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If you want to make a career out of writing for children, you should certainly consider writing nonfiction. there are loads of magazines which publish nonfiction for children, as well as thousands of books published each year both by trade publishers and educational ones. Author Fiona Bayrock has a wonderful page of links directing you to loads of advice on all aspects of writing for children.

In my early years as a picture book author-illustrator, I read some how-to books to learn more about the field. One had a statement to the effect that “there isn’t anything NEW you can do in children’s books, but try to think of a fresh angle” on the same old thing, presumably. It may be that whoever concocted that theory was thinking about fiction... there have been quite a few books about “the seven basic plots,” or whatever number an author comes up with. And heaven knows, the world surely doesn’t need another variation on the endless I'll Love You Till the Cows Come Home or the Sun Explodes, Whichever Comes First genre of picture book(!)

When it comes to nonfiction though, there are plenty of subjects that haven't been adapted for the picture book age. My first school visits inspired an idea...it became clear that writing was emphasized at an earlier age in the curriculum than during my elementary years, even in Kindergarten. The thought occurred to me that if these young students had writing skills, what could they do with them? How about making a newspaper? I checked in Children’s Books in Print, and there weren't any books for kids about it, except perhaps a documentary-style book about being a journalist. I wanted to show characters working together to create their own newspaper. That question, “what can kids write?” resulted in The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper, then later books about writing letters and books.

I routinely research the competition (if any) to see if a subject has been done to death or not. Rather than a drive to the library to rummage through Books in Print, nowadays a search on Amazon quickly shows what has been published. (The Advanced Search limits titles to the 4-8 year range for picture books.) It’s not uncommon to find a topic that has only one or even zero picture books about it, which makes me more inclined to pursue it. Also, and this may be obvious, but Amazon or any search engine is the best way to test titles. For example, once I was considering When Pigs Fly as a title, but there were already several published books entitled with that phrase. No sense in confusing potential readers.

So how do authors find a neglected topic to write a book about? The classic method is to have an idea pop into your head seemingly out of nowhere. But if that fails, read on...

Often teachers, librarians, parents, and other book people can suggest ideas. “You should write a book about X.” These are often excellent leads, although despite several suggestions I have yet to attempt a book about Groundhog Day. When I send out my enewsletter, I always ask for ideas and usually get some good ones. Editors are another great source, naturally. My longtime editor (Margery Cuyler) once told me there weren’t many picture books about math and how about giving one a try? Which has turned into eleven books so far. Not every externally-generated suggestion will fit, which is the way it goes. But sometimes a not-so-good idea can spark a thought process that leads to a great one.

Checking out curriculum guides and/or standards can be intriguing, such as those developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These can often be viewed or downloaded from the web sites of national associations, local school districts, or from a state level organization, such as this one for Florida. I don't know about you, but to me this practically pulsates with possibilities: Differentiate between living and non-living things.

(To be continued next month.)

I have a secret. I'm a seasonal nonfiction writer. In winter, the fiction hits. The long dark days, the cold, the spiritual struggle of surviving winter in the Midwest makes me escape to reading and writing fiction. Characters and novels fill my soul. Nonfiction pales. I love my second life of creating made-up plots and puzzling out character connections.

But when Spring arrives, I shed my novel skin and I can't even remember why I wanted to write fiction. Spring wildflowers, hooray! Warblers, hooray! Gardening...why did I ever want to spend time away from nonfiction, the science of life sprouting around me?

That's where I am now. I am busy with caterpillars and flowers and nesting birds. Field guides are my life. A stack of novels to read and write lies unloved. Who needs fiction? I am reading about the origins of fruit and the science of stars. My brain is sponging up documentaries on LINK TV. The overgrowth of life and ideas presses against me, making me wonder how much I will be able to uncover and explore in my life. Nonfiction is my season!

But I warn you. I have another side, and it will arrive...oh, around late November. That's when those winter dreams will sprout fiction. Unless I can find a way to go the tropics, where the green may bring my nonfiction back to life. Perhaps if I lived in Southern California, I would be nonfiction all year long. Or would I? And would that be a good thing? Hmm...

