Beetle Busters

March 30, 2015

2015 Green Earth Book Awards

I’m thrilled to announce that The Nature Generation has announced the short list for its annual Green Earth Book Awards, and they’ve included Beetle Busters!

Here’s some information on the awards taken from The Nature Generation website:

The Nature Generation created the Green Earth Book Award to promote books that inspire children to grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for their natural environment. This is an annual award for books that best raise awareness of the beauty of our natural world and the responsibility we have to protect it.

The winners in each of five categories (picture book, children’s fiction, young adult fiction, children’s nonfiction, young adult nonfiction) will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2015. You know I’ll keep you posted.

November 10, 2014November 11, 2014

Launches Past & Present

It’s launch week! In addition to freaking out, I’m remembering launches past. The photo above is from 2007, when my husband and kids helped me celebrate the publication of Tracking Trash with a launch party in our local Barnes & Noble. On Thursday, they’ll help me celebrate the publication of Beetle Busters, this time with a launch party in our local library. I’m feeling weepy with gratefulness that they are still by my side, still supporting me and this crazy work I love so much.

If you are in the central Massachusetts area and are free on Thursday, please join our party. All the details can be found here.

July 20, 2011April 25, 2015

Things Found Afield

No, I didn’t find a kite.

In the photo above, I’m actually holding a throw ball line as Dr. Maya Nehme, a scientist studying Asian longhorned beetles, works to maneuver a heavier rope into the canopy of a tree. Technically, Ellen and I were along to watch Dr. Nehme work, and to gather details for our upcoming book on these gnarly beetles and the damage they are causing here in North America. But there was a moment when Dr. Nehme needed an extra set of hands, and I was nearby. (Thank you, Ellen, for catching it on film!)

Aside from holding the occasional throw ball line, I spent the morning gathering tiny details that will help me describe fieldwork like this in the book. I was hunting for specifics: small ideas, surprising imagery, unusual sounds, things that hadn’t come up during the interview process but which might help make my text come alive for readers. Like the fact that each scientist had his or her own method for getting the throw ball up over a branch. (I saw an underhand toss, an overhand rocket, and a magnificently simple and effective between the legs heave. Who knew?)

And there was this: When you are hanging beetle traps from the branches of trees, you spend most of your time looking up. And do you know what happens when you walk around an urban forest all morning with your eyes looking up? You trip. A lot. I did it, and I saw the scientists do it, too. Nice detail.

My absolute favorite detail of the morning was this one: Before hanging a trap, scientists have to measure the trap tree’s diameter. No big deal, right? Someone simply unfurls a tape measure, wraps it around the trunk, and records the number. But if the tree being measured is just the right size, then recording its diameter requires one to hug the tree, to stretch both arms around the trunk while passing the tape measure from one hand to the other. The sight of a beetle scientist with his arms wrapped around a trunk was poignant and loaded with symbolism; don’t know if I’ll ever use that nugget of an image, but I am certainly glad to have stumbled across it.

August 9, 2010April 25, 2015

A Couple Titles

So. So so so.

Whatcha been up to?

I’ve been busy working on a new book idea. In fact, I put the finishing touches on the first draft of my proposal this morning. And I kinda really love it. Yes, I do. Here’s hoping that my writing peeps do, too. And my collaborator. And my agent. And, eventually, my editor. It’s a book about a certain beetle that has been wreaking havoc and breaking hearts in my neck of the woods. My working title is BEETLE BUSTER. (I’m out in the woods practicing my own beetle busting skills in the picture above.)

I’ve also been thinking about my next-into-the-bookstore book, which will be published by Henry Holt in spring 2012. I’m anticipating notes from my editor soon and hope to be finalizing the text and photo selections in the coming months. This makes me very happy. There is, however, a tiny glitch: the title. As in, I just can’t come up with one! I’ve tried a few thousand possibilities (here’s one), I’ve made lists, I’ve consulted friends, I’ve asked kids in schools and libraries across the state … and, still, nothing. But last night, just before bed, I had an idea. I jotted it down.

And this morning, I still liked it. This is a good sign.

So … some background:

The book is about citizen science, that is, science done by kids and families and school groups and adults who are interested in observing the world around them. Professional scientists need our help on so many projects, and this book explores four of them in (what I hope is) irresistible detail. It needs a great title, something friendly, enticing, memorable, and representative of the projects inside.

So … a possibility:

BIRDING, FROGGING, TAGGING, SPOTTING: A YEAR OF CITIZEN SCIENCE
By Loree Griffin Burns
Photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz
Henry Holt, 2012

Soooooo … what do you think? I’d really like to know.

June 29, 2010April 25, 2015

Scenes from a War Zone

In 2008, a resident of Worcester found some strange looking beetles in her yard … and life in this part of Massachusetts has not been the same since. More than twenty-seven thousand beetle-infested trees have been removed from our landscape, and thousands more are being treated with chemicals to curb movement of the beetle. At risk is the entire northeastern hardwood forest, and scientists and foresters are taking a hard stand here in Worcester. It’s a fascinating story, scary and worrisome and a little bit amazing. After a day of field research last week, I’m realizing this story is different from–harder than–any other I’ve ever written about, because it’s close to home. Very close to home.