Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart
Fall started out very warm this year, really it felt like an extension of summer. One week we were playing at the beach in shorts and t-shirts, the next we were hiking with our jackets and winter hats on in the nearly barren woods on a blustery day. While I’m deep in NaNoWriMo mode, here are some fall pictures.
Today I have a great guest post from Julie Murphy, author of the picture book GILLY’S TREASURES. I always love seeing how people’s day jobs or passions influence what they write, and Julie’s post is full of wonderful pictures. Let’s give her a big welcome!
Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Katie, and helping me to celebrate the October 11 release of my new fiction picture book for children (4-8), Gilly’s Treasures.
Some writers say they always wanted to be an author, but my journey to Gilly’s Treasures was a little more roundabout. I always loved animals, so after finishing school I went to university and studied to become a zoologist – a scientist who studies animals.
The mornings were cold, but living close to a seal colony for a couple of weeks was a wonderful experience. (There’s a baby seal on the rock behind/between us.)
I was especially drawn to animal behavior, and studied how guide dog trainers assess the temperament of their trainee guide dogs for my Masters thesis. It was a great project, but city-based, so I made a point of helping friends with their projects in the field which got me out into nature from time to time. Among other things, I helped to collect sea cucumbers (which, despite their name, are actually animals!), and sea stars, and observed a population of fur seals on a restricted stretch of shoreline for ten precious days. That last project was especially amazing – and liberating. Can you imagine? Three young women on our own, camping along the coastline next to a colony of hundreds of seals. Our only outside contact was a radio call to the local ranger every afternoon to say we were okay. It was fantastic!
With a baby wombat in my zookeeper days. Wombats are still one of my favorite animals.
Later on, I worked as a zookeeper for ten years. But even then I couldn’t resist doing voluntary research projects in my spare time. One project involved rigging up time-lapse cameras to film the nocturnal behavior of native Australian mammals. I wanted to find out when they were active, what they did, and how they got along with each other in their mixed-species enclosures. Of course, doing the research is only half the job; the other half is sharing the results with others who could benefit from them. So I wrote my results into an article for a zoo journal, and presented them at a conference. This is how my published writing list began.
I view science as having a healthy curiosity about the world and trying to answer some of the questions we have about it. I believe that curiosity is something we should actively encourage in our kids, which is one reason why I love writing for children. It’s my chance to encourage children to be excited by nature, and life in general. Not only is it enriching for the child, but the more that children learn about animals and the environment, the more they will care about conservation.
My daughter (3) has always enjoyed exploring nature, and I’m sure she benefits from it in many ways.
It wasn’t until I became a stay-at-home mom that I focussed on writing for children. Reading picture books every day to my daughter taught me about the kinds of books that were being published, and through which publishers. I was able to use my science training to get a foot in the door with some publishers with work-for-hire, which involved writing non-fiction books about animals and the environment to specific briefs provided by the publisher.
It was a steep learning curve, but doing writing courses (some on-line), joining organizations such as the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and finding some trusted critique partners to provide honestfeedback all helped me to improve – and still do! And it turns out that the skills I learnt from working in science – objective observation, critical thinking, research, and concise writing – have all come in handy too.
Some of my non-fiction books about animals.
I am extra excited to welcome Gilly’s Treasures into the world because it is my first fiction picture book that began as my own idea (as opposed to from a publisher’s brief). Here’s the blurb: While out fishing, Gilly the seagull finds a beautiful, shiny treasure. He loves it so much he can’t help searching for more…and more. Will he ever be satisfied with what he has? The story has the feel of a traditional fable, which illustrator Jay Fontano has done a wonderful job balancing with fun, friendly illustrations. I especially love the new character he introduced – an adorable little crab. I am sure children will love spotting him (or her!) on each page.
I hope that readers of Gilly’s Treasures will be inspired to visit the beach for themselves, and maybe find a treasure or two of their own. (I for one can never leave a beachcombing session without a pretty shell or two in my pocket!) And it might even spawn a conversation about what they hold most important in their own lives.
