Congratulations, Darcy Pattison, on JEREMY, THE BRITISH GARDEN SNAIL!

Thank you so much, Darcy, for sharing the release of JEREMY, THE BRITISH GARDEN SNAIL: Heredity, Citizen Science and #snaillove 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?

This book began because I set myself a strange little puzzle. I’d started a book series, ANOTHER EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL, that included a bird, spider, mammal, marine mammal, reptile, and amphibian. The series is about an individual animal, not a species, and each animal was named because of some interaction with humans. Beyond that, they needed an interesting story with a beginning, middle and end. Finally, I needed a scientist who could answer questions about the animal and its life. I thought the series was done. And then, along came a snail. An unusual snail with an interesting story. It had a left-coiled snail instead of the usual right-coiled snail. And the snail’s scientist kicked up a fuss online with a viral social media campaign to find it a mate, #snaillove. How could I resist? 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? This book was straightforward in its research. The hardest thing sometimes is to gather the courage to contact the scientists involved. In this case, the scientist specializing in snail genetics, Dr. Angus Davison at University of Nottingham, in Nottingham, England, agreed to a video interview. To prepare, I read his research papers and studied the species of snail. During the interview, Dr. Davison answered lingering questions and provided reference photos for the illustrator. He also agreed to vet the manuscript when it was completed.

(Dr. Angus Davison, genetics professor, studies the heredity and inheritance in snails.) 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? Genetics is a tough subject for elementary school readers. For example, genes can be recessive, which means they may not be expressed in an individual for several generations. Instead of talking about these specifics, the story reads: “However, from his study of genetics, Angus knew that he might not see another left-coiled snail for several generations.” It avoids the specific topic of recessive genes but gets across the information needed, namely, that you must study several generations to understand heredity and inheritance. The audience’s age—elementary school—meant the topic of genetics was just briefly introduced.

What tip can you share with teachers who want to use your book in the classroom? The scientific question facing Dr. Davison was whether the left-coiled snail was a product of heredity or an accident of nature. One odd thing about snails is that they are hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female parts. However, the twist of the snail’s shell means that right-coiled snails need right-coiled snails to mate and left-coiled snails need left-coiled snails to mate. But left-coiled snails for this species are very rare. Dr. Davison turned to citizen science and asked people to examine snails in their gardens to see if they could find a left-coiled snail in a #snaillove campaign. They found two for the initial study, but eventually found about 45 slef-coiled nails. Without help from the public and without the viral social media campaign, Dr. Davison could not have done his experiments on heredity and inheritance in snails. In first and third grades, the NextGen Science Standards ask kids to understand that certain traits can be passed from parent to child. This story is a perfect introduction to the concepts of heredity and inheritance. Did the snail Jeremy inherit the left-coiled shell from his parent? The answer is an overwhelming, “No.” In addition, citizen science made Dr. Davison’s experiments successful. Kids can discuss how and when a scientist might appeal for help to their community. Ask kids to participate in the annual Christmas bird count from Audubon Society, one of the oldest known citizen science projects. Or consult Zooniverse.org for other projects.

Congratulations on this book release! What comes next for you? Can you give us a peek at what you are currently researching?

Coming this summer is CLIMATE: How Wladamir Köppen Studied Weather and Drew the First Climate Maps. As the subtitle implies this is the story of Wladamir Köppen, the scientist who drew the first climate maps. His maps are still used today, with slight modifications. He took vague ideas about climate and solidified them into a world-wide map that still shapes our future today. Fortunately, he wrote an autobiography, so starting the research was easy.

About the author: Children’s book author and indie publisher DARCY PATTISON has written over seventy award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Five books have received starred PW, Kirkus, or BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, five Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book (CA Reading Assn.), two Junior Library Guild selections, two CLA Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book, a Best STEM Book, an Arkansiana Award, and the Susannah DeBlack Arkansas Children’s History Book award. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature. Her books have been translated into ten languages. Always active, before her tenth birthday, she (almost) climbed the Continental Divide, turning back at the last twenty yards because it was too steep and great climbing shoes hadn’t been invented yet. She once rode a bicycle down a volcano in Bali, Indonesia and has often hiked the Rockies. She recently hiked New Zealand’s backcountry for a taste of Kiwi life, and then strolled the beaches of Australia. On her bucket list is kayaking the Nā Pali Coast of Hawaii and eating curry in Mumbai.