Congratulations, Colleen Paeff, on Firefly Song: Lynn Frierson Faust and the Great Smoky Mountain Discover!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of FIREFLY SONG: LYNN FRIERSON FAUST AND THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN DISCOVERY (illustrated by Ji-Hyuk Kim) with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? I’ve wanted to write Lynn’s story since 2014, when I first read about her in Mental Floss magazine. At the time, I had no agent, no book deal––just an SCBWI membership and a whole lot of enthusiasm––and I worried that wasn’t enough to get Lynn’s approval. So, I put the article aside and worked on becoming a published author. In 2021, my debut picture book, The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem, was released and six months later I emailed Lynn, introduced myself, and asked if I could write her story. She said yes!

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey?

You are so right that the research is often the most fun part of the writing process! In fact, conducting the research for this book led to one of most magical experiences of my entire life––my husband and I met Lynn in the Smoky Mountains when the synchronous fireflies were at their peak. The Light Show, as they call it in the Smokies, was even more beautiful than I’d imagined. Even though many people had told me what it was like to see their courtship display, it wasn’t until I saw the fireflies myself that I understood how to write about it. So, describing the Light Show was one challenge that was solved when I saw it myself, but probably the most challenging aspect of my research was understanding the science of fireflies––the language, the life cycles, the habits, and the differences between species. I almost always found the information I needed in Lynn’s book, Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs, but sometimes there was something I just couldn’t grasp. Thankfully, in those instances, Lynn was happy to help. Having my very own firefly expert on call was a huge bonus! Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Lynn has led an incredible life. I wish I could have told ALL her stories! I left out childhood stories related to her time in the woods. I left out stories from when she was in her early twenties and she and her husband sailed around the world with two friends. In college, she studied forensic anthropology under William Bass, founder of the Body Farm. She even worked at the farm, a research facility where dead bodies are placed in different environments to study how they decay. I left out some wonderfully visual (and exciting!) stories about her firefly research. She’s studied fireflies by horseback and canoe. She’s camped out in caves. She’s nearly been run over by cars and attacked by alligators, and she’s traveled the world meeting other firefly experts. In the end, I decided to limit the book to the story of Lynn’s discovery of the synchronous fireflies because it created clear parameters that would keep the word count under control. Hopefully, she’ll write a memoir someday, so everyone can read about the incredible places Lynn’s curiosity has taken her!

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? I love to think about the qualities Lynn possesses that make her such a great scientist–– curiosity and the power to observe tiny details come to mind––because they’re qualities many children have in spades. Teachers might encourage their students to look for these qualities (and others) in Lynn and in themselves, as a way to empower the children to think of themselves as scientists. Follow up with some hands-on, observational activities (check the Xerces Society and my website for ideas) to give students the full Lynn Faust experience!

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? Thank you! My next book, PUFFLINGS FLY FREE: A RESCUE TALE FROM ICELAND (illustrated by Linda Ólafsdóttir) took me to a small island off the coast of Iceland where I got to rescue some baby puffins (!!) and I’m taking a trip to Corfu this summer to research a certain naturalist who spent part of his childhood there. (Fans of “The Durrell’s in Corfu” will know who I mean!)

About the author: Colleen Paeff is the award-winning author of The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London’s Poop Pollution Problem. A lifelong Californian, she received a Bachelor’s Degree in set design for theater from California State University Fullerton, before becoming a bookseller, preschool teacher, and newspaper columnist. (She never did become a set designer!) Eventually, she figured out how to roll books, kids, and writing into a career as a children’s book author, and now she gets to share her enthusiasm for books and learning by visiting with students both at home and abroad. Colleen is a Robert F. Sibert Honor recipient and winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction Text for Young Readers. She lives in Los Angeles, CA. Learn more at www.colleenpaeff.com.

Congratulations, Jessica Stremer on WONDERFULLY WILD!

Thank you so much, Jessica, for sharing the release of WONDERFULLY WILD: Rewilding a School and Community with us!

Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark?

