Sarah L. Thomson, Children's Author

New England Vampires

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Aug 20, 2019 in American History, Book: Mercy: The Last NE Vampire, Historical Fiction, Horror | Comments Off on New England Vampires

JB exhumed skeleton beings studied at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Forensic science and folklore can piece together some truths about life (and the afterlife) in New England in the 1700s and 1800s. Like Mercy Brown in Mercy: The Last New England Vampire, JB was a real person, a Connecticut farmer who died of tuberculosis….and whose community dug up his grave after his death, convinced he was a vampire. The Washington Post details new discoveries about him here…one of the few so-called vampire burials to be exhumed and studied.

You don’t have to travel to Transylvania to encounter homegrown vampire folklore. The same legends that led to JB’s exhumation were the basis for my YA novel Mercy. Family, loss, terror, and love–the elements of a good horror story or a supernatural legend.

Chicken Rescue

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Aug 9, 2019 in Childhood, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Chicken Rescue

I am a DINOSAUR!

Normally I post about writing or books…but it’s summer and things are slow so I thought I’d treat you all to a chicken story.

Yesterday I was driving my daughter home from her grandmother’s house when she called out from the back seat.

“Chickens!”
“What?”
“Chickens! Over there! The chickens are out!”

About three blocks away from her grandparents’ house, five chickens live in a backyard coop. When she was four or five, it was an adventurous walk to go down and visit them and poke bits of grass through the wire for them to peck at. When she learned to ride a bike, she could zip down to check on the chickens and see how they were faring.

And now they were loose! Emergency!

I pulled over and we hurried back half a block to check. Sure enough, the two white chickens with red crowns were pecking happily outside the pen. The single brown one and two black-and-white speckled ones, apparently more peaceful, were still inside the coop.

My daughter went up to knock on the back door to let the owners know their chickens were out. No answer.

Okay. Chicken rescue was underway!

I thought I could just pick them up and toss them gently back into the pen. I edged toward one. It eyed me and edged away.

Now, I have just been listening to a podcast all about dinosaurs. And it was heavy on the “birds are really dinosaurs” thing. And this chicken was really giving me a very nasty glare. The closer I got, the more vicious its claws looked. Velociraptor vicious. Seriously. I inched a tiny bit near and it sprinted away on bright yellow legs that looked very muscular indeed.

No way was I going to be able to pick this tiny little T. rex up.

It led me on a chicken-chase around the coop twice before I had the bright idea of telling my girl to stand by the coop entrance. I shuffled behind the two chickens and waved my arms. She blocked them when they tried to dart to one side, and between us we whooshed them into the coop and shut the door smartly. The three in-coop chickens did not make a break for it. Success!

It’s not often that my work days are interrupted by chicken rescue. Very exhilarating, really.

We drove away quickly just in case they found whatever hole in the fence let them escape in the first place. It would just be too stressful to go through the whole thing again.

Amazing News for Amazing Tigers!

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Jul 29, 2019 in Book: Amazing Animals | Comments Off on Amazing News for Amazing Tigers!

There is actually a tiger in this picture–they are way more camouflaged than you would think. This is one of India’s tigers, a (nearly grown) cub my daughter and I saw in Ranthambore National Park!

It can be hard to find good news out there when it comes to environmental issues. So I’m delighted to share that India has managed to double its tiger population from 1,411 in 2006 to to 2,967 today.

When I read Amazing Tigers in elementary schools and share with kids the horrifying decline in tiger populations in the last century, they are always shocked and eager to set to work to make the world safe for tigers. Glad I’ll have some good news to share the next time I visit a school.