Researching STEM Kidlit - Welcome Guest Blogger - Carrie Pearson

FIVE STEPS TOWARD RESEARCHING THAT WHICH YOU CANNOT SEE -- AND NEVER WILL 

I grew up climbing trees. If I was nowhere to be found, my family knew to look for me in the sugar maple in our backyard. I hauled up my knobby kneed self by grabbing a limb close to the ground, then pulled, pushed, and shimmed higher and higher until I’d found the perfect crook in which to read my book of choice. Ah, bliss.

So it was no surprise I was drawn to a special tree -- this time, a coast redwood -- as the subject for my third nature book. 

But this ecosystem is a bit different.  

Coast redwood branches begin growing far off the ground so it’s impossible to grab a limb and haul oneself up into a tree. Instead, tall tree researchers stand at the base of a coast redwood and shoot an arrow with a line attached toward the lowest branch. Hopefully the line loops over the limb, falls to the ground and can be leveraged with mountain climbing carabiners to haul the researcher up, up, up. 

However, I’m not a tall tree researcher. And, as I’ve, um, matured, I’m less fond of heights. To make matters more difficult, I knew I would not be allowed to visit the main character in my manuscript -- the tallest tree on earth.  

To guard it from even well-meaning people like me, this is tree is protected and its location is kept secret. Even if it wasn’t, finding it in the midst of the 131,983 acres of Redwood National and State Park would be an extreme undertaking at the very least. But I was smitten with the life story of this tree. 

So, here we are at the title for this blog post. How does a writer of true stories research that which she cannot see and never will? 

Step One: choose a topic for which your passion knows few bounds. Somewhere inside, I knew I’d get there. Don’t ask me how I knew this but my need to create this book for children was as big as the tree itself.

Step Two: Begin with inquiry. I drew up list of questions that I felt I would need to answer before I knew enough to write the book. The who, how, when, where and why’s would guide my research. 

Step Three: Find the experts. I searched for people who had experienced the tree firsthand. I read and watched everything these people had shared in every format possible. Thankfully, the secondary research troves were deep. When I began to find the same answers for my questions, even though I approached the questions differently, I was ready for the next research step.

Step Four: Ask for help. I wrote and was awarded an SCBWI research grant to visit the Park because I knew other’s experiences could take me only so far. Even though I wouldn’t see “my” tree, I’d enlist all my senses to get as close a feel for it as I could. Fortuitously, the Park paired me with a guide, Park Ranger James Wheeler, who had spent 30 plus years in that world. 

Step Five: Stop researching and listen for the story. Mr. Wheeler’s insights, other experts’ knowledge, combined with my redwood forest immersion, allowed me to begin to hear the narrative for STRETCH TO THE SUN: FROM A TINY SPROUT TO THE TALLEST TREE ON EARTH. 

Even though I’d never seen the tree and knew I never would, in a way, I had. 

Carrie A. Pearson is a children’s book author, consultant, speaker, and former teacher. She is a Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, a member of several literacy-focused organizations, and the recipient of the Gwen Frostic Award for Literacy given by the Michigan Reading Association. She is the author of two informational fiction picture books, A Warm Winter Tail and A Cool Summer Tail (Arbordale Publishing) and a narrative nonfiction picture book, Stretch to the Sun: From a Tiny Sprout to the Tallest Tree on Earth (Charlesbridge), a Eureka! Award recipient for outstanding nonfiction given by the California Reading Association. A picture book biography about medical trailblazer, Dr. Virginia Apgar, launches fall 2020 with Norton Young Readers. A picture book anthology about unexpected women who are changing the world will be announced soon. Carrie would love to connect with you on Twitter @carrieapearson, Pinterest carrieapearson, and through her website www.carriepearsonbooks.com.

For more about STRETCH TO THE SUN and the path to its publication, visit this page on her website: http://www.carriepearsonbooks.com/stretch-to-the-sun-picture-book.html

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Nancy Castaldo has been writing about the planet for over 20 years. Learn more about her award-winning books at http://www.nancycastaldo.com Purchase and pre-order autographed copies of Nancy's books here. 

2018 Free Monthly Skype Visits

Would you like a free short Skype visit for your students? If your class has read one or more of my books you are eligible to book a time during one of my monthly  FREE SKYPE VISIT DAYS.

