Recently, a class in Oshkosh mailed Don and me some questions. Since we can’t go to them in person, we put together a slideshow answering some of their questions. Here it is.

(Confession: Sometimes I think I turn more kids off of writing when I share with them how much work it is!)

The blog’s been quiet lately because I’ve been spending my time here instead: 

McKenna Elementary, MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT

But the truth is, I’m not sure if I’m working hard or hardly working. I’m busy with it, yes, but if you go by page count, it sure doesn’t look like much.

I read this book right after I returned from China last summer. It really hit home for me and my experiences, and I knew immediately I would share it with my first graders when they start their “around the world” unit in February. (Coming up soon!) In the meantime, Barbara Kerley talks a little about her book.

Tell us about your book.

One World, One Day follows a day in the life of school kids, around the world, from when they first get up all the way until bedtime.  My goal for the book was to share the idea that kids in America have lives remarkably similar to the lives of kids all over the world–that in spite of our differences, we have much in common.  So the book is a great mix of familiar and unexpected.  A boy in India may wash up in a pond, a girl in China may walk through rice paddies to get to school, and some kids in Brazil may sleep in hammocks instead of beds… but still, around the world, kids get up, go to school, do chores and homework, play with friends, and spend time with their families in the evening.

How did you get the idea for One World, One Day?

The book follows the theme of other books I’ve done with National Geographic: A Cool Drink of Water (a global look at water); You and Me, Together (about parents and kids, around the world); and A Little Peace (about small ways we can all make the world more peaceful).  At the core, all four books are about tolerance and reinforce the theme of how we are more alike than different, in the ways that matter.

The photos are so stunning. How much input did you have in choosing them? Which came first, the images or your text?

The photos were selected by Lori Epstein, the wonderfully talented photo editor for National Geographic Children’s Books.  She pulled photos from the magazine’s archives and also solicited photos from photographers she knows.  In fact, one photo of a big pizza was taken especially for the book!  Once we had the basic concept of the book established, Lori pulled dozens of photos and sent them to me, to give me inspiration for the text.  Then I worked from there.  She found additional photos to fill in the gaps, and I kept tweaking the text to make it fit the great photos she’d found.  We did a lot of back-and-forth, under the guidance of executive editor Jennifer Emmett and art director Bea Jackson.  I did weigh in a little bit on photo selection, but the three of them are such pros that mostly, I just tried to get out of the way and let them work!

How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you like to write? What time of day? (Or anything else you want to add about your process.)

My books with National Geographic typically take several months from concept to completion.  My editor Jennifer and I talk about the idea for a book until we get a concept and focus that we think will work.  Once we have a sense of where to go, I start working on the text.  Because all four books are illustrated with photos, I try to keep the text somewhat flexible to accommodate the availability of photos.  There are lots of issues that Jennifer and Bea and Lori have to keep track of, such as how well a photo will crop to fit a space, and making sure that there is a healthy geographic distribution–they really do work hard to make sure the all corners of the world are represented.  During the writing/photo selection phase, there is a lot of dialog making sure everything fits.  And then, I have to write the captions for each photo for the backmatter, which takes a while.  The whole thing is really a team effort.

The other books I write are picture book biographies with Scholastic Press, such as What To Do About Alice? and the upcoming title The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy). Those books are very research-intensive and take much longer to write, anywhere from six months to several years.

What were you like as a kid?

I was a voracious reader, loved playing dress-ups, and, when I got older, was very involved in theater (both on stage and behind the stage.)  All these interests have helped fuel my desire to be a writer, I think.

Did you like school?

I liked parts of school.  I liked teachers who gave creative assignments and I liked the shelves full of books.  I wasn’t as crazy about P.E., not because I didn’t like sports but because it seemed like I always got chosen almost last when it was time to pick teams.

