Author: Loree Burns

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The Life Cycles of Butterflies

THE LIFE CYCLES OF BUTTERFLIES
by Judy Burris & Wayne Richards
Storey Publishing, 2006

Category: Middle grade nonfiction

Since I shared my favorite recent adult book on butterflies, I decided it was only fair to share my favorite recent kids book on butterflies. I treated myself to a copy of THE LIFE CYCLES OF BUTTERFLIES while visiting the live butterfly exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History this weekend … and read it cover-to-cover on the train ride home. It is perfect for new butterfly hunters struggling to identify the species in their own backyard.

The book is written by brother and sister butterfly lovers who remember well their early days of butterflying. They’ve included lots of visual information, including photographs of twenty-three common garden butterflies in all four life stages: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. If you know a kid looking for a butterfly field guide, consider this one; it may not be comprehensive as far as species go, but it is a truly great place to start.

And while you are waiting for a copy of the book to arrive, check out the authors’ website; it’s brimming with life cycle photographs and teacher resources.

 

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Do Butterflies Bite?


Photo by Deborah Smith Selkow

Those are my boys up there, when they were littler. The picture was taken at our friends Deb and Stan’s house, where we had gone to collect some monarch caterpillars (there are a few in the glass jar between the boys). Stan sent me this picture on Sunday as a Mother’s Day surprise, and it was so unexpected and lovely that I had to share it. Oh, I miss those pudgy little faces!

And how lovely, too, that he sent the picture during the very week that the season’s first Monarch butterflies were reported in Connecticut. Surely they will be here in our backyard soon? (For a complete rundown of spring monarch sightings, visit JourneyNorth.)

Coincidentally, I just finished a fantastic book about butterflies. Now would be the perfect time tell you about it:

DO BUTTERFLIES BITE?
By Hazel Davies and Carol A. Butler
Rutgers University Press, 2008

Category: Nonfiction for grownups and young adults

DO BUTTERFLIES BITE? uses a question and answer format to give readers a comprehensive overview of butteflies and moths, from the basics of their biology and body plans to the complexities of their life cycles and living situations. I learned a lot in its 224 pages; for example, did you know a group of butterflies is referred to as a rabble? Or that silkworm moths—cultivated for more than 5000 years now—have lost the ability to fly? Or that citizen scientists across North America will be counting butterflies over Memorial Day weekend? (More on that here.) I can’t recommend this book highly enough; it’s an interesting read for beginning or intermediate butterfly lovers.

Happy Butterflying!

 

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Words of Wisdom

This afternoon I am celebrating the flight of a particularly exciting manuscript from my desk over to my agent’s desk. Hooray!

So, how am I celebrating?

For starters, chocolate.

And I’ve followed up with some quiet moments to meander through my notes from last month’s New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. There I found this powerful charge from non-fiction author April Pulley Sayre:

Take the reader by the hand and show them what you love.

Yes. Yes. Yes. This is what most of us who write nonfiction for children strive for, I think. Take them by the hand. Show them what you love.

I’ll be away from my desk (and my blog) for a few days, so I’ll wish you all a great weekend now. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who nurture and raise up children!

 

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Solomon Schechter Day School


Photo by Pat McEachen

I spent last Friday with fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston. I am still not tired of sharing the TRACKING TRASH story with young readers, and I am especially thrilled when a group of kids who don’t have any idea who I am or why I am in their classroom leave school thinking hard about ocean pollution and how to address it.

One student asked during my presentation why concerned scientists couldn’t simply use a plastic magnet to pull floating plastic debris out of the ocean. I told him it was a good idea, but someone needed to design an object that would attract plastic the way a magnet attracts metal. He was not entirely satisfied with this answer, and I watched him chew on it throughout the rest of my talk.