Skype visits enable students to meet an author and ask questions about research and writing -- especially if an in-person visit isn't an option.

There are limited times available for January 19th.

The next available date is the afternoon of February 14th -- following my National Biodiversity Teach In Webinar.


You can also book a visit for March 15th.


Of course, I love to visit schools in person. I'm currently booking spring and fall author visits.

For more information and to contact me please visit my web site .

40 Gallons of Sap to Make 1 Gallon of Syrup -- Research to Book

It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. That's a lot of sap! It's not too different from creating a nonfiction book. It takes gallons of research to make one small book.

When I recently went to nErDcampNNE I brought one of my book boxes. Every book I create with Houghton Mifflin has its own box. Some boxes are bigger than others. They get filled with ticket stubs, receipts, articles, books, drafts, photo release forms, and all sorts of stuff that pertain to the writing of the book. They do NOT include all of the articles I have read online or in libraries, or the piles of books that I am not able to keep, including rare editions and such. It also does not include the hundreds of photos I take and download to my computer. 

It does take many "gallons" of research for each book. Every nonfiction writer will tell you the same thing. But we enjoy it! It's a treasure hunt -- an extreme sport  -- a time to EXPLORE! 

There are so many ways that teachers can spur on this exciting phase of writing with students. Loree Griffen Burns, Melissa Stewart, and I discussed having students interview each other, parents, teachers, and community members. Teaching students interview etiquette and how to write questions and ask follow-up questions is part of the learning process. 

Thinking of the research phase more like a quest than finding three sources for a project is the goal. Making discoveries and letting those discoveries lead to more questions and on to more discoveries is the joy we nonfiction authors feel every day. 

And then after all that research we have to distill it down  - just like boiling down the sap  - to find the  jewels we want to include in shaping the book we write. 

Ask any nonfiction author about their research and you will be in for a treat! 

Nonfiction Monday - On The Trail

Read everything.

When I am researching a book I try to read everything on the subject and then some. Sometimes that reading takes me back...way back...to things I've written earlier. It could be a magazine article on the topic of my book or even a report I wrote back in college.

In this case, I dug out an old report I wrote in elementary school on dolphins. It's a topic I've returned to before when I wrote OCEANS. I remember writing this report. I was totally into it. I read Nat Geo and every book I could find on the topic -- which wasn't difficult because my mom had an extensive library right at home.

Looking at this report I can see the nonfiction author I was going to be. Not only was it complete, it had 9 chapters, was illustrated, and included a bibliography.

I laughed as I read the comments inside.  My teacher circled the word BOVINE and wrote beside it  - What does this mean?  Could she have not known that, or was she suggesting I should have defined the word in text?

The report earned me a grade of O+  which is short for Outstanding +  and this note:

Nancy,
It is my pleasure to read such a report. A tremendous amount of work on your part. I'm sure if I had to ever write a report about dolphins I would turn yours in instead of mine.

BAM! the 5th or 6th grader in me is still beaming and thankful my teacher was so encouraging.

Reading this will help me get back into that middle grade head as I write my WIP. What excited me then will probably still excite my MG readers now.

So for today, I'm reading everything and taking some time to connect with my inner middle grader.

Nonfiction Monday -- On the Trail

I'm excited to be working on another book for Houghton Mifflin. I had a blast working on Sniffer Dogs and my forthcoming YA title, The Story of Seeds. I thought it might be fun to blog while I research the next one, since nonfiction is really all about the research.

After a thorough online search to find as much information about my subject as I can, I usually head off to the library. Sometimes I visit my local library, but often I need to go to a bigger library at a university.

For this book, I headed to a university science library.

The Roman goddess of wisdom - Minerva graces the SUNY Albany Science Library entrance
with the Latin motto "sapientia et sua docent cause" meaning "Wisdom for its own sake and for the sake of teaching" 









This is the spot where I can find, not only current information on my topic, but historical texts that can provide me with the history of my subject. And it's a great library because I can roam through the stacks to find the book I'm looking for. Many libraries don't have open stacks. You have to give a list of books to the librarian and then the books are retrieved for you. The problem  is that you don't get to find neighboring books that might provide you with the jewel you never expected.

This first stop on the research trail is much different than the other stops I'll take later on when I'm meeting scientists in the field, but it's a very important first step.  And for me - it's loads of fun as I make my initial discoveries.