TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF.
I grew up in a small gold mining town in northern California. I attended the University of California at Berkeley, where I met my husband, David. I worked for a number of years in the field of education as a teacher, director of talented and gifted education, and as an elementary school principal. We now have two daughters, and four grandchildren.
Two of the grandchildren are right here in Boulder, Colorado and we get to see them often. One granddaughter lives in Australia, and our grandson is in Xi'an China on a Fulbright working on his dissertation.
WHERE DO YOUR IDEAS FOR NONFICTION COME FROM?
I enjoy animals and spending time on trails in the woods and parks. I've written about many animals that interest me and children. When my granddaughter moved to Australia, I was reading about that country and got interested in the many poisonous
creatures off the Great Barrier Reef. Then I wrote, FIELD GUIDE TO OCEAN ANIMALS about eight of these creatures.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE HARDEST PART ABOUT WRITING?
I enjoy writing fiction as well as nonfiction. Both pacing and voice pose challenges. How to put in enough detail to make it interesting and real but not slow down the pace of the story. How to combine description, dialogue, and internal thoughts to make the book a page-turner.
WHAT IS THE STRANGEST FACT YOU HAVE LEARNED?
The deadliest of all creatures, measured by how many people an ounce of its venom would kill. and how quickly, would be the sea wasp. Once stung, a human dies in 30 seconds to 4 minutes. An ounce of its venom wold be enough to kill 60 people.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST WORK.
My newest children's books is PANDA'S EARTHQUAKE ESCAPE (Sylvan Dell). It tells about the real earthquakes that hit the Wolong Panda Reserve in 2008, killing people and knocking down walls so that several pandas escaped for a few days. The books tells the story of what might have happened to LiLing and her cub, Tengfei on the days they were lost and on their own. I was proud when it won the Mom's Choice Gold Award.
Also just out is STICKS AND STONES, 39 FUN AND SIMPLE GAMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Red Chair Press.) For each game, there are interesting facts about the country and directions for playing the games which require no equipments except sticks and stones!
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?
My newest adult books is SPEAKING ILL OF THE DEAD; JERKS IN COLORADO HISTORY. I enjoy writing about the history and national parks in Colorado for
both children and adults.
Interviewed by Laura Crawford
Thank you for this interview. I would love to ask Laura how many of her non-fiction books have been specific requests from editors and how many were ideas she proposed?
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