So…readers want to know….what’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

I don’t remember a specific incident, but I do remember being very uncomfortable with my height in sixth grade.  I was the tallest girl and the third tallest kid in class (yes, I counted) and remember feeling a bit like a freak and being very jealous of the petite girls in class.  I know now that those girls each probably had their own physical attribute they were equally embarrassed about – the shape of their nose or the way their ears stuck out, or something.  Everyone has something at that age, I think.  But it did take me a long time not to be self-conscious about being so tall!

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

I’d love to be a chef and cook beautiful food that makes people happy.  Cooking is very nurturing and creative.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

I’d love to become a really good ice skater.  Clearly, I need to move somewhere with a skating rink!

And the coolest place you’ve ever been?

I’ve been fortunate to be able to travel a lot, so I’ve been to a lot of cool places.  The most unusual, I think, is Jellyfish Lake, in Palau, which is a group of islands in the Pacific.  It’s this small, brackish lake filled with non-stinging jellyfish.  The baby ones are the size of cherries, and the adult ones are the size of softballs.  They are a creamy orange color and seem to glow when the sunlight hits the water.  My husband and I went on a snorkeling trip to Jellyfish Lake many years ago.  You can swim out into the middle of the lake through all the jellyfish, which slide down your body as you pass by.  It is sort of what I imagine it would be like to swim through a Jello fruit salad.  Very cool indeed.

We loved your book! Is there a similar book from a different author that’d you’d recommend for kids who liked yours?

Yes!  A dear friend of mine, Deborah Heiligman, has a whole series of wonderful books called Holidays Around The World.  They are published by National Geographic and full of photos and information about different cultures.  There’s even fun stuff in the back of each book, like games and recipes.

What’s next?

Next up for me is The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy), published by Scholastic Press.  When Susy Clemens was 13, she secretly wrote a biography of her famous dad, Mark Twain.  So my book is a biography about her writing a biography.  Mark Twain was a really funny man, and Susy had a lot of spunk, so the book has a lot of humor and affection.

What do you wish we’d asked, but didn’t?

“Do you have a website?”  Yes, indeedy do, I do indeed.  It’s www.barbarakerley.com and it has lots of info about my life, including pictures of my pets and a photo of me as a fifth grade hippie.

Fast facts:

Age? 49
Family? A husband, a 20-year-old daugther, and a 12-pound fluffy orange-and-white cat.
Where do you live? For one more month, I will be living in California.  Then we are moving to Portland, OR.
Other books? Some of my other books include The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and the novel Greetings From Planet Earth.
Favorite superhero? Book? Sports team? As a kid, I really liked Batman cause he could walk up walls and drove a cool car.  My favorite book was Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, which I must have read at least a dozen times.  My favorite sports team was my soccer team.  I was a fullback and we rocked.

So you’d think these would be my favorites of 2009, right? Um, kind of. While I do still really like all of these books, when I consider my favorite-favorites, I always think about how much the book stuck with me. How much I remember it later. How much I’ve thought about it since I finished it. To me, those are the Truly Best Stories. And those are here:

And just in case you can’t read the covers, that’d be…

All the World

The Mistress of the Art of Death

One World, One Day

The Frog Scientist

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

When the Whistle Blows

Beka Cooper

The Dunderheads

Heart of a Shepherd

Ain’t Nothing But a Man

Ways to Live Forever

Home of the Brave

(All titles guaranteed to bring contented sighs and/or applause when you finish them–and what’s a better holiday present than that?)

Silver packages: An Appalachian Christmas story by Cynthia Rylant

A poor boy never gets what he wants but always what he needs from the Christmas train in the Appalachians.

Lesson Notes

• Find the Appalachians on the map and talk about what it’s like to live there (4th graders study US regions).
• How is Frank paying back his debt?
• Share photo of the Christmas Train today: http://www.soentpiet.com/images/silver%20packages%20railroad%20magazine.jpg.

The Quiltmaker’s Gift by Jeff Brumbeau

A magical quiltmaker won’t give the greedy king a quilt until he gives away all his treasures. But will he even want it then?

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson

Stick Man must find his way back to his stick Lady Love, their stick children three, and the family tree.