I stumbled upon the idea for this book while researching citizen science activities for kids. I had been considering writing a children’s book about rewilding but wasn’t sure how to get started. Outside of letting nature do its thing, rewilding is frequently done on larger plots of land and involves activities performed by adults, such as removing asphalt - not the greatest recipe for a children’s book. But the story that inspired this book showed me that rewilding can be done on a smaller scale, and kids can play an active role in changing the ecosystem around them. I let the idea simmer in my subconscious until one day the whole narrative just sort of came to me! Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? I think the biggest challenge of this book was the blending of fact and fiction. The story was inspired by a true event, beginning with the fall of an old willow tree in a school yard and the emotional reaction from students. I believe the real-life school bought a new willow tree to replace the one that had fallen, but in my story students rewild their schoolyard by propagating new trees from the fallen tree’s branches. From there, I incorporated other ways kids can rewild their school and community, balancing kids in action with support from the community. Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? I don’t know if I had to leave anything out. I was lucky that my editor was willing to expand the page count to make sure the pacing felt natural and there wasn’t too much happening on any one spread. We also left room for additional details about rewilding in the back matter. What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom?

No matter what type of community you live in, things that students did in this book can be replicated in your school. In addition, educators can use this book as an opportunity to explore the lifecycle of plants, habitats and ecosystems, and the relationship between human activity and wildlife.

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching ? I’m busy promoting this book and my other recently published picture book, PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN: How Science Saved a Species. And I have one more book publishing this fall. TRAPPED IN THE TAR PIT: How Paleontologists Unearthed a City’s Prehistoric Past. In addition to that, I’m researching a few more nonfiction ideas, including another book about fossils. About the author:

Jessica Stremer is an award-winning children’s author who combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore and think critically about the world around them. Her books have received multiple starred reviews and have been designated as School Library Journal Gold Standard Selections, Cook Prize Silver Medal recipient, NYPL Best Book of the Year, and NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book. Jessica obtained a B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. When not writing you can find her cheering from the sideline of her kids’ soccer games and planning her next family adventure.

Congratulations, Lisa Varchol Perron, on WONDER WHY!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of WONDER WHY with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark?

Thank you for having me on your blog, Nancy! Two distinct moments came together to inspire WONDER WHY. The first was driving with my daughters on a beautiful day and looking out the window at a stunningly blue sky. I spoke directly to the sky and asked, “Why are you so blue today, sky?” Then a version of the opening stanza of the book started to form in my head. I kept repeating the words aloud until we arrived at our destination, and I could write them down. (My kids aren’t exactly fans of this writing method, but they’re accustomed to it!) I only had one stanza and didn’t know where it would go from there. Then, a few weeks later, I heard a commercial on the radio. A young girl asks her dad why the sky is blue, and he replies, “To match your beautiful eyes.” Ugh! Then the child tells him that he’s wrong, and she goes on to explain Rayleigh scattering. I’m pretty sure I clapped when I heard her response! I kept thinking about how kids are not only incredibly curious, they’re also incredibly capable of understanding complex concepts. So that was the spark for turning that initial stanza into a picture book, with a kid asking questions about our natural world and getting direct, accurate answers from nature.

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? It can be challenging to distill scientific information and communicate it in a clear and engaging way for readers, but it’s a challenge I enjoy. Sometimes when I’m starting a new STEAM project, I’ll start with a stack of books from the library before I start writing. Other times, I’ll dive into the writing to get a better sense of the research I need to do. This book was a bit of a mix. I wrote some of the “question” spreads and then turned to journal articles, websites, and books to help inform the answers. Once I had a complete draft, I asked a meteorologist from MIT to read it, and she provided feedback on the scientific explanations and sent me a few more articles to read. I did my best to incorporate her suggestions while also working within the space constraints of a picture book. Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why?

That’s very true! For this book, I decided to use the arc of a day with a storm brewing, and from there it became clear to me which weather phenomena I would include—starting with a kid marveling at the blue morning sky until it becomes windy, clouds form, thunder rumbles, it rains, and finally, a rainbow appears. The explanations in the main text needed to remain succinct to fit with the rhyme and meter, and I wanted them to match the “personality” I imagined for the sky, cloud, thunder, and so on. I also knew that it would be helpful to have back matter or sidebars to expand on each of the explanations provided in the main text. In early drafts, I struggled to pare down the back matter. For example, I initially included a detailed discussion about the polarization of charges that create lightning, but thanks to my critique partners, I realized that I needed to simplify. It helps to remind myself that my goal is to deepen kids’ understanding of how things work in our natural world, and not to write a textbook. What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? WONDER WHY has curricular tie-ins with the Next Generation Science Standards (ESS2.D: Weather and Climate). If the class has already done some pre-reading about weather, consider having students look at the question pages first and consider how they might answer. For younger students who are new to the science concepts, you can focus on the personification of nature in the book and ask students to write a short poem from the perspective of a natural phenomenon, like a cloud, thunder, or a rainbow.