I am guessing some of you other readers/writers out there have a seasonality to your subject matter, too. Let me know if I am right!

By the way I recommend you add another patriotic book to your library. Farmer George Plants A Nation by Peggy Thomas, published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press. I dig this book! And digging is appropriate because it brings forth the life of George Washington as a farmer and scientist. It is so great to see a man, mostly understood as soldier or statesman, in the life that fed him: his trees, gardens, and experiments with agriculture. Apparently, his letters were filled with farm life and farm instructions, even when he was on the battlefield. We all have our roots.

I guess an elementary school teacher never knows what activity will stimulate a particular student. When I was a little girl, it was Mrs. Ottewell’s half-hour reports at the Montessori School of Greenville. Here’s how they worked. First, she went to the shelf and pulled down The Topic Box. We reached in and each pulled out a folded slip of paper. On the paper was a topic. We had one half hour to find some books in the well-stocked shelves, read something about that topic, and write a report. It was a wild and crazy knowledge race.

The first attraction of the half hour report was that Topic Box. Oh, how I loved the surprise, the uncertainty, of pulling a paper out of the box. It was like an eight ball, that fluid-filled prediction toy. I never knew what topic I might nab. In a time before Internet use, randomly generated, wide-reaching information was wild and stimulating. It appealed to my sense of rebellion. If I had been told what to write about, I might have balked. But when I pulled it from the box, it was magic, it was organic, it was my choice, yet not my choice. It was destiny!

Through half-hour reports, I sampled the world. I tasted a bit of Russia, spent a few minutes with minotaurs, and found the Himalayas on a map. That was the magic of Mrs. Ottewell’s room.

Now, as part of my career, I have written two children’s books on each continent. I have written a book on each biome, from rain forest to taiga, from ocean to coral reef. I have the luxury of slipping from one topic to another as I shift from book to book. For articles, I may research the geography of China, the shape of rivers, or fish in the Amazon. I follow leads, I do interviews, I am free to pursue my curiosity where it leads. It’s like those half-hour reports. I am free to think and explore and report back, only now it’s to the reading public instead of to the class.

A few years ago, my husband and I visited Mrs. Ottewell at her home. We began to discuss fellow classmates and a friend who had married someone from Egypt. We began talking of Palestine, politics, and the greater world. A question came up. Right there in the middle of the conversation, she stood up and pulled out an atlas. Soon we had a dictionary, too. By the end of the conversation, we were poring over maps and encyclopedias.

You know it has been a full conversation when you end it with books and maps spread out and your mind opened somehow as well.
Thank you, Mrs. Ottewell.
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The passage above is part of a chapter in my book for grownups:

Unfold Your Brain:
Deepen your creativity, expand into new arts, and prosper as a writer, musician, or visual artist

Unfold Your Brain is a workbook/think book about how to deepen creativity. Early chapters are suitable for those just beginning to explore their artistic side; later chapters delve into the arts/publishing business and give hints about marketing, public speaking, and revitalizing creativity mid-career.
You can order Unfold Your Brain from lulu.com. Here is the URL address:
http://www.lulu.com/content/531527

When I started out writing for kids on Scholastic’s magazines, I used to dream of finding one subject that I could claim as my own. I wanted something I could sink my teeth into, gathering research and interviews and finally, writing an original book that reflected my intimate knowledge and my passion for the topic. It was a dream that came true. After a few false starts, I found my subject on pages 131-132 of a book called First of All: Significant “Firsts” by American Women, by Joan McCullough. The short write-up highlighted “The 1^st women’s baseball leagues,” focusing primarily on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) started by Philip K. Wrigley in 1943. As a long-time baseball fan and women’s history major, I was astonished that I had never heard of the league. The day after I found that notation, I got on a bus and headed to the college library closest to my home (at Jersey City State) to start collecting everything I could find about the league.

