My husband and I like to be outside in nature. So we selected a site for our home on the side of a ridge in the mountains of north Georgia. Right across the street is a State Park and in it is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi River.
My office is on the second floor of our home. My husband helped design this space for me. I have two large windows that overlook the woods behind our house. I don’t have any curtains on those windows so it’s like looking out through a picture frame to the world below. In autumn, the leaves are gold and red. In spring – right now – I can watch the trees bud and then burst with life.
Book awards sit on top of one of the bookshelves and hang on the walls. These remind me to work hard at my craft because readers deserve the very best book that I can create.
Sometimes I sit at my desk and type on my computer and other times I sit on the couch and write longhand. Where I sit and work depends if I’m starting something new, writing in my notebook, or revising several pages.
Probably my greatest joy in my office is the closet. That’s because it’s not a typical closet – it, too, is a bookcase – three walls covered from top to bottom with books. Some are books that I have written, but many are the books I love that others have authored. This is my private library that supports me in my work.
How big is the ocean, how high is the sky? Old lyrics but new meaning – just how big is this genre of NONFICTION?
Creative, quirky, unusual, interesting – informative, and truly the sky isn’t the limit regarding subject, form, structure or illustrations. How big is the ocean of topics? It is indeed vast and varied: biography, social science, natural science, mathematics, history, social concerns, sports, “how-to’s,” cultural descriptions, languages, and more.
This month, in Beyond Boundaries, we have chosen to focus on quite a variety of topics – biographies, construction trucks, social issues, and history, including natural disasters and natural science.
First, biographies: A library on a donkey? What an idea to share with a child. Jeanette Winter’s new book, BIBLIOBURRO: A True Story from Colombia, will first capture your attention with her delightful and unusual illustrations. We meet Luis, a man who lives “deep in the jungles of Colombia…who loves books.” Luis lives in his little home, sharing a book with a giant orange butterfly and surrounded by tropical creatures, iguanas, hummingbirds, snakes, spiders, birds with giant bills and birds with long legs. Luis has one big problem. His house is FULL of books and he has an idea. He will share his books with children who have none. Luis has two burros, one to carry books, and one to carry Luis. He’s determined that his biblio-burro will bring books to children. And it does.
Other true stories written by Jeanette Winter include award-winning NASREEN’S SECRET SCHOOL, WANGARI’S TREES OF PEACE, and THE LIBRARIAN OF BASRA, winner of the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for Nonfiction. Jeanette’s books gently introduce children to economic and educational challenges faced by many children in this world.
Biographies show real aspects of being courageous – standing up for what one believes in or persisting toward one’s goals.
A PICTURE BOOK OF CESAR CHAVEZ by David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler, illustrated by Marie Olofsdotter, provides a window into the world of César Chávez who risked his life and spent time in jail, but continued to help farm workers in California organize into unions and argue for fair pay and working conditions.
Courage is often small actions, such as planting beans or carrying oranges to the market, instead of being able to go to school. Though not nonfiction, these books offer a window into a specific culture and setting and can be paired with other informational resources to give students a peek into these other lands and peoples.
Another book set in Haiti is TAP-TAP by Karen LynnWilliams, illustrated by Catherine Stock. In this book, a girl carries oranges to sell at market and wonders if she can manage the long dusty walk back home.
Or from the far north, Ningeokuluk Teevee, one of the most celebrated of the Kinngait Nunavut (Cape Dorset) artists has written and illustrated ALEGO. This book presents a picture of today’s daily life of an Inuit child and grandmother – join them as they go clam-digging!
“Fly” back to the United States for one more biography, SKY HIGH: The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Carl Angel – the first Asian-American woman pilot. Maggie showed persistence and courage to fly high and reach her dreams.
Eleven animals. Eleven life-size bites! From the smallest microorganism to one of earth’s largest mammals – the Sperm Whale – each 0ver-sized page brings the reader a close-up view of an animal and a single-serving from its meal of choice: three drops of nectar for the butterfly, a tug of bamboo – a trunkful – for the elephant, one gulp of giant squid for the sperm whale and so on. The “animals” with the most surprising bite of all? Microorganisms! Their billions and trillions of teeny tiny bites enable them to eat the largest animals of the world.
End notes, that elaborate on each animal presented, complete this meaningful introduction to the variety of meals to be found in the animal kingdom.
And don’t forget to check out the TOOL BOX! There you’ll find an excellent Teacher’s Guide for JUST ONE BITE, prepared especially for grades K-2 by Toni Buzzeo.
I was born and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The city is surrounded by corn and soybean farms. My family lived out in a small subdivision on the north side. We had an apple orchard on one side and wide open spaces behind the houses.
I was a lucky kid. My parents took time to play games with me, go on picnics and READ to me. I didn’t have a lot of books that were mine, but the ones I had were precious and I read them again and again.
A bookmobile also visited our neighborhood regularly. This was a long bus that was lined with shelves and the shelves held BOOKS. Plus, the librarian (who was also the driver) knew what I liked to read and quite often she saved a few titles under her check-out counter just for me. The sound of the bookmobile always brought me running with a tall stack of books that I exchanged for another, even taller, stack of books.