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? Thank you so much, Nancy, and thanks again for having me! Most of my books so far have been STEAM, but the next two are very different. In September, THE LITTLEST SOLSTICE TREE (illustrated by Ahya Kim) releases with Beaming Books. It’s a picture book about a young evergreen who longs to be crowned “Tree of the Year” during the annual winter solstice celebration, and there is some brief back matter about the history of trees in winter solstice—and Christmas—celebrations. I also have a soon-to-be announced fiction picture book coming out in 2026 that deals with mental health issues. In addition to writing, I’ve worked as a psychotherapist for almost twenty years and am passionate about challenging any stigma around mental health struggles and treatment.

About the author: Lisa Varchol Perron is the author of several books and more than seventy poems for kids. In addition to Wonder Why, her current books include the Junior Library Guild Selection Patterns Everywhere, All the Rocks We Love (named a 2024 Best Science Book for Kids by NPR’s Science Friday), and the board books My Love For You, Tell Me About Oceans, and Tell Me About Space (an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book). She lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts with her family. For more about Lisa and her writing, please visit https://lisaperronbooks.com/

The time for wolves is DIRE!

News spread this week about the de-extinction of a dire wolf. Dire wolves went extinct in the wild over 10,000 years ago. They are still extinct. Some wolves, however, have been rescued from the brink of extinction. Sadly, none from extinction.

The so-called dire wolf pups are genetically modified wolves. Let's talk implications. Wolves have been brought to the brink of extinction many times. Many wolf species are currently threatened or endangered. Tragically, just days ago, a Mexican gray wolf 2996, named Ella, was found dead in New Mexico. Are we equipped to handle another Canis species? It is dangerous to resurect extinct species, even though we'd love for them to be back in our world. But these are not genetically dire wolves, and if they were, their niche doesn't exist anymore. These two young wolf pups will most likely live and die in captivity, but should they be released or escape into the wild, they risk disprupting an ecosystem and mating. Hybridizing with another wolf species, a coyote, or a dog would create another Canis subspecies. It is difficult now to protect our wolf species -- Imagine if another subspecies further disprupts our living, essential wolf populations. It would greatly threaten ecological balance!

Let's talk ethics. That brings us all back to Jurassic Park and Dr. Ian Malcolm, one of my all-time favorite characters. "Life finds a way." "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." "Life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expenads new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously." Is is right to resurrect a species so that it can live and die in captivity? And if not what is their future? These adorable little pups are a vanity project that could have implications beyond our control.

Congratulations, Jessica Stremer, on PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN: How Science Saved a Species with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark?

Pelicans are one of my favorite birds. I tried writing a story about them years ago, but it just wasn’t working. Each year Vivian Kirkfield hosts 50 Precious Words writing competition. We were on vacation traveling up the coast of California when I began brainstorming ideas. Pelicans once again popped into my head, but this time I knew exactly what approach I wanted to take. My 50 Precious Words entry received honorable mention, and I decided to flush it out into a new draft, sticking to the sparse language while working in some layered text. Eventually that layered text became part of the story.

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? With eight species of pelicans existing in the world, I had to be mindful of my research and narrow down which species I wanted to highlight in the story. I chose to focus on the brown pelican. Going forward I had to make sure that my research aligned with what was true for that species. Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Rachel Carson played a huge role in advocating for endangered species, and her book Silent Spring exposed the hazards of pesticides like DDT. But there are already several children’s books about Rachel. I chose to leave her mostly out of the story to help make my book different from others in the market.

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? PLIGHT OF THE PELICANS can be used in a variety of ways across the curriculum and at different grade levels, including lessons about food chains and relationships in ecosystems, to history, activism, and scientific discovery. I hope to offer an educator’s guide on my website soon!

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? My next book, WONDERFULLY WILD: Rewilding a School and Community publishes May 6th and then TRAPPED IN THE TAR PITS: How Paleontologists Unearthed a City’s Prehistoric Past publishes August 26th of this year. In between different publicity events, I’m researching another book about fossils and adding to my always growing “to be written” idea list.

About the author: Jessica Stremer is an award-winning children’s author who combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore and think critically about the world around them. Her books have received multiple starred reviews and have been designated as School Library Journal Gold Standard Selections, Cook Prize Silver Medal recipient, NYPL Best Book of the Year, and NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book. Jessica obtained a B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. When not writing you can find her cheering from the sideline of her kids’ soccer games and planning her next family adventure.