That was in 1981, and after writing articles about the AAGPBL throughout the 80s, I finally finished my book, A Whole New Ball Game, in 1993. By then Penny Marshall’s 1992 movie, A League of Their Own, had piqued the public’s curiosity about the All-American, and teachers and their students in particular embraced the chance to learn the true story of these pioneering women. After 15 years, the paperback edition of the book is still in print, and the kids’ volumes on the subject could fill the better part of a library shelf. I’m proud that there’s now a literature of the league, and that its story is included in a number of American history textbooks as well.

Yet my association with the league didn’t end when my A Whole New Ball Game was published. During my book’s long gestation period, the former players I had interviewed became friends, and they welcomed me at their reunions. I had joined their Players Association as an associate when it was formed in 1987, and in 2000 I accepted an invitation to run for the board of directors. After six years as secretary, I am now co-chair of the Vision Committee, the group delegated with the responsibility of suggesting what should become of the organization and its assets when the remaining players, now in their 70s and 80s, are no longer around.

While by-the-book journalists might balk at a writer becoming part of the story, I think my book is better because of the connections I made doing the research. There’s no question that I am a more confident writer—and a stronger person—as well. Next to my family, my friends in the Players Association are my biggest fans. If it wasn’t for pitcher Fran Janssen’s prodding, I might never have finished my oft interrupted biography of Nellie Bly (due out from National Geographic in Fall ’09). And without the examples of Fran and countless other risk-taking women from the league, I might not have left the security of a staff publishing job to stake out a career as a freelancer in 1999.

Several years ago, at an AAGPBL player reunion, Suzy, a woman about my age, rushed up to tell me that my book had changed her life. After reading it, she'd contacted some of the players I mentioned and then followed their suggestion that she come to the reunion. Since that time, Suzy has become an integral part of the Players Association, running for office and helping to plan the most recent reunion. The women of the league do that to you--welcome you with open arms into their community and imbue you with their enthusiasm and pride. Writing about them changed my life, too. I can't imagine a better subject to claim as my own.

Every author encounters facts that shift over time, from expected changes such as a new President to the unprecedented landing of an alien spacecraft on the White House lawn (theoretically.) When you least expect it, carefully researched details or large chunks of a book can be rendered obsolete overnight. As an example of the latter, remember when this graphic was ubiquitous on cereal boxes and school cafeteria walls across the U.S.?

In 1994 I had based a book on the USDA Food Pyramid, The Edible Pyramid: Good Eating Every Day, so it was a bit of a hassle when the USDA updated the program some ten years later, however welcome the changes were.

Since the point of the book is to explore the foods found within the various sections of the pyramid, the graphic was on most spreads. It's usually a fairly easy matter to update a book’s text, but artwork is another story. Fortunately we illustrators now have software such as Adobe Photoshop to assist in this task. The original illustrations were hand painted, so the production films were scanned and turned into digital files that I could then alter as desired.

The new pyramid included steps on the side to emphasize the need for daily exercise, so I wanted to create a new illustration showing the characters’ favorite activities. It was a reasonably easy matter to cut and paste to condense two spreads into one to gain the needed space. Making digital art match hand-painted art is a little trickier, but can be done. It was also nice to fix one small but annoying glitch in the original book... in the hand-lettered text the misspelled word “ravoli” has now been spelled correctly at long last. Note to self: don’t use painted lettering because it’s much more difficult to make changes.

Here is a click-through version of the revised book (click on the orange eyeballs for a larger version):
Another of my books was dealt a body blow by of all groups, the International Astronomical Union, who decreed in 2006 that Pluto is no longer a planet, but instead is a “dwarf planet.” One commentator I heard at the time asked, ”What's next, they‘ll take Yellow out of the rainbow?“ My contribution to the still ongoing debate is to say that a “dwarf tomato” is still a tomato....

The frustrating thing for me was that only six months before the IAU announcement I had already revised Postcards from Pluto: A Tour of the Solar System to include a variety of factual changes in the years since its publication. For example, in the first edition I had been too specific about the number of moons around various planets, a strategic error on my part since new ones are discovered fairly often. Of course, the fact that the very title of the book contains the not-a-planet-anymore Pluto means that no amount of updating may satisfy those curriculum makers who prefer the official planets and only the official planets. Sigh.

