Nonfiction Monday: Interview with April Pulley Sayre

Interview with April Pulley Sayre

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF:

I am a fulltime children's book author. I've written about 60 published books, mostly nonfiction about nature and animals. I was born and raised in South Carolina and now live in the Midwest.

WHERE DO YOUR IDEAS FOR NONFICTION COME FROM?

My ideas come from my everyday life, which consists of reading about science and nature, traveling to see wild creatures and habitats, and gardening for wildlife and vegetables.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE HARDEST PART ABOUT WRITING?

The hardest part of writing as a career is not losing your real life while you are busy creating. It's easy to be a workaholic when you love your work. Hours pass and I come up from the haze of being enthused about what is on paper and computer. Fortunately, my husband and my friends are very understanding. They know I become totally obsessed with my work and then pop up like a woodchuck from its burrow. Then suddenly, I'm ready to relax. "Okay, where is everybody, let's play!"

WHAT IS THE STRANGEST FACT YOU HAVE LEARNED?

Some rainforest flower mites hitch rides from flower to rain forest flower by dashing up hummingbird bills when the birds visit the blooms. The mites then ride inside the hummingbirds' nostrils. When they reach another flower, they can dash down and hop into their new flower home. Yeah, I know an awful lot of gross facts kids love.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST WORK.

Rah, Rah, Radishes: a Vegetable Chant, which was just released, sprouted in 2006 when I was watching a little show by Jamie Oliver on BBC. It was called "School Dinners," I believe. Anyway, he interviewed kids and found they did not know the names of vegetables. That saddened me. I had to do something. After all, how can kids, many of whom are struggling with obesity, move toward healthy foods like vegetables if the words and shapes in the produce aisle are foreign to them? I decided to write a chant, a rollicking piece full of the juicy joy of vegetable names, so kids could easily learn them. I visited my local farmer's market and photographed their produce to illustrate the book. It's a book full of color, shape, rhythm, and rhyme. I'm excited about it. I'm a true veggie fan. Currently, I'm working on photographing the sequel, about fruit, called Go, Go, Grapes.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?

Well, my passion, other than nature, is nonfiction voice. I love experimenting with the possibilities in expository and narrative nonfiction. It's a great time to be a nonfiction writer. So many terrific writers and editors are pushing the edge of what can be done in children's nonfiction publishing. I think parents who have not read nonfiction in a while should plop down in the nonfiction section of the library and just browse and read a loud. Pull out some books. I think they'll be amazed at what's being done in this field.

Interviewed by Laura Crawford

This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up hosted this week by proseandkahn blog.