Congratulations, Patricia Newman on SHARKS UNHOOKED!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger with us!

Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? In early 2021, Planet Ocean had just released, and I was researching and writing A River’s Gifts. I happened across a dramatic video of Cristina Zenato, a scuba diver who removed hooks from sharks. I watched it over and over. Then I started Googling. The more I read, the more I knew I’d just found an unusual and powerful new book idea. I reached out to Cristina via email on June 1, 2021, with a request for a 20-minute chat and crossed my fingers. She replied on June 2, and we’ve had an amazing partnership ever since. Her work is so amazing, I donated part of my advance for Sharks Unhooked to Cristina’s nonprofit organization, People of the Water, dedicated to changing our relationship with our aquatic world. Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? I agree. I often dive down a research rabbit hole and resurface wondering what my original question was! Finding the perfect information is rewarding, but often challenging. Sharks Unhooked, however, was my easiest book to research. Cristina made herself available for my many, many questions and she was an integral part of the editing process. Her website is loaded with photos and videos taken by her partner Kewin Lorenzen (see back matter spread below with a few of Kewin’s photos). The images were a terrific resource for watching Cristina interact with the sharks and removing the hooks from various parts of their bodies. Additionally, there are so many books and online resources about all-things shark, that I never lacked corroborating information. I particularly love Cristina’s focus on the public’s perception of sharks. Mainstream media has saddled sharks with an image problem. Throughout Sharks Unhooked we portray sharks as the beings they are designed to be – “stealthy hunters, seeing, circling.” They are complex beings with brains, personalities, and gentle sides. “No animal is vicious or useless,” Cristina says. “Every animal has a role and a vital importance in the chain of nature.”

Caption: From Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger, by Patricia Newman, illustrated by Becca Hall (Millbrook Press, 2025). Photo credits: Kewin Lorenzen Photography Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Ah, focus! Picture books always have a limited amount of real estate, right? I could have included a bunch of information about sharks, but Sharks Unhooked isn’t an all-about-sharks book. It’s about one woman’s determination to relieve the suffering of the animals she loves. Between the text and the back matter, there are enough facts for most shark lovers, but the crux of the story is Cristina’s relationship with these predators and how that bond allows her to get close enough to help them. (research photo – please embed my book trailer which includes research video - https://youtu.be/Z_SPhtqRh3s) What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? I think Sharks Unhooked would make a great anchor text, integrating a variety of content areas. After reading the book, try these ideas: • Social Emotional Learning: Cristina felt different from other kids when she was younger. Explore what it means to feel different. What are some strategies to celebrate your differences? • Social studies + geography: Find the Bahamas on a map. What does it mean to be an island nation? What bodies of water surround it? What other types of marine animals live in the waters surrounding the Bahamas? • Language arts/writing: Write a poem from a shark’s point of view about how it feels to be hooked. • Language arts/vocabulary: Ask students to define unfamiliar words in context. • Science + language aArts/reading for details: What are some of the problems sharks face in our ocean? Find evidence in the book. How do human habits cause these problems? Brainstorm ways we can help sharks by changing our habits or spreading awareness. • Math: Map the places Caribbean reef sharks are found using a coordinate plane. Cristina lives in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. Calculate how far the Caribbean reef sharks might be swimming to find her to remove their hooks. • Language arts/reading companion texts: Read one or more of the other shark books listed in the back of Sharks Unhooked. Ask students to compare them against Sharks Unhooked. What’s different? What’s similar?

Caption: From Sharks Unhooked: The Adventures of Cristina Zenato, Underwater Ranger, by Patricia Newman, illustrated by Becca Hall (Millbrook Press, 2025) Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? Thank you! I have a 2026 title releasing with Peachtree Publishing called Beatrice and the Nightingale. Beatrice Harrison was a famous English cellist in the early 20th century. One evening while practicing in her garden, a nightingale accompanied Beatrice’s cello. Beatrice marveled at the bird’s complex song and convinced the head of the BBC to come to her garden and broadcast this unusual cello-nightingale concert. At the time, radio was a new medium, so Beatrice’s request was no easy feat. Beatrice and the Nightingale celebrates a wonderful connection between music, nature, and STEM that I’m thrilled to share.

