Claire Eamer Talks About Science Books for Kids

Claire Eamer stopped by for tea at Annick a few weeks ago, and now she's back to answer some questions about researching and writing science books for kids. Enjoy!

Claire: In November, I got the chance to visit Ontario schools during TD Canadian Children's Book Week. The picture above is a display of my books and a welcome sign in the library at the Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto Middle School. I also dropped by Annick Press's Toronto home and we got talking about writing non-fiction. So we decided to take a bit of the discussion to the blog. Here are a few questions -- from kids, teachers, and a blog reader -- and my answers.

From a kid: Which of your books is your favourite?

Claire: I guess I have a short attention span because my absolute favourite at the moment is the book I'm still working on. It's called Snakes in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them, and it is full of some of the weirdest and most surprising animals you can imagine. And I can imagine some pretty weird animals! Apart from it, I think my favourite is Super Crocs & Monster Wings, mainly because it was my first book for kids and everything about the process was new and exciting.

From a kid: What's your favourite animal in the books?

Claire: I think my favourite is the giant ground sloth, which I talked about in Super Crocs & Monster Wings. They were so amazingly BIG! And they lived in the Yukon, where I live. I've even seen a skeleton of a Jefferson's Ground Sloth. A close second is the giant sea scorpion from Spiked Scorpions & Walking Whales. They were huge and weird and left their footprints behind for us to see. There's something about footprints locked in stone that brings the creature to life for me.

From Mommy C: I am interested in the research that goes behind finding so many cool creatures. I can picture [Claire] travelling the globe like an Indiana Jones of prehistoric animals, searching through the catacombs of museum basements for rare giant beavers and enormous insects.

Claire: I wish! Gotta get me an Indiana Jones hat! Actually, I do haunt museums whenever I get the chance. I love them, and I find loads of ideas in them, both for science books and history books. However, most of the research for the books involves reading -- books, magazine and newspaper stories, articles in academic journals, and websites. I also do a lot of emailing to experts all around the world. Experts are amazingly generous with their time when you explain that you're writing for kids.

From a teacher: What's the best part of writing?

Claire: The research. I love learning things. I think I became a writer for the sake of the research, not for the writing itself. Although I do enjoy turning what I've learned into a story for other people to enjoy. Writing non-fiction is telling a story, just as much writing fiction is. You just have to stick to the facts.

Speaking of research, I'd better get back to it. The next book beckons!

Claire

Kristin Butcher and the Touring Mummy

Earlier this week, Claire Eamer regaled us with her Canadian Children's Book Week adventures. Today I received an email from Kristin Butcher, who reported that her 10-day tour took her "from as far west as you can go in Canada to as far east as you can go." Here's what she had to say about her experience talking to kids about her latest book, Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded:

The kids were enthralled with Pharaoh Phil and loved the embalming presentation. Of course, it didn't hurt that I always let one of them pull the brain out through the nose. It totally grossed out the teachers, but the kids thought it was great.

We covered all the jobs in the Afterlife chapter, from Cutter to Mourners. When I told the kids that the mourners threw dirt on themselves, they wanted to know if they threw it at each other too. Only kids would think of that. Today's young people are pretty knowledgeable, and there was always someone in the group who knew about the brain being extracted through the nose, as well as other sundry bits of information. It helped to keep the presentation moving—though not always in the direction I had envisioned.

Kristin also sent along some pictures from one of her presentations. Here are some of the tools and props she uses in her embalming demonstration, in which the class gets to help mummify "Pharaoh Phil."

And here's Kristin and Pharaoh Phil, pre-embalming:

I'll leave you with this close-up of Pharaoh Phil, who looks rather nonchalant about his approaching mummification:

Claire Eamer Joins Us for Tea Time

Let us not forget that this blog is called Tea Time at Annick Press for a reason: the Annick staff enjoy taking a tea break together in the afternoon, and sometimes we're lucky enough to have one of our authors or illustrators join us.

Yesterday, Claire Eamer stopped by after spending the previous week touring 6 schools and 3 libraries across Ontario for Canadian Children's Book Week. The tour included her impressive collection of stuffed animals--a 3-toed sloth from the Vancouver Aquarium, a platypus, an armadillo, and a giant squid from the Newfoundland Museum--and Claire reported that her favorite part of touring was meeting so many kids that were excited about animals.

After having some tea and and sharing her Book Week adventures, Claire signed some of her books (Spiked Scorpions & Walking Whales, Super Crocs & Monster Wings, and Traitor's Gate).

Claire also volunteered to do a guest blog post for us, so we're taking topic requests. Interested in how she became an author? Wondering how she does her research? Looking for tips on writing science books for children, or using science books in the classroom? Post your questions in the comments section!

Children's Book Week, May 11-17

Children's Book Week started in 1919, which makes this its 90th anniversary! Traditionally, it was celebrated the week before Thanksgiving, but recently it was moved to May instead (all the better to have a book picnic!).

It's just a coincidence, of course, but I think it's neat that author Richard Scarry was born in 1919, the same year that Children's Book Week started. His masterpiece Best Word Book Ever was one of my favorite bedtime stories as a toddler (much to my parents' dismay -- it's a loooong book!).

If you're looking to rediscover children's classics as old as the Children's Book Week tradition, you could start with the Bobbsey Twins series (which began in 1904). But if you're nostalgic for more modern classics, why not rediscover your favorite Robert Munsch books? (I never get sick of Murmel, Murmel, Murmel -- which one speaks to you the loudest?)

Head over to www.bookweekonline.com to explore all the ways you can share your love of reading: go to a book event, download and print bookmarks, vote for your favorite books for children and young adults, stage a read-in, and more!

And I hope that some of you will make some time for your very own book picnic this week! All you need is good food, good friends (and family!), and good books!

TD Canadian Children's Book Week 2009!

My first "spring has almost arrived in Toronto!" post was on March 20, and I quickly learned I'd been a bit premature. (I plead ignorance: I only moved to Toronto last September, after all!) But today really felt like spring: the temperature went up to 20C and I was able to go outside in short sleeves. Hooray!

Things have been busy at Annick: books are heading off to the printer, new books are in the works, and we're gearing up for some neat stuff for fall (more about our fall list later!). Meanwhile, our books continue to win awards: Mattland (written by Hazel Hutchins and illustrated by Dusan Petricic) has won the Canadian Library Association's Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award, and Melanie Little's The Apprentice's Masterpiece is the CLA's Young Adult Canadian Honour Book. I also selected the winners for our My Parents Are Sex Maniacs contest, and will be posting their stories, along with a Q&A with author Robyn Harding, next week!

More good news: three of our authors have been invited to this year's TD Canadian Children's Book Week! From November 14-21, Kristin Butcher (Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers), Claire Eamer (Super Crocs and Monster Wings), and Charis Cotter (A World Full of Ghosts) will be giving readings at schools, community centres, and libraries. (More information on tour schedules to follow!) In celebration of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics, this year's Book Week theme is "sports."

Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying spring so far!