Another example of a changing fact in one of my books is New Hampshire’s famous rock formation and icon, The Old Man of the Mountain. I included an illustration of it on the state‘s page in my Celebrate the 50 States! Unfortunately, it collapsed in 2003 (the rocks, not the book!) In this case, it seems a fitting memorial to leave the page as is.

As these examples show, facts can behave like bucking broncos, and authors can’t always ride them for long. But that’s what web sites are for... to post corrections and updates, right?

Hello again.

Highlight of the month for me: My novel, Climbing the Stairs, received a lovely review in Kirkus, a starred review in the April 15^th issue of Booklist and is a May Booksense Notable pick. All the reviews pointed to the intricate details that make the story vivid. Which got me thinking about the importance of detail in any work – whether fiction or nonfiction.

The most important thing about detail, in my opinion, is deciding what and how much to include. This is especially hard in nonfiction, because there’s no fictional storyline to act as a “guide” to tell you what to throw out and what to keep in. And, of course, if you’re anything like I am, even if you’re about to write a nonfiction picture book that’s well under 1000 words, you probably read 100 reference books on that topic. At least.

SO how do I choose what to include and what not to when I write nonfiction? First, I sort the information I’ve gathered into little heaps (or group the references in some way – putting the books in different piles, for example).

Then, I list what got me excited about the topic. A few lines on why I like that area of nonfiction enough to want to write a book about it. That sometimes helps me understand the new angle that I see or what I want the book to do that’s different from others on the same topic that are already out there.

And that also helps me to see what I want to be just “background” material, versus what I want to focus on and emphasize. Usually all this is pretty clear when I conceive the project, but by the time I finish my research, it can get pretty muddled. Or, on rare occasions, the focus shifts and I have an even better idea that cropped up when I was doing research which I decide to focus on. Whatever the case may be, it helps me to clearly state my focus and my goal and what I love best about the topic on paper. If there are many things I love about the topic, I write them all down and then pick what I love best.

That means, of course, there will be a huge chunk of material I won’t be able to use. But leaving out the right stuff is just as important as what you leave in!

Once I have the first draft together (and it’s usually 5 times longer than the length I have in my mind as a target), I use my focus/goal paragraph to pick out the details I need to keep in. And I keep asking myself, what’s the main question this book is trying to answer? Anything l that’s not directly part of the answer I start to take out.

Then, I stare hard and once again take a look with the main theme in mind. The theme is the part that needs the greatest detail. Everything else is superfluous. I prune and prune and prune.( Which, by the way, is extremely hard for me to do. I hate pruning our potted plants – my husband does that because I just don’t like to chop the poor things.)

Pruning my writing is equally hard. There are so many interesting facts I have to toss out. But one thing that helps me is to remember that a good book has a focal point, just as a good painting does. The composition of a painting helps to train the eye to the part the artist wants us to see, and a well composed book uses facts to augment a central idea, theme, or argument.

Another tool I sometimes use is my “wheel of ideas”. In the center of a blank sheet of paper, I write the word or set of words that’s most important to me – what best describes what the book is about. Then, radiating out from the center, I write adjectives or themes that relate to the book – and link them to one another, or sometimes make a chain that radiates outward. It’s usually a pretty tangled web, but it helps me pick out the thread or threads I want to use to embroider with in detail.

Here’s a quote I use when I teach nonfiction writing. “The fool collects facts; the wise man selects them.” Powell, president of AAS, 1888. That about sums it up.

Now, for my question of the month – how do you pick what details you’re going to include in a nonfiction work?

If I think of my life as a story, one of the advantages of advanced years is that I got to see how I turned out. Upon reflection I can figure out how various factors and events contributed to the making of the person that I am today. There are not many authors of nonfiction science books for children around. It is certainly not a career path many would follow, nor is it a get-rich-quick scheme. Yet in 1979 I made a conscious and deliberate decision to make it my vocation despite the fact that I was a single mother of two young boys with only $300 a month in child support (which didn’t go very far even then). I had been a science researcher, a junior high science teacher, a network television news-writer, a stringer for a national magazine, and did a stint in public relations. I also had a dozen books to my credit (including Science Experiments You Can Eat) and 23 half-hour episodes of my own cable TV show, “The Science Game.” I knew I could earn money doing a lot of things but I thought that if I wrote science books for children I could be distinctive. Besides, I could do it from home and be there for my kids. So despite many nay-sayers who told me I couldn’t support a family with such a career, that is what I chose. How it all led to where I am today is due to a number of threads in my life. I have some understanding of their origins.