Lesson Notes

• Brainstorm what kinds of things sticks can be used for.
• Have student help with the “I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, that’s me” chorus.

My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Lesson Notes

• Questions: What do we know about penguins? Have you ever wished for a present that wasn’t what you thought it’d be?
• Color bookmarks from: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/PenguinBookmark.htm. Students can list the books they read over break on the back.
• Silly penguin video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-pDuBg1r-8.
• Read Alikes:A Mother’s Journey, A Penguin Story, And Tango Makes Three, Antarctic Antics: a Book of Penguin Poems

Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming

Katje, living in war-devasted Holland in 1945, gets package from Rosie, who lives in America. As their long-distance friendship grows, their communities come together.

Lesson Notes

• Find Indiana and Holland on the globe.
• Read the setting on the inside cover. What was going on in the world in 1945?
• Show pictures of Europe after the war:http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-med…
  http://millerpla.net/wp-content/Pictures…

I’m lucky; I’ve grown up watching ospreys (and bald eagles) diving for fish on our lake up north. But my favorite osprey moments have to be at our town’s local ballpark. For the last few years, a pair of ospreys have built a nest in the lights–and the roar of the crowds, the brat smoke, the lights, even that goofy announcer and his keyboard don’t seem to bother them one bit. Can you see them in this picture Mr. E took last summer?

I’m officially on vacation for the next 12 days!

The first grade teachers won a grant at our school to get Playaways for their classroom listening stations. Have you seen a Playaway? They’re like iPods for books. Very cool–and very popular with our students. I smile because I helped a little with the grant writing.

We’re supposed to get more snow. Christmas snow. As a kid, I always wished for Christmas snow–you know how the Frosty the Snowman cartoon proclaims that Christmas snow is magic? Looks like we’ll have plenty this year in my part of the world. I think the boys, their cousins, and I will have to do something with that.

Highlights wants a story of mine. Even though I have some nonfiction books out, this is my first fiction sale. So I smile.

Today, at the end of our last school day before break, we had an all-school sing in the gym. Just 400 kids and their teachers sitting criss-cross on the floor and belting out “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (complete with the echoes!) and other favorites. The lyrics for all the songs were projected on a giant screen. Suddenly, the screen went dark. As everyone mumbled through the second verse of “Deck the Halls,” I waded through the crowd to see what was wrong. I arrived at the projector and peered down. There, staring up at me with huge Cindy Lou Who eyes, was a kindergartener with a quivering finger over the now-dark switch on the power strip. “Did you push the button?” I asked. She sat on her hand. And I smiled. “Well, push it again!”

At this same sing along, I got to see and hear the results of weeks of listening to the fifth graders (my own Mr. E included) practice “The Carol of the Bells” on xylophones (ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…). Well, watching them perform together with such pride and skill was amazing and made the earworm totally worth it. (ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…)

and finally,

I’m officially on vacation for the next 12 days!

(ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo; ding, doo dee doo…)

I’m not the only one excited about The Frog Scientist–it’s garnered starred reviews in The Horn Book, Booklist, The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books, and School Library Journal. Whew!

But enough about all that; here’s what Pamela says about her book, her writing and herself:

Tell us about your book.

In THE FROG SCIENTIST, biologist Tyrone Hayes is researching the links between declining frog populations and pesticide use. He loved catching frogs when he was younger, and he tells kids, “Whatever you want to do, stick with it!” He’s an amazing guy. I wrote about Tyrone’s life, about the dangers frogs are facing, and I describe one of Tyrone’s experiments all the way from start to finish.

How did you get the idea for The Frog Scientist?

I saw an article about Tyrone in the San Francisco Chronicle. He’d just published a scientific paper showing that if you raised tadpoles in water contaminated with the most widely-used pesticide in the U.S., atrazine, many of the male frogs grew eggs instead of sperm in their testes. And he found this effect at levels of atrazine contamination ONE-THIRTIETH (1/30) of the levels allowed in our drinking water by the EPA. The article in the Chronicle also noted that Tyrone nurtured a very diverse group of young people in his laboratory. My editor at Houghton Mifflin loved the idea of writing about Tryone and his work, and so I went to Berkeley to meet him. Tyrone is such a warm, funny, smart guy with such a great personal story that I knew he would be a wonderful subject for a “Scientist in the Field” book.