I was (and am) an only child. I never liked that part very much. And because I was allergic to animal hair and fur when I was young, I never had a pet either. But I had friends and a bike. So, I never felt lonely.
As I grew older I became the babysitter for the neighborhood. One time, four different families went on vacation at the same time and left me at one of their homes with six children under the age of 8. We had a wonderful time of puppet plays, games in the yard, reading books out loud, painting and playing jump rope.
What kind of student were you?
I always liked going to school. (Well, most of the time.) Every year I was excited to get my new textbooks, learn about famous people and GO TO THE SCHOOL LIBRARY. Back then our school library was small compared to the wonderful libraries I see in schools today. My favorite kinds of books were the biographies, adventure stories and books about animals. I would always check out as many as I could. Because I enjoyed reading, I always got good grades in Reading. But we never wrote in school and for years I never wrote at home either. I thought the only kind of writing that I was allowed to do was answer questions at the end of chapters. I was pretty good at that, but didn’t care for it at all.
What were your favorite things to do when you were young?
I always wanted to be outside, especially if I could ride my bike. I owned a 24” red Schwinn and together we explored the neighborhood. I knew the names of everyone in a four-block radius of my home. My favorite time of day to ride was after our evening meal. If it was warm outside, our neighbors would be sitting in lawn chairs, pruning bushes, or playing badminton. I’d ride by
and pretty soon someone would wave me over and I would talk with someone for a few minutes, or share some homemade ice cream. One time I even stopped and helped an older man mow his grass. I think the neighbors looked forward to seeing me as much as I enjoyed them.
But when I was inside the house, I liked to play with my dolls. Quite often we played school and I was the teacher. My mom made doll clothes and I liked to wash them in my hand-operated washing machine and dry them on the line.
Did you ever get into trouble?
Sure I did. I think every child is curious and has that adventuresome side. Sometimes I did things that weren’t exactly naughty, but it would have been better if I had given it some thought before moving ahead. I remember one time when I was nine years old. It was winter and really cold outside. I didn’t know how to ice skate, but I wanted to learn. There was no ice-skating rink close to our home, so I decided to make my own. I hooked our garden hose to the faucet in the garage and for more than 30 minutes I flooded our concrete driveway. It was great! It was some of the smoothest ice I had ever seen – so smooth that when my father came home from work he couldn’t stop his Oldsmobile on the driveway. His car slid into the garage and hit the lawnmower. Needless to say he was not pleased with his inventive daughter at that moment.
Did you play an instrument?
I took piano lessons from second grade through my sophomore year in high school. At first my piano teacher was a nun at St. Jude School. She would give me lessons in a little room that was attached to the convent. If I arrived early for my lesson, sometime I would see the other nuns scurrying to chapel or into their kitchen to make dinner.
Recitals were always a little scary. I’d practice for weeks preparing, but I would always get nervous right before it was my turn to play. One year, Diane Brown and I were performing a Hayden concerto for two pianos. The music was 21 pages long, but we had memorized our parts. Sometimes Diane played alone. Sometimes I did. But the best parts were when we both played at the same time. We made it through the entire concerto without any large mistakes and boy were we proud.
If you weren’t a writer, what would you like to be?
No doubt about it, if I weren’t a writer, I would be a landscape artist. Gardening is my passion. Here in Georgia I can finally grow all kinds of flowers like hydrangeas that did not grow well when we lived in northeast Indiana. We also have a large vegetable garden during spring through fall. In the winter, I grow greens in a heated grow box. Yes, even when it’s snowing outside, lettuce, cabbage, arugula and mustard thrive in the grow box.
But I guess that writing and gardening have a lot in common. They both require seeds. In writing the ideas are the seeds. They both need cultivation. A writer needs to think long and hard about an idea before writing the first word. Even then, a writer knows that he/she will revise, or rewrite, a great deal of what is first written. After many months of attention and great care, both offer an abundant harvest. The garden produces flowers and vegetables that renew our body and spirit. The writing offers up words of comfort, inspiration and motivation for the soul.
I can’t imagine one without the other.
Where do you get your ideas?
All writers, whether 8 or 80 years old, get their ideas from the same places. I remember experiences and the people of my life. These can be great fuel for writing. Sometimes I mine an important event or question from a dream. Other times one book leads me to another book idea. I often am surprised when wonderful ideas just pop into my head. Once while I was a teacher, I heard these words on my lunch break, “This is the sunflower, tall and bright, that stands in my garden day and night.” I immediately turned around to my computer and the rest of that cumulative tale poured out of me and onto the page. What a gift! That doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s wonderful.
We once had an amazing cat named Dickens. He had so much personality. He taught himself to ring our doorbell when he wanted to come inside the house. When he was outside he would find a mole and bring it near our front door and talk to it for an hour or more, but never eat it. Sometimes when I was cleaning the house, he would jump up as if to scare me, then run away. One day he had an unfortunate accident and died. Both my husband and I were sad for a few weeks. At that time I spoke to one of my editors and told her that if she ever wanted a group of cat stories I would like to write them in honor of Dickens. Within that year I wrote the first three MITTENS stories. Each year a new MITTENS (I Can Read, HPC) story comes out. All because I had a cat that was unique and fun.
