YOU has some great themes. Tell us about them.

One of the main themes of ANY DAY WITH YOU is around resiliency: what happens when your life changes, and how do you choose to deal with it? In this very moment our whole world is connected by change, and we’re all learning how to deal with it through empathy, kindness, and patience. It’s timely and a perfect book for kids right now, especially if teachers and parents can gently guide readers through conversations of how we navigate change to make us stronger.

Do you develop your themes when you’re first working on a story or do you identify them later in the process?

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgI usually brainstorm with certain themes in mind, but they start off big and overarching until I get to know my characters—that’s when I can get more nuanced. For ANY DAY WITH YOU, I wanted to explore “resiliency”—but I didn’t know what that meant until I came up Tatang’s storyline. That also happened with THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT. I wanted to write around “dreaming big” and “persistence,” but I didn’t know what that looked like until I came up with details of a girl wanting to build her own tiny house. When developing themes, I try to answer questions around what choices and obstacles would be thrown my characters way, and what emotions I want readers to come away with.

How do you use themes to dig deeper in your work?

Honestly, I don’t think about digging deep when I’m writing a first draft. I start off with a general story line—a beginning, middle, and end—then I let it all come out however messy… usually my first drafts look like a massive pile of words that make no sense! Revision is when I can dig deep, and that’s where a story’s richness comes in. For me that means using specific images, actions, and character choices that keep relating back the book’s themes. In ANY DAY WITH YOU, there’s some ocean and nature imagery relating to resiliency—so for example, showing how waves change daily but still they roll in a regular rhythm, a bit the way humans keep going even when their lives are disrupted.

Writers often explore similar themes in their body of work. Did you find that ANY DAY WITH YOU had similar themes to your earlier MG book THE HOUSE THAT LOU BOOK?


Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgOh, definitely. I’ve also published a lot of nonfiction and personal essay, and what I’ve found is that in most things I write there’s some thread of “home”—how do we discover home and what does that mean based on our different lenses.

Are there other parts of the book where you pulled from your own experiences?

My fiction has a balance of what I don’t know (and want to learn more about), and what I know intrinsically and what I’ve lived—usually from childhood—which is the part I think adds layer and spark. Also, as a parent of middle-grade reading kids, I draw from my parenting life—an endless, funny bounty of honest fodder. I grew up going to California beaches and it’s the way my family enjoys spending time together (my kids surf and love all beachy things!), so it was a fun writing exercise pulling from childhood memories and family experiences around the smells, sounds, and feeling of being near the ocean.

When does ANY DAY WITH YOU come out and how will you be celebrating?


ANY DAY WITH YOU comes out May 5th and I’ll be celebrating from home while sheltering in place! This may involve a cake and pajamas. Okay, maybe not PJs if I end up filming a little celebration video and sharing it online, but obviously there will be cake. Folks can follow me on Twitter and Instagram—or sign up for my (very infrequent!) newsletter—where I’ll be shouting out upcoming events.

Thanks, Mae! I’ve learned so much.

You can pre-order ANY DAY WITH YOU now.

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STEM Tuesday — Earth Day 50th Anniversary Celebration– Writing Tips & Resources

By on April 21, 2020   /   Earth Day, STEM Tuesday  

Tackling a Planet – Sized Topic

Earth Day. Earth Week. Earth Month. It’s time to celebrate all that exists around us. But, how do you do that in words? When you’re interested writing about in the entire earth, where do you even start?

As writers, we are often given the advice to narrow our focus; yet, at the same time, we are expected to provide a grand, universal truth. That feels so contradictory. How do can we provide specific details to bring a planet sized-topic to life?

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgReading Jack Hart’s Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, I stumbled across the concept of the Ladder of Abstraction and have found this an excellent way to visualize writing.

Imagine a ladder where each rung represents a different level of abstraction. Let’s apply this concept to a tree. On the lowest rung we would have: the sycamore tree in my backyard.  The would be a bit more abstract: all sycamore trees, and the next would be trees. Higher rungs could be plants, living things, everything. Thus, climbing the rungs, we move from the concrete to the abstract.

The lowest rungs of the ladder put you in a scene; the highest rungs of the ladder provide you with perspective. Imagine yourself standing on the first rung; you are as close as you can be to the ground without actually being there. You can see the details of the dirt. Then imagine standing on the top rungs; you have a view that lets you comprehend how those details fit into the larger picture. As Hart notes, “Emotion originates on the ladder’s lowest rungs.” He goes on to explain, “… greater meaning resides on the ladder’s upper rungs.”

In order to bring out both emotion and meaning, writers can move up and down this ladder strategically to provide both concrete details (yielding personal connections) and generalizations (yielding universal truths) for their readers. Most writers struggle with providing those concrete details. Here’s a fun way to practice working your way down to the bottom rung to generate dozens of specific details.

Set Up

Select an item from nature that will fit in your hand. Something with a variety in textures (like a stick covered in lichen, an interesting stone or a large flower) works well. Position your non-dominant hand in front of you, holding the item. Position your paper and dominant hand behind you, where you can’t see them.

Pretend an ant is crawling on your item. Your job will be to trace (on paper) the ant’s path as it explores the item. I know this sounds odd, but it works, so try it.

Blind Drawing

Begin by putting your pencil down in the middle of your paper; after that, do not look at your paper. You will be creating a wandering scribble — not a drawing of the item. Resist the temptation to look at your paper! As you watch your imaginary ant explore, trace his trail on the paper, basically creating a map of his route. Keep your ant going. Keep your dominant hand tracing. Make your ant go around the corner, over the edge, into the hole.

For a minimum of five minutes (set a timer if you need it), keep tracing your ant’s journey. If he retraces his steps, that’s fine. If you need to turn your item over, that’s fine. If he goes in a hole where you can’t see, make it up. When you think you’re done, keep going. Keep him exploring! Keep mapping his path.

Getting the Details Down

When you’re done, you may look at your drawing. Then, look at your item and retrace the trip. Along the way, describe his experiences aloud, jotting every detail down. Think of the texture under the ant’s feet, the shapes he encounters, the amount of light, the shade of color, the springiness of the surface, what each area reminds him of, etc.. The goal here is to overflow your page with details.

If your ant was a good explore, you should have quite a list. Sure, these descriptions are from an ant’s perspective, but they are concrete details. Unless you first record details with this level of specificity, you won’t have enough fodder for the bottom rung of the ladder.

Selecting the Specific

Now, let’s take this exercise a bit further. We won’t try to find a universal truth here (although you might try that too), but instead practice with a simpler task, creating mood. Skim your list for descriptors that convey a common mood. In my list, several feel kind of ominous. Using a highlighter, crayon or symbol, mark the details that match the mood. I’ve chosen yellow for ominous ones. Next, search your list for a different mood and mark that with a different color. Can you find a third?

Put that in Writing

Your final challenge is to use the selected descriptors to convey that mood in a sentence or short paragraph. I started with my green descriptors and tried to convey playfulness. Then I used the descriptors flagged with yellow to create a more ominous sentence, and finally the ones marked in red to convey a comforting mood.

When tackling a planet – sized topic, specific details matter. They carry the reader down to the bottom rung on the Ladder of Abstraction. Immersed in a scene filled with specificity, readers feel grounded, emotionally connected, and ready to move up the rungs and discover a universal truth.

 

 

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Heather L. Montgomery loves to climb ladders — abstract and otherwise. See how she applies these writing techniques in Who Gives a Poop? The Surprising Science Behind Scat (Bloomsbury, September 2020). Pre-orders available at https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781547603473.

 

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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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