Nonfiction

Save the…Rhinoceroses

Posted by on Feb 22, 2024 in Animals, Nonfiction, SERIES: Save the... | 0 comments

Have I mentioned that Save the…Rhinoceroses is on sale? Can’t remember if I gave this one a shout-out on its pub date!

And did you know that a contented rhino makes a sound like mmm-wonk? This is my favorite rhino fact.

(I lobbied for “rhinos” instead of “rhinoceroses” in the title but got overruled by somebody at the publisher. Shame. Once you start saying “rhinoceroses” it’s really, really hard to stop.)

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Happy Pub Day, Save the…Rhinos!

Posted by on Sep 7, 2023 in Animals, Children's Literature, Nonfiction, SERIES: Save the... | 0 comments

Delighted to announce that Save the…Rhinos! is now available. Each of the books in these nonfiction series has an intro by Chelsea Clinton and is full of fabulous animal facts and true stories of conservation success.

The best rhino fact–a contented rhino (lots of grass, plenty of warm sun, no other bothersome rhinos around) makes a noise like this: mmmmmwonk.

May your day be full of mmmmmmwonk!

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How To Kill a Tardigarde

Posted by on Jul 27, 2023 in Animals, Nonfiction, PIcture Books | 0 comments

I don’t know why you’d want to (they’re kind of cute, if also terrifying), but I’ve been researching tardigrades for a new book. And they are HARD to kill.

Tardigrades are also called water bears or moss piglets.

Heat? They can survive temps up to 300 F.

Cold? They’re fine at -200 F.

Pressure? They’d be perky at the bottom of the Marianna’s Trench.

Vacuum? They have been blasted into space and survived. Some laid eggs in space. Eggs that hatched.

They are tiny (1.5 millimeters long at most), harmless, and indomitable.

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Jacket for Save the…Turtles!

Posted by on Jun 22, 2023 in Animals, Nonfiction, SERIES: Save the..., Uncategorized | 0 comments

The jacket for Save the…Turtles! is here! Looking very snazzy, with a dignified turtle against a vivid turquoise background.

One interesting thing I found out doing the research for this book–turtles are the only vertebrates with shells. Many, many animals have evolved shells for protection–beetles, clams, scorpions, lobsters. But it’s only occurred once among vertebrates. And that gave us the turtles, with an upper shell formed out of ribs and a lower shell out of what was once a shoulder bone.
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Clever little reptiles! (Not all little, either. A big leatherback could have a shell considerably larger than the hood of your car.)

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