About the author: Sibert Honor author Patricia Newman uses nature to empower her readers to seek connections to the real world and to use their imaginations to act on behalf of their communities. Patricia’s nonfiction titles have received multiple starred reviews, two Orbis Pictus Recommended Awards (NCTE), two Green Earth Book Awards, and several Eureka! Awards (CRA). All her nonfiction titles are Junior Library Guild Selections, and most have been included in the Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year lists. To learn more, visit her website at patriciamnewman.com or connect with her on BlueSky (@patricianewman.bsky.social), X (@PatriciaNewman), Instagram (@patricianewmanbooks), Facebook (@PatriciaNewmanBooks).

Congratulations, Julie Winterbottom, MAGIC IN A DROP OF WATER!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of Magic in a Drop of Water: How Ruth Patrick Taught the World about Water Pollution with us!

Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? When I started working on this book, I had already published several humorous nonfiction books for middle grade readers (Pranklopedia, What a Blast!). But I wanted to try writing a picture book biography. I began by reading a lot of books about women in science. I got very excited when I came across a short essay about the pioneering botanist and ecologist Ruth Patrick. What caught my eye was a sentence about her being only five years old when she fell in love with diatoms, the microscopic algae that became the cornerstone of her career. I loved that she started doing field work at the tender age of five, collecting specimens from streams and examining them under her father’s microscope. And I loved that her childhood passion drove her to become a pioneering, pollution-fighting scientist at a time when there were no women in her field.

Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Ruth Patrick had a very long and productive life. She was 105 when she died, and she worked well into her nineties. It was difficult to choose which of her scientific achievements to focus on. In my early drafts, I kept trying to shoehorn two strands of her research into the book: her work on diatoms as measures of pollution and her discoveries about overall species diversity as a measure of health. It was too much for a picture book! Finally, I decided to focus on biodiversity. It was a difficult decision, but it let me tell a much more coherent story. The other part I cut, at my editor’s suggestion, was a section about how Patrick was discriminated against as a woman in science. We ended up moving it to the back matter. In hindsight, I think it was a good idea.

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? Teachers can use the book to start a discussion of how the diversity of plants and animals in an ecosystem tells you if it is healthy or not. Drawing a food web of organisms in the book—or in another ecosystem—can help students visualize what happens if one or more species disappears, causing others to explode in population. The book can also spark a discussion about advice Ruth’s father gave her when she was young. He told her to “leave the world a better place than you found it.” Ruth found her own ways to use her science to address the real-world problem of pollution, but there are other ways to combine science and activism. Lastly, younger kids can make beautiful art inspired by diatoms. One way to get started is to do a search for images of “Victorian diatom art” and use them to inspire classroom projects.

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? I’m researching an idea I had for a book about bears and another about a musical instrument. Maybe I will find a bear that plays a musical instrument! About the author:

Julie Winterbottom was born in Princeton, New Jersey. Growing up, she loved to explore the streams and the woods near her house, much like the subject of her picture book, Magic in a Drop of Water. She is the former editor-in-chief of Nickelodeon Magazine and the author of the humor books Pranklopedia and What a Blast! She lives on the shores of the Hudson River in New York.

Welcome to the world, WHALES IN THE CITY!

I had a fabulous pub day for Whales in the City this week. Thanks Northshire Bookstore for planning a great day of school visits!

Congratulations, Sara Levine, on Hello Dog/Hello Human!

Thank you so much, Sara, for sharing the release of Hello Dog/Hello Human. Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? I came up with the idea for this book while walking my dog to the library in North Cambridge to pick up some books. A child asked if she could pet my dog. And while she was gentle, as sometimes happens, she frightened my pup. I explained to her how to approach the dog differently, and in the process, it occurred to me, I could write a book about this, a guide to how to say hello for both dogs and humans.

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Yes, writing STEAM books does usually require substantial research. In this case, my research occurred prior to writing this book. My I grew up on a farm with over one hundred animals, a number of which were dogs. I continued to learn about dog behavior in veterinary school, especially from instructor Brian Kilcommons (who has an excellent book I often recommend to new dog owners: Good Owners, Great Dogs), and from my mother who trained puppies for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and well as from raising my own adopted dogs. So yes, the hands-on part was a lot of fun. And is also an ongoing a learning process—learning to read dog behavior and learning to teach children how to read it so they can connect safely and with mutual respect. Here’s a photo of a friend’s child who was afraid my dog, and my dog who was afraid of this child. I worked to help them learn how to successfully say hello. The book is dedicated to them.

Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? There are many good books out on dog behavior, but I wanted to zero in on the basics of how to say hello. Understanding this part sets up both dog and human for a successful interaction. And also, I thought it would make a fun and funny book to write it a Flip-Book with instructions for humans on one side and tips for dogs on the other.

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? I’d suggest having the kids act out scenarios where one kid is being a dog and one a child, and having them greet (or NOT greet if the conditions are not ideal). What body language does a scared dog show? What body language does an aggressive dog show? Teachers can use the book to help kids identify how dogs let us know when they are ready for an interaction. To expand on this, to teach animal behavior more broadly, look up and discuss how to tell a horse’s feelings from its body language. And a cat’s. And a human’s too!

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? I have four science books coming soon: Watching and Waiting: What Hatches from Nature’s Nurseries (coming April 2025) How We Fly (TBD) Talking to Worms (summer 2025) A Visit with the Birds (summer 2025) And many more ideas in the works! Thats wonderful, Sara. I look forward to them!

About the author: Sara Levine is an award-winning author of over a dozen picture books for children. She used her experience as a veterinarian and companion to many dogs and humans to write this guide to polite introduction for those seeking cross-species connection. Her titles have received the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science, Animal Behavior Society Children's Book Award, Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, Beehive Book Award, Cook Prize, and the Mathical Book Prize. For more information visit http://www.saralevinebooks.com/

Congratulations, Sarah Albee, on ZERO: The Number that Almost Wasn't

Thank you so much for sharing the release of Zero: The Number that Almost Wasn’t with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? Thanks so much for having me, Nancy! So I’ve long been curious as to why our system is known as the “Hindu-Arabic numeral system,” and have also often wondered why our calendar is “off,” in that the 19th century means the 1800s, etc. (In every book I write I feel the need to clarify this system for kids, or just say “in the 1800s...”) And then one day while I was researching a different project I stumbled across an event from the eighth century (that would be the 700s) when the pope asking the Venerable Bede to calculate the date of Easter—a complicated endeavor back then. Poor V. B. had to adhere to complex ecclesiastical rules that were based on both the lunar and solar calendars and his task required expertise in both astronomy and math. And to make matters even more tricky for V. B., I learned that he had no knowledge of zero! That made me sit up and pay attention. Think about that—Roman numerals, which many of us studied in school, look like this: L C D M X V I—and yep, there’s no zero. So early creators of our Western calendar had to start with the first century AD, rather than the “zero-eth” century. Hence our messed-up calendar. All this back story is complicated, and I left most of it out of the book, but it started me wondering where zero came from, who used it first, and when it became universally adapted. It’s a pretty fascinating history.

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? EVERYTHING about researching this book was challenging! (But fun.) The timeline of the book spans from the Sumerians all the way to the present day. And the story includes so many areas of the world, including Mesopotamia, ancient India, ancient Cambodia, China, Baghdad, and even the Maya in early Mexico. It’s not until late in the book that zero gets introduced to the western world, let alone accepted there. Did I mention this is a picture book? I’m so very grateful for the many math teachers, mathematicians, and history-of-math experts I consulted for help with this book. And also for Chris Hsu, my awesome illustrator, who did tons of his own historical research and also added his special touches. Here’s a list in the back matter of some of what he added to the illustrations. (Note he even composed a spread using the Fibonacci sequence!!)

Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Yes that’s for sure my perennial struggle (see above), but an additional one was figuring out how to present such vast history and how to explain complex mathematical topics without assuming any prior knowledge on the part of my readers. Chris’s illustrations helped a lot, as did my experts—and I consulted many experts. I even had the help of a sixth grader, Korben, who sent me a suggestion for the back cover after I visited his school. My editor loved it and used it!

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? The book touches on a lot of math topics (place value, base 10, binary coding, even calculus). I certainly don’t exhaustively explain these topics, but the book does help contextualize the math, and also the history, for kids. I mean, who knew there were so many geopolitical issues involved with the West’s acceptance of zero? Some European opponents called it “dangerous Saracen magic.” (Zero arrive in the West during the Crusades, which were basically holy wars between the Christians and the Muslims.) I’m hoping that knowing a bit of this history will help kids appreciate the elegance of the Hindu-Arabic number system, and also see how relevant math can be to our daily lives and to the advancement of technology.

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching ? I’ve got a book in progress about dinosaurs! Sauropods, specifically—they’re my personal favorites. It should be announced soon. That sounds wonderful! Happy researching, Sarah!

