My latest book "Going Home, the Mystery of Animal Migration" HREF="http://www.dawnpub.com/our-books/going-home-the-mystery-of-animal-migration/"> Dawn Publications
recently received the Izaak Walton League Book of the Year Award for Elementary Grades, which pleases me very much, since this organization is the oldest national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting our soil, woods, air and water.
I love the quote: "Don't be afraid to touch the earth and let it touch you." I am concerned that many kids today do not get outside enough to discover a sense of wonder in the natural world.
Years ago I was fascinated with migrating geese when we lived in N.Y. Every autumn we could count on geese flying over our house in v-formation, honking away. How did they always follow the same path?
After moving to Florida, I went on a "turtle walk" and learned that the loggerhead turtle that comes on shore to lay her eggs had probably been in this place 20 years earlier when she hatched. How did she find her way back to the very same beach after swimming thousands of miles in the ocean? I decided to write a story about it.
While I was working on that story on a chilly day in Florida, my husband and I discovered a manatee and her baby chewing away in the warmth of a lagoon near our home. Shortly after that, at a library presentation with my granddaughters, the guest speaker told us about monarch butterflies that migrated to the very same tree in Mexico that their ancestors had visited. All this prompted me to do more research about other animals that were "Going Home."
I listened to Dvorak's New World Symphony as I wrote the verse, and it all came together in this book. Not just the Canada geese, loggerhead turtles, manatees and monarch butterflies, but also hummingbirds, salmon, gray whales, Emperor penguins, caribou and Arctic terns--creatures that migrate by land, air and sea to find food, have their young and keep warm. How do they do it? They don't have maps or compasses.
It is really amazing, and perhaps today's children will solve the mystery. But how can we ask them to protect nature's creatures and conserve our precious resources if we don't allow them to love the earth, before we ask them to save it.
The Izaak Walton League was founded almost a hundred years ago by a group of fisherman who wished to protect fishing opportunities for future generations. They named it after an English Author who wrote "The Complete Angler" way back in the 17th century. I wonder what Izaak would think of us today as we struggle with the worst oil spill in history and damages that will take many years to repair.
recently received the Izaak Walton League Book of the Year Award for Elementary Grades, which pleases me very much, since this organization is the oldest national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting our soil, woods, air and water.
I love the quote: "Don't be afraid to touch the earth and let it touch you." I am concerned that many kids today do not get outside enough to discover a sense of wonder in the natural world.
Years ago I was fascinated with migrating geese when we lived in N.Y. Every autumn we could count on geese flying over our house in v-formation, honking away. How did they always follow the same path?
After moving to Florida, I went on a "turtle walk" and learned that the loggerhead turtle that comes on shore to lay her eggs had probably been in this place 20 years earlier when she hatched. How did she find her way back to the very same beach after swimming thousands of miles in the ocean? I decided to write a story about it.
While I was working on that story on a chilly day in Florida, my husband and I discovered a manatee and her baby chewing away in the warmth of a lagoon near our home. Shortly after that, at a library presentation with my granddaughters, the guest speaker told us about monarch butterflies that migrated to the very same tree in Mexico that their ancestors had visited. All this prompted me to do more research about other animals that were "Going Home."
I listened to Dvorak's New World Symphony as I wrote the verse, and it all came together in this book. Not just the Canada geese, loggerhead turtles, manatees and monarch butterflies, but also hummingbirds, salmon, gray whales, Emperor penguins, caribou and Arctic terns--creatures that migrate by land, air and sea to find food, have their young and keep warm. How do they do it? They don't have maps or compasses.
It is really amazing, and perhaps today's children will solve the mystery. But how can we ask them to protect nature's creatures and conserve our precious resources if we don't allow them to love the earth, before we ask them to save it.
The Izaak Walton League was founded almost a hundred years ago by a group of fisherman who wished to protect fishing opportunities for future generations. They named it after an English Author who wrote "The Complete Angler" way back in the 17th century. I wonder what Izaak would think of us today as we struggle with the worst oil spill in history and damages that will take many years to repair.