If you were a scientist, what kind would you like to be? Why?

I really love scuba diving, so I think I would want to be a marine biologist.

How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you like to write? What time of day? (Or anything else you want to add about your process.)

That’s always a difficult question to answer because I work on more than one project at a time, and often the writing part is less time-consuming than the research and putting all the photos together. For a book like THE FROG SCIENTIST, I worked on it over the course of two years. I write at home, usually at a computer set up in our family room, and usually during the day when my husband is at work and our youngest is off at school. I like to compose at the computer but I like to do final edits on a hardcopy. Go figure.

What were you like as a kid?

I was a big animal lover (still am) and I loved to read (still do).

Did you like school?

Yes–I was a good student. I read well above grade level and I was fond of math. I will admit that when I took Calculus in college I was appalled–”This stuff is HARD! I feel stupid!”

So…readers want to know….what’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

One time I was outside running toward a school building (we were playing some game) and I fell just before I got to the wall and scraped my scalp down the stucco. So I ended up with a big, gross, bloody stripe on the top of my head, sort of a reverse Mohawk, which took forever to heal. Ick!

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

Before I started writing for children, I worked in international public health. So I would probably be doing that, with a focus on women’s and children’s health.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

A few years ago I started studying kendo (Japanese swordfighting). I’d like to be better, but I’m slow and uncoordinated. I love it, though. And it’s OK to do something you love even if you’re never going to be great at it.

And the coolest place you’ve ever been?

Above water: the Serengeti in Tanzania. It’s a vision of what the world looked like before we plowed it and paved it. Below water: Palau, in the western Pacific. Beautiful reefs still teeming with sharks and manta rays, a vision of what the sea looked like before we overfished it.

THE SNAKE SCIENTIST or THE TARANTULA SCIENTIST by Sy Montgomery.

What’s next?

Just out: PROWLING THE SEAS: EXPLORING THE WORLD OF OCEAN PREDATORS, which tells the story of a leatherback sea turtle, white shark, bluefin tuna, and a pair of seabirds given high-tech tags by scientists who are following their travels. And PROJECT SEAHORSE, coming in August 2010. I went to the Philippines with the world’s expert on seahorses and wrote about what she is doing to save seahorses and the coral reefs where they live.

What do you wish we’d asked, but didn’t?

“How did writing THE FROG SCIENTIST change you?”

#1: I bought a White’s tree frog and named her Dumpy. There’s a photo of a White’s tree frog on THE FROG SCIENTIST’s title page, and I think it’s the cutest frog picture I’ve ever seen. So now I have my own adorable frog, which my kids think is a very strange pet. #2: I bought a Brita water filter and now I filter all our drinking water to keep the pesticides out. #3: When I bought a green Prius car I noticed it looked vaguely like a hunched-over frog, so I got a personalized license plate that says “Riibiit”. Yet another way of embarrassing my children.

Fast Facts about Pamela Turner

Age: 52

Family: Husband Rob (a lawyer), son Travis, 22, just out of college and looking for a job; daughter Kelsey, 20, a junior at Wesleyan University; and Connor, 17, a high school junior.

Home: Oakland, California

Other Books:
HACHIKO: THE TRUE STORY OF A LOYAL DOG
GORILLA DOCTORS: SAVING ENDANGERED GREAT APES
LIFE ON EARTH–AND BEYOND: AN ASTROBIOLOGIST’S QUEST
A LIFE IN THE WILD: GEORGE SCHALLER’S STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LAST GREAT BEASTS
PROWLING THE SEAS: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN WORLD OF OCEAN PREDATORS

Favorite Superhero: I have to go with Wolverine. Maybe that has something to do with Hugh Jackman.