About the author: Sarah Albee is the New York Times bestselling author of nonfiction books for kids. Her most recent titles include Zero: The Number that Almost Wasn’t: The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart’s Brush with George Washington, and Bounce!: A Scientific History of Rubber. Other popular titles include Troublemakers in Trousers; Accidental Archaeologists; and Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up. She and her husband live in New York City and have three grown children. Visit her at www.sarahalbeebooks.com

Congratulations, Elizabeth Shreeve on ON AN OCEAN JOURNEY: Animals in Motion through the Seas!

Thank you so much for sharing the release of ON AN OCEAN JOURNEY with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark?

On an Ocean Journey has an unusual origin story: it began with the artwork. Back in 2007, Alaska-based artist Ray Troll created a beautiful set of murals for a marine science laboratory operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Pacific Grove, California. (It’s worth a visit if you’re in the Monterey area; go to 1352 Lighthouse Avenue, near Asilomar State Park). When budget cuts forced NOAA to abandon the building, Ray held onto the original colored pencil drawings. In early 2022, Ray sent me an email. Would I consider a picture book collaboration? Imagine my delight! I’m a big Ray Troll fan, and apparently I’d caught his attention through my earlier books. Ray soon filled my inbox with gorgeous depictions of marine animals. On the phone, he briefed me on the NOAA project. Then it was up to me to transform a collection of images into a picture book. What a joy to explore storylines inspired by these stunning, scientifically accurate renderings! Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? You might think the research for this book was buttoned up; after all, Ray had worked closely with scientists at NOAA on the murals. They focused on an oceanic pattern known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which describes warmer and cooler phases of water temperature over ten-year increments in the Northern Pacific. Interesting…but was that the right topic for a picture book? To me, Ray’s bold images seemed best-suited to a younger audience. So, what was my angle? I decided not to decide. Instead, I dove into research. I outlined key facts for each species: range and habits, role in the food web, important features, and conservation status. Soon I was swimming in some deep waters of information on marine zoology.

(Author and artist at the former NOAA marine lab in Pacific Grove, CA) Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? Ray provided about 50 images. We decided that each one deserved a page, so I had way too many for a 32-page format (22 drawings ended up in the book, including a few new ones). After color-coding the factual material on each animal, I spread drawings on our big table and began to edit. Some images were particularly striking; those made the cut. (Fortunately, Ray’s favorites coincided with mine.) Ray is a big fan of fish, but I wanted a variety of creatures including reptiles, birds, and marine mammals. Sorry, fish! Many beauties hit the floor. To increase the overall appeal of the book, I gave preference to animals that ranged beyond the North Pacific into other ocean environments. As I winnowed, I admired the dynamic quality of Ray’s drawings. A theme emerged: how do animals move through the water? I wrote a fact-filled manuscript entitled “One Ocean in Motion.” My agent sent it out. Darn, no takers! I started over. This time I kept it simple, with a structure that goes from shallow water to ocean depths. The two images of divers serve as bookends for the opening and ending, while a full spread of predators closing in on a baitball of sardines provides a high point. Less science, more poetry! I hope the final version lets Ray’s artwork shine, as it should.

(Artwork with color-coded research notes: plenty to choose from!) What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? On an Ocean Journey will be a fun read-aloud and also lends itself to creative writing and art projects for Grades K-2. The “Field Guide” at the end provides details on each animal, along with links for learning about the ocean and how to protect it. You’ll find an Activity Kit created by the publisher, with input from Ray and me, on my website . One activity instructs student to arrange a set of images in the order of their choosing. Add imagination and color. Voila, a story!

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? My next publication will be a middle grade book entitled Dinosaurs to Dragons: The Lore and Science of Mythical Creatures. It’s coming from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster in the next year or so, with artwork by Violeta Encarnacion combined with photographs. The project has stretched my science-oriented mind into archaeology, mythology, and history. It’s a thrill to discover new topics, and a privilege to share with young readers.

About the author: ELIZABETH SHREEVE grew up in a family of writers and scientists who taught her to pay attention to horseshoe crabs, seabirds, and other wonderful creatures along the Atlantic coastline. Now based in California, she writes books for young readers that celebrate the origins and diversity of life on Earth. Her recent books include The Upside-Down Book of Sloths, The Oddball Book of Armadillos, and the award-winning Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas. Learn more about her books, author visits, and fishy adventures at ElizabethShreeve.com and on social media @ShreeveBooks.

Congratulations, Carrie Tillotson, on Alpacas Here, Alpacas There!