Later, at a luncheon for me and twenty-some student writers, we talked about writing and science and, of course, trash. (They brought it up, I swear; I do not force trash conversations over lunch!) Anyway, the boy with the magnet idea spoke up (I’m paraphrasing his thoughts here):

“I’m still thinking about the magnet. First, it’s not that I am obsessed with magnets. It’s just that I had a sliver under my thumbnail yesterday and was thinking how useful a splinter-attracting magnet would have been. And when I heard you talk about small plastic pieces floating in the ocean, I thought how useful a plastic-attracting magnet would be.”

I let him keep going, because this kid was GOING …

“So, I’ve been thinking. What if we put metal into plastic, so that it was easier to collect with a magnet?”

Okay, let go of the logistical limitations such an idea might have and just marvel at the fact that this young man is thinking hard about solutions to the ocean plastic problem. Could miniscule metal shavings be incorporated into plastic recipes? I have no idea. But if they could, a giant magnet being pulled through the ocean might someday be able to collect floating plastic debris in a way we humans are currently unable to collect it. This germ of an idea is brilliant, and I would not be surprised if its young creator figures a way around all the pesky logistics.

Thank you, Solomon Schechter Day School, for inspiring me. You are a thoughtful and intelligent bunch, and it was my pleasure to spend a day with you!

 

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I’m at DoodleBuds today!

I had a lovely chat with author, artist, creative director, and blogger Heather Zschock this week. Heather keeps a delightful and eclectic blog that features, among other things, a weekly Author/Artist Series. I’m this week’s guest author. Heather is a new mom, and so we talked a bit about creating and parenting at the same time. My words of wisdom?

It’s an endless struggle for balance.

(Well it is, isn’t it?)

You can read our entire interview here, and you can find previous interviews in the Author/Artist Series here.

Enjoy!

 

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Winter World

WINTER WORLD, The Ingenuity of Animal Survival
by Bernd Heinrich
HarperCollins, 2003

Category: Non-fiction for grown-ups

I had planned to read WINTER WORLD over the winter (of course!) but not much goes according to plan around here. And so I found myself enjoying some strange stolen moments in a hammock this past weekend, soaking in a New England spring and a New England winter at the same time …

WINTER WORLD is a meander through the Maine woods in the cold months, guided by biologist and naturalist Bernd Heinrich, and with special attention paid to animals and how they adapt to survive the elements. There were chapters on some of my favorite insects, including ladybugs, butterflies, and honey bees. As is the case with the best nature non-fiction, this book inspired me to get outside and look around. Too much of my outdoor time is spend doing things (exercising, gardening, lying in a hammock and reading!); I forget to stop and SEE.

My favorite quote came from the chapter in which the author admonishes the line of thinking that forbids people from touching butterflies:

 

The official response of “protecting” these animals by making it illegal for curious kids to handle or collect them assumes that everyone wants to do it. By that logic one could just as well make it illegal to not handle wildlife, because some get enlightened by contact with it. Personally, I think that this is ultimately more useful than everyone being distanced from it. Contact should be encouraged.

 

Hear, hear! Every human should be allowed (required?) to gently clutch a butterfly in his (or her) grasp, watch it taste his skin with its feet, and wonder as it flits away where is it going? when will it be back?


© Ellen Harasimowicz

 

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New England SCBWI Conference

I spent last weekend at the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators annual spring conference and have wanted since then to share a few thoughts about the marvelousness. Somehow, though, the week got away from me. Let’s just file this post in the “Better Late Than Never” folder and get on with it …

Firstly, I was thrilled with the scope and breadth of the offerings specific to writers of nonfiction. Here is a rundown of the nonfiction workshops offered throughout the weekend:

WILD WORDS: VOICE AND CHOICE IN NONFICTION, by April Pulley Sayre

HOW TO SUCCEED IN RESEARCH WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE AN IMPOSTER, by Sara Hoagland Hunter

WRITING TRADE NONFICTION, by Loree Griffin Burns

DELICIOUS NONFICTION, by April Pulley Sayre

INFORMATION VIA ILLUSTRATION: THE ART OF WRITING THE NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK, by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

NOVEL TECHNIQUES FOR NONFICTION, by Padma Venkatraman

What can I say except: WOW!

