Around 2017, I helped QED Publishing create a couple of books for Scholastic. Called Puppy Secrets and Kitty Secrets, they were easy-readers with loads of very cute photos and they have been enormously successful. So successful, in fact, that the original print runs all sold out fast. (As far as I know, they were available in the US and the UK.) I get emails from readers’ parents, grandparents, librarians and teachers about these books regularly – in fact I get more correspondence about these two titles than all my other books combined! They are still available in some libraries, but everyone wants to find a copy for their little ‘un to enjoy at home, or to replace a much-loved copy that is falling apart. Sadly, they are now impossible to find, new or second-hand (and I’ve given away all my copies to desperate parents!). I’m sorry that if you want a copy of Puppy Secrets or Kitty Secrets I can’t really help you; if you scour secondhand websites you’ll see copies occasionally come up for sale. The only alternative suggestion I have is to try and get hold of some of the other ‘cute’ books I’ve worked on. You will find them in the Book List tab.
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Illustrated books are back!
The last few years have seen children’s non-fiction books really turn a corner: stunning artworks, quality design and top-tier text have been the order of the day, with publishers competing to raise the bar. I’ve been delighted to work on a number of fabulous books during the last few years. Each project can take a year or longer to take from concept to completion, but you know the time is well spent when you hold one of these books in your hand, and get the pleasure of sharing with a young reader.
United Nations Development Goals
Curious Questions and Answers about Saving the Earth has featured in the United Nations Development Goals Book Club as well as the Summer Reading Challenge. This book is part of a series I developed with the superb team at Miles Kelly Publishing, and has lent itself to a range of topics – but this one has, of course, particular relevance as the world wakes up to the potential of climate change to impact all our lives.
The year of the tiger
As usual, I’ve travelled this year to see wildlife in action and do some research. I was given a fantastic project to work on by Michael O’ Mara Books – The Book of Animal Superheroes – and this gave me the chance to travel to India to find out more about Machli, the crocodile-killing tiger in Ranthambore National park. It was a great honour to meet some of the wildlife guards who had known Machli, but even more exciting were the tiger encounters.
Watching a tiger lounging in a cool pool just a few feet away was a truly moving experience. There were plenty of birds, deer and monkeys to observe too but seeing a shy sloth bear and her cub was an unexpected treat.
2019 – a good year for children’s non fiction
This year has been the year of the eco-book. For many years the environment has tended to be tagged onto the end of books about the natural world, as if it were a separate subject. I’ve been pushing for greater integration of this topic within books for years. Now, finally, the wider world has caught up and the human impact on the environment is not just an added topic but is becoming the focus of many books, which is great news.
On the Trail of a Whale
‘On the Trail of the Whale’ is a runner up in the 2019 English 4-11 Picture Book Awards in the Non-Fiction for 4-7 year olds category.
It’s just one in a series I’ve been working on with Miles Kelly. ‘Where’s the Bear?’ is already out, but we are currently putting together new ones on the topics of dinosaurs, bugs and space. Each of these books takes many months to plan, write and design so it’s a team effort that combines some really gorgeous artworks with text that, hopefully, encourages readers to get immersed in the subject with questions, activities and puzzles as they work their way through the books.
Who’d want to be a professional writer these days?
- The ALCS research, Authors’ Earnings 2018: A survey of UK writers shows median earnings of professional writers – that is those who dedicate over half their working hours to writing – has fallen by 42% in real terms since 2005 and by 15% since 2013. The median annual income of a professional writer now stands at under £10,500, well below the minimum wage. The number of professional writers earning their income solely from writing has fallen to 13.7% while the gender gap has increased with the average earnings of female professional authors only around 75% of those of the average male professional writer, a drop from 78% in 2005.
It can be difficult to persuade some commissioning editors that it is worth their while to pay experienced, skilled and specialist writers a decent sum for their work. I’ve even been told by one editor that the reason she wanted to pay me so little was that, as an expert in my field, I should be able to do the work quickly and easily. I wonder if that same logic applies to any other professional expertise? I declined the work…
A busy year
Author, editor, natural history consultant, literacy specialist
The world of children’s publishing continues to be busy, and endlessly fascinating with lots of opportunities for a fact-phile like myself to while away the hours finding out more about the natural world. I often find myself deeply embedded in scientific research papers trying to get to the nitty-gritty core of what, why and how – hours just slip by! I continue to work with major publishers, such as QED Publishing (Quarto), Scholastic and Miles Kelly, and added several others, such as Kingfisher, Templar, Carlton, Weldon Owen and Penguin to my publisher portfolio. In the last two years I’ve enjoyed providing consultancy expertise on a number of encyclopedias, and flexed my more creative muscles as ghost writer to produce a large and successful set of activity books for a celebrity adventurer. I’ve also been able to combine my science and writing skills with my experience of teaching literacy with some new reader books for Ladybird and BBC World. Some of my favourite work has been on dinosaurs – a couple of new and exciting dino books will be revealed in 2019. Thanks to Kingfisher (Macmillan) who gave me free rein to create and write a book about Intelligent Animals – a favourite topic of mine. As always, books about cute animals continue to be popular, particularly in the US, and I’ve written about ‘Kitten Secrets’, ‘Itsy-bitsy Cuties’ and ‘Cutest Babies Ever’ – the picture research for these books is another wonderful way to spend time!
Sitting at my desk, reading the research and answering editors’ queries and advising other authors who don’t have a scientific background are all good way to keep on top of zoological developments, but of course the best method is to get out in the field, and my trips abroad (and hours spent watching what the foxes, bugs and birds are getting up to in my garden!) are an essential part of my work. In the last year, I’ve been lucky enough to get close to a big tarantula as it crossed the road in Mexico, watch humpback whales leap and splash in the icy waters of the Arctic, and crick my neck watching howler monkeys and spider monkeys in trees far above me in the rainforest – after a long, sweaty trek! A particular highlight was watching baby turtles hatching and racing to the sea in Oman, and then swimming alongside endangered hawksbill turtles around the coral reef there. Like Darwin, Leakey and Dian Fossey I’m an empiricist at heart – the best way to learn about the natural world is to sit and watch and think – and then go and read up as much stuff as you can about what you’ve observed.
Skulls in Chinese
My Bone Collection: Skulls book has been reviewed in China: I have no idea what this says, but I’m hoping it’s all positive!
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Super Search!
On the Trail of a Whale and Where’s the Bear are now available from book shops. See Amazon for more information on the Super Search Adventure Series.