Favorite Book: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C.S. Lewis. 

Favorite Sports Team: I guess I have to say Oakland Raiders! 

Pamela’s Website: http://www.pamelasturner.com. And see frog scientist Tyrone Hayes hard at work in the book trailer for The Frog Scientist!

So, it only stands to reason that when the Campaign for Wisconsin Libraries was looking for a way to promote the variety and wealth of resources, services, programs, and activities that libraries offer, they came up with Wisconsin Libraries Say Cheese! Day. And guess what? It’s today. Click over to their page, or flick through the Wisconsin Libraries Say Cheese! Flickr account to see all the great things Wisconsin libraries are up to.

First up, chickens!

Looking for read alouds about chickens? Here are five great ones:

Higgledy Piggledy Chicks (available 1/26/10) by Barbara Joosse  and Rick Chrustowski (illustrator) (extra yay for Wisconsin authors and illustrators!).
Banty Hen has her hands full keeping her seven chicks safe from the barnyard dangers.

The Chicken of the Family by Mary Amato and Delphine Durand (illustrator).
A girl is called “chicken” one time too many by her mean older sisters.

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington and Shelley Jackson. Miss Hen always manages to escape, despite the best effort of the main character.

Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons.
Just the facts about chickens in this nonfiction book.

Peep! A Little Book About Taking a Leap by Maria van Lieshout.
Will Peep make the leap off the curb to follow his siblings?

Describe your book:

Dinotrux is about an ancient race of primitive trucks that apparently existed millions of years ago. It turns out that they had not yet evolved into the kind, helpful trucks we have today.

How did you get the idea for the Dinotrux?

Dinotrux was inspired by a day stuck in traffic. As I was passing through an area of road construction on the highway outside of town, I watched a great line of heavy earth-movers lumbering in the median, making groaning sounds, and carving out a new road in the dirt. They seemed eerily reminiscent of dinosaurs—and my imagination took over. What if these same earth-moving trucks had ancestors? What if all trucks had primitive ancestors that existed millions of years ago and then somehow evolved into the kind, helpful trucks we have today? What would they have looked like? What would their personalities have been like? And what in the world happened to them?

Did you like dinosaurs or trucks better when you were a kid?

I think I liked trucks better because I knew that some day I might actually own one.  That’s rarely true with dinosaurs.

Which is harder for you, writing or drawing?

Always the writing. Because if the story isn’t just right, all the illustrations in the world aren’t going to help it.

What do you use to make your illustrations?

I have used everything an artist can use—pencils, paint, pastel, watercolor, wood block engraving, and my new favorite tool—my computer.

How do you work?

I work form 7am until 6pm almost every day. Every day is different because it all depends on what phase of a book I am working on at the time. I have a nice studio in my house so I don’t have to go anywhere. That way I can work in my jammies if I want.

What were you like as a kid?

I was usually described as “lacking self-control” on my report card. I was a day-dreamer and a class clown. I was always taking apart electronic devices and sometimes getting them back together again. I was interested in something new every day.   And that hasn’t really changed.

Did you like school? What was your favorite subject? Why?

I loved school and I doubt if I ever missed a day. My favorite subject was science, and later on, art.

What’s the grossest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you as a kid?

I was once beaten up by football players for using the word “melancholy” at just the wrong moment.

If you weren’t an author/illustrator, what would you be? Why?

Hmmmm, tough question. Perhaps a mad scientist.  They seem to have lots of adventures. A Pirate is out of the question because I get sea-sick.

What’s one thing you’d love to learn to do?

Play the piano.  I’ve had one in my living room for 10 years and its not going to learn to play itself!

What’s the coolest place you’ve ever been?

A town in Switzerland called Kleine Scheidegg.  It sits high in the alps in the shadow of three great mountains—the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau.

We loved your book! Is there a similar book from a different author that’d you’d recommend for kids who liked yours?

I always liked Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

What’s next?

I am currently working on my next book, Substitute Creacher, due out in spring 2011.