Kudos to the New England SCBWI Conference Committee for giving non-fiction writers several seats at the conference table. I know that all writing—be it fiction or nonfiction—requires passion and commitment and, yes, artistry on the part of the author; this year’s New England conference made it clear that this notion is embraced by our entire New England writing community. Hooray for that!

More personally, it was a joy to spend time with writers I have come to adore and seldom have time to visit with in person. Hooray for that, too!

 

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The Sage School


Photo by Eunice Swanson

Isn’t that a beautiful collage? It was created by students and teachers at The Sage School, where I spent two days celebrating Earth Day last week. Each member of the school community created a cutout of their footprint, inscribed it with their best wishes for how to better treat the planet, and added it to a massive wall hanging celebrating Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling.

In addition to seeing this collage in the making, and learning about the school-wide Trash-Free Lunch Day, I spoke with students about my adventures in the field (Pre-K through grade 1), the writing process (Grades 2 through 4), and the science of TRACKING TRASH (Grades 5-8). For each presentation I had the honor of being introduced by a student; thank you Tom, Lexi and Jonah for your hard work and kind words.

The surprise of the visit came when I met Allie and Stephanie, sisters who happen to know my childhood hero, Mr. James Micarelli. Mic taught ninth grade biology back at Everett High School, and he inspired me. So much so that I dedicated TRACKING TRASH to him, which is why he comes up so often in my school visit talks. Imagine my delight when Allie introduced herself to me as Mr. Micarelli’s great-niece! I met Stephanie the next day and posing for this picture was a thrill for me. Thank you, girls.

I shared thoughts and ideas with so many writers and scientists and beekeepers and conservationists while I was at The Sage School; it was, to me, the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day. Many thanks to Eunice Swanson, who organized my visit and sent photographs, and to the staff and students who made this visit memorable … and who treated me to some new Sage essentials:

 

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April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

I’ll be celebrating our planet today with students at The Sage School in Massachusetts. I plan to tell them a bit about TRACKING TRASH (of course) … and I’m hoping that they will tell me a little more about their Trash-Free Lunch Day. This is what I’ve learned from their school website:

Students, as well as the faculty and administration, are being encouraged to use reusable containers and avoid plastic wrappers, bags, foil lids, and single-use cups, bottles, and caps. Since trash receptacles will not be available in the lunchroom or classrooms during snack and lunch periods on Trash-Free Lunch Day, everyone will bring all leftover trash and food items, including milk cartons and sandwich wrappers, home with them.

What a fabulous idea! Carting lunch trash home from school is sure to open some eyes.

So, how will you open eyes today?

 

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Confluence

The kids and I happen to be reading Carl Hiassen’s SCAT this week:

scat

We also happened to be shopping today for a gift to give a soon-to-be-ten-year-old friend who loves the outdoors. We bought him James Halfpenny and Jim Bruchac’s SCATS AND TRACKS OF THE NORTHEAST:

scatstracks

And then, in a truly bizarre confluence of, um, poopiness … we had a black bear visit our back yard. I kid you not. Here, check it out:

bear

It was a strange thing, to stand together just inside the glass slider to our yard and watch a bear scour our (now crumpled) bird feeder*, get up and meander through the newly tilled blueberry bed (thank heavens we haven’t planted the bushes yet), and then lope across the yard, past the shed, and into the neighbor’s yard. An honest-to-goodness black bear. In our back yard.

You can bet we were out scat-hunting in the former bird feeding station this morning. Nothing interesting to report.

* Evidence of the bear was first found at my neighbor’s feeders on Easter morning. We let our feeders go dry immediately (they were close to it anyway as our feeding and FeederWatching season ended at the beginning of April), but even still the bear paid a visit. I’m hoping s/he moves on before stumbling upon the neighbor’s beehives …

** I have also spent a good deal of time this week finalizing my presentation for this weekend’s New England SCBWI conference. I’ll be leading a workshop on writing trade non-fiction. It will not be poopy. I promise.