Thank you so much, Carrie, for sharing the release of ALPACAS HERE, ALPACAS THERE with us! Young readers love STEAM books and I’m sure yours will find many happy readers. Can you share with us a bit about the inspiration for this book? What was your initial spark? Thank you so much for having me, Nancy! The initial spark for Alpacas Here, Alpacas There (Beach Lane Books, February 2025), beautifully illustrated by Elisa Chavarri, came after visiting San Juan Island in Washington state with my sister. As we explored the island, we came upon a farm with adorable, fluffy creatures grazing in the pasture. Neither of us had ever seen or heard of alpacas before! Something about them charmed me from that first moment. I later dove deep into researching how to have an alpaca farm of my own, but I soon learned that alpacas require more time, care, and room to roam than I had available (not to mention my plethora of animal, grass, and hay allergies, plus the price of farmland in my area!). Once I started my foray into writing picture books, I realized I could share my love of alpacas by writing about them. It was actually about 6 years from when I first saw alpacas to when I started writing about them, but sometimes there’s a spark that just won’t leave you alone. That’s how I knew I needed to write about these darling, fluffy friends.

Writing STEAM books requires a substantial amount of research. Often it is the most fun part of our writing process. Did you meet any challenges in your research journey? Oh, definitely. Once I had decided on the compare and contrast structure of looking at alpacas lives in both South and North America, it was sometimes hard to get the Andean perspective on alpacas. Much of the work I found was written by North Americans who were not native to the culture, or the sources I found were written or produced in Spanish, which I don’t read or understand very well anymore. I reached out to the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC), and one of their board members graciously reviewed an early version of the manuscript. She also asked the indigenous weavers that the CTTC works with many of my questions about raising alpacas in the Andes. I am forever grateful to them, and a portion of the proceeds from this book are donated to the CTTC, whose mission is to aid in the survival of textile traditions of the Cusco region of Peru. Another challenge I faced was the gaps in my knowledge and context of Quechua culture as an outsider. I wanted to be accurate and respectful of both the alpacas and the Andean people for the parts of the book portrayed in South America, so I asked my editor if we could hire an authenticity reader. It was very helpful to get her insights. She even connected me with an alpaca farmer in Peru who was happy to meet with me over Zoom and chat through What’s App. Below is a photo he sent me regarding my questions about the types of grass alpacas eat. I can’t thank them both enough for their help!

Often one of the most difficult parts of crafting our books is not deciding what to include, but deciding what to leave out. What did you choose to leave out of this book and why? I left out some of the more basic facts about alpacas. For example, that they spit when agitated, have no upper teeth, or that they poop in communal dung piles. I didn’t want to the book to read like an encyclopedia entry about alpacas, but rather wanted to focus on the theme of comparing and contrasting alpaca life between North and South America. It was hard to leave out some of those interesting facts, but I wanted to stay true to my vision of sharing how, for both alpacas and humans, that no matter where we live we all follow similar rhythms of life.

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? It can be used in the language arts classroom to compare and contrast the two different settings in the book—South America and North America. How are alpacas’ lives different depending on where they live? How are they similar? For a math-based lesson, have students make a Venn diagram characterizing the features of alpaca life that are the same and different depending on their location. For social studies units, extend the compare and contrast thinking to discuss how people from various parts of the world have diverse ways of living, or how humans are in relationship with their environment through farming. Or use it in the science classroom to talk about the relationship between the needs of plants and animals and the places they live. Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching? My next picture book hasn’t been announced yet, but I can say that it’s a silly, hopefully laugh-out-loud, informational fiction picture book that I can’t wait to share more about soon. I am also currently researching for a nonfiction book on another one of my favorite animals.

About the author: Carrie Tillotson is the award-winning author of picture books like Alpacas Here, Alpacas There; Counting to Bananas, an Oregon Spirit Book Award Honor Book and Amazon Editor’s Pick; B Is for Bananas, a Good Housekeeping Kids’ Book Award winner, SCBWI Crystal Kite Honor winner, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books of the Year selection. After getting a master’s degree in public health, Carrie worked as a biostatistician for more than ten years and now sculpts her interests in science into playful picture books. She lives in Oregon with her husband, son, and two dogs, who are always going bananas. Carrie is represented by Tracy Marchini at BookEnds Literary Agency. Visit her at CarrieTillotson.com. Nancy Castaldo is the author of many award-winning books for young readers. Look for news about her latest releases here.