What’s the hardest part about writing a book?
For me, it’s remembering to be patient. Good writing takes time. I write a draft and want that draft to magically become the final manuscript, but it doesn’t work that way. After the first draft, I need to let it sit for a few weeks and then return with new eyes to the writing. It’s always apparent to me what I need to do next. But even then, I need to let that second draft sit and simmer for a few weeks. After the third revisit, I can get serious with line-editing, pacing and word choice. From there on out, I work non-stop on that manuscript until I am pleased. Sometimes that process takes 3-4 months for a picture book, but in the case of AN ISLAND GROWS, it took more than 2 ½ years before it all came together. Patience. Every writer needs a boatload.
What’s your favorite book that you wrote?
Many children ask me that question during author visits to their schools. In truth, all of my books are my favorites, but for different reasons. Hundreds of students who have read ARROWHAWK have sent me hand-written letters. I love that kind of personal response. AN ISLAND GROWS was like a puzzle and when I finished it, I was quite satisfied. Many of my small nonfiction books were great to write because I was able to revisit biographies or information books that I had not read since I was a child. Every book has its appeal. If I didn’t care for each one, I wouldn’t do a very good job with the writing.
Quick Picks
Favorite stationery item? Beautiful paper for handwritten notes.
Favorite or least favorite vegetable? Favorite vegetable is Chinese cabbage. Least favorite is okra.
Sourdough, whole wheat, white or rye? Stoned ground whole wheat bread, please.
Love revision or hate it? Love revision – it’s where a writer lives.
Early Bird or Night Owl Writer? Neither. My best writing time is between 10 am and 8 pm.
You must like nature if you’re reading JUST ONE BITE. Isn’t it fun to see the actual amount of food that these animals eat in one nibble, sip and gulp? And look at the real sizes of their heads and teeth! I never knew how long a giraffe’s tongue was until Geoff illustrated this book. I learn something new with each animal.
When I was a girl, I would get down eye-to-eye with animals to inspect them up close. It didn’t make any difference if it was a tadpole, a turtle, the neighbor’s cat, or one of my Uncle Merril’s pigs. I was fascinated, and still am, with everything about the natural world. My interest isn’t confined to only animals; I collect fossils, admire rocks and minerals, and enjoy hiking through streams, up mountains, and across fields.
Like most books that I write about the real world, JUST ONE BITE began with a series of questions. How much nectar does a butterfly sip with its proboscis? How much grass or bamboo does an elephant pull and eat in just one bite? What’s one of the largest bites of food that one animal swallows at once?
Since I never know the answers to my questions, I contact experts. For this book I worked with some scientists at universities, others at a butterfly house and even one the other side of the globe. The wonderful thing about scientists and experts is that they gladly share their knowledge with others. Since they are excited about their topics of study, they want others to appreciate them as well. After a few telephone conversations or emails, I generally have answers to all of my questions.
Research is searching once and again and again until you find information that satisfies your curiosity. What would you like to know? How far does a humpback whale migrate each year? How is marble made in the earth? How do islands form? One answer will lead you to another question and that answer will lead you to yet another question and on and on and on . . . for a lifetime – a lifetime of learning!
Enjoy the journey, and remember to READ! All great learning starts with just one book!
Download a copy of “Your Friend, Lola Schaefer ( A Letter to Readers)” HERE.
The Teacher Guide created for Lola’s delightful Just One Bite can be accessed by clicking HERE. In it – along with engaging mathematics, science, language arts activities, a study of various animal habitats and herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore eating habits – is a darling Reader’s Theater activity suitable for any Kindergarten to 2nd grade student.
The Reader’s Theater cast includes animals such as the worm, the butterfly, and the Komodo dragon…even microorganisms play a lead role. Let’s hear it for a chorus of microorganisms! And let’s hear it for Lola Schaefer’s tremendous Just One Bite with a big ReaderKidZ Hip! Hip! Hurrah!
Books about history, science, customs, cultures, peoples of all types – the famous and the not-so – are just a few of the many nonfiction topics available for kids in bookstores and libraries today.
This month, ReaderKidZ focuses on a handful of these for K-5 readers searching for facts, figures, information, and answers.
We’re pleased to welcome Lola Schaefer as our Author-In-Residence the first half of March. Lola’s written many nonfiction books for the educational and trade market, including, most recently, her picture book, JUST ONE BITE and a brand-new teacher resource, WRITING LESSONS FOR THE INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD.
My office is on the second floor of our home. My husband helped design this space for me. I have two large windows that overlook the woods behind our house. I don’t have any curtains on those windows so it’s like looking out through a picture frame to the world 
below. In autumn, the leaves are gold and red. In spring – right now – I can watch the trees bud and then burst with life.
JUST ONE BITE