My interest in learning was fostered by my elementary school, The Little Red School House in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It was, and still is, progressive education at its best. The emphasis was on experiential learning—discovering through making, building, experimenting, and then transforming the lessons into expressive works—writing and art. Its mission is to produce life-long learners. Here I am!

My interest in science comes from my insecurities about being an authority on anything. When I was young I believed that my opinion was of no importance. I only felt certain about what I had experienced myself and that experience was limited. I am a very literal person, only coming to understand nuances of the human condition as expressed in literature when I got some biography myself. But science is a way of sharing experiences. If you ask a scientist, “How do you know?” A scientist can say, “This is what I did. If you do what I did, you’ll know what I know.” I could trust the authority of science and as a result I could speak about science with conviction. Besides, I loved to make discoveries and science was wide open to that.

My productivity stems from financial necessity. If I had married the kind of man my mother wanted for me (like my present husband) I would not have had this amazing career. Once, when an editor who had promised me a series got fired, I broke out in hives wondering how I would pay the rent. There was a period when I had no medical insurance for me or my kids. I would peruse the NY Times want ads to reassure myself I could always bail out and get a job. Then I’d decide to hang in there one more week. I expanded into school visits, teacher in-services, and other forms of paid public speaking. I turned nothing down. Even today my moods are still very much tied to my cash-flow situation—my version of post-traumatic shock syndrome.

Every writer struggles to develop a “voice”—language that communicates the author’s humanity underlying the content of the work. In developing my voice I had to fight a tradition in nonfiction that stemmed from a very male and authoritarian culture. When writing about the real world (particularly science), the author had to be distant and dispassionate (translate: “dry”). The information was to be communicated from the real world to the reader untouched by wit or the human heart. But I’m female and a teacher. Read Deborah Tannen’s book, You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. She claims that women converse to create community, while men treat conversation as a competition. (A good example of the latter is “Crossfire” on TV.) My enthusiasm for my subject was evident to my students when I was in the classroom. My job as a writer is to bring that enthusiasm to my readers through the written word. I figured that if I were bored when I wrote, my readers would be bored while reading. So I began bringing an irreverent tone and a little humor to my work. “Not so fast,” said some editors. And so, the battle began.

To this day, there are occasions when I have to “splain,” as Desi Arnaz would say, what I’m doing to my editors. (Such an explanation is on my website where I analyze two recent books: I See Myself and I Fall Down: http://www.vickicobb.com/pointofview.htm)
My books are not just about facts and ideas but include my excitement and enthusiasm for these facts and ideas. Slowly, my books have gained acceptance and I have even won some awards. A part of me is astonished at my success. My generation of women was brought up to think that men were authorities; they knew more than we did. Who could possibly be interested in my opinion on anything? When I got the galleys for my first book in 1969, I gazed at my name in print for hours. Now, almost forty years later, I have no problem saying what I think. So here it is. I hope you found it interesting.

This time of year I am on the road a lot. I speak at conferences and visit libraries and schools. (Check here for a awesome nationwide environmental project/art contest for classrooms K-3 to celebrate my new book TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES. The prize is I come to your school for free.)

This is why I've grown increasingly fond of Strollerderby. Above and beyond the fact that they crank out post after post every day and have lots of pretty pictures that are easy on the eyes, they also tell interesting stories like this one. It isn't credited so I can't attest to its accuracy, but apparently a contract has been sent to some libraries regarding the last Harry Potter title.

The contract states that all libraries must limit the number of employees who handle the books before the July 21 release and provide names and contact information for each branch manager. And failure to keep the book under wraps until July 21 could exclude libraries from receiving future embargoed titles.