A “family portrait” from one of my beach holidays.
About the Author:
Julie Murphy is a children’s writer of both fiction and non fiction. She trained as a zoologist and zookeeper, and is never far from animals and nature. Her favorite place to be is at the beach. She lives in Melbourne, Australia – a country surrounded by beach – with her husband and daughter.
Julie Murphy’s web site – (not working) www.juliemurphybooks.com
P.S. On a sad note, my website host has gone missing in action. True! I have set up an interim web site, in case anyone is interested. You will find it at http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~julieamurphy/
Twitter: @juliekidsbooks
Facebook page with book preview: www.facebook.com/GILLYSTREASURES
Gilly’s Treasures is available from many on-line book stores, including Cedar Fort’s sales site, Books & Things (free postage to most states in the US): www.booksandthings.com
I don’t particularly love my house or my yard. They’re not terrible, but there are a lto of big things I would change if I had the means (or perhaps I would move!). So I’m always trying to create spaces that inspire me give me a sense of peace. As a writer and a parent, the inspiration part is a little easier than the peace part.
I’ve always put lots of love into my gardens (both flower and veggie), but lately I’ve been making small changes in other way. They have begun to add up to make a better yard, one that I find myself wanting to be in more often and engages lots of my senses.
Here are my little yard spaces in pictures (and the two little guys in the last picture always spruce up the place!):
I often said to The Boy, my first-born, “You’ll always be my baby.” He very sweetly indulges me in this dialogue that usually ends with a snuggle and a kiss. Of course The Boy isn’t a baby anymore. He’s off to kindergarten today, and his baby days feel like a million years ago. So I ask you to please indulge me–the nostalgic mama–as I reminisce on this milestone of a day.
Five years and one day ago The Boy arrived in grand style during Hurricane Irene. He was 17 days early, and his daddy and I did not feel ready at all. In fact, not knowing that hurricanes can make you go into labor, we hadn’t even gotten the nursery fully ready. (Big surprise–not!–I blogged about it in “A Beautiful Life is Born.” Seems I was a little more leery of posting pictures then…still cautious now but more open to sharing.)
That’s my tiny little nugget on his first night “home.” We didn’t actually spend the night at our house because we had no power, but we did take a picture of him in his crib before heading to my in-laws for the night.
A little over one year later, I left my full-time job to do freelance work, focus on my writing, and be a stay-at-home mom with The Boy. Though I had already been working from home a few days a week, the new freedom I had in my schedule allowed for more bonding time with my little buddy.
We started going to toddler story time at the library, hanging out at the cafe for a snack and to watch the trains and trucks go by, and went on lots and lots of walks. That’s what I’ll miss the most about him not being around all day long, our fun yet simple daily adventures, exploring and learning about the world. And being able to do it pretty much whenever without having a million other things on the schedule.
Shortly after The Boy’s second birthday, we found out baby #2 (dubbed The Prince by one of my lovely blog readers!) was on the way. That lead to a very challenging year for the family. It was the year I questioned my decision to become a stay-at-home parent, the year I questioned the decision to have another child, the year I questioned my very ability to be a good mother, and the year I pretty much questioned every other life decision I had ever made to date. (Yup, I blogged about all that, too, in “How Does a Mother’s Love Grow?”.)
All the while my sweet baby was turning into a wonderful, smart, stubborn, sweet, sensitive, curious, perceptive, expressive little boy. Sometimes the emotions felt too big to handle (for both of us!), but we were learning and growing in our roles as mother and son. And preparing for big changes to come.
Fast forward to the next year when The Boy was not quite three and The Prince made an equally exciting, albeit very different, entry into the world. (You are probably not surprised to hear there’s a blog for that as well with “The Precipitous Birth of Baby Boy #2.”) And boy has time flown since then. Forget about fast forward, I’m talking super-fast, lightning-quick, warp-speed ahead kind of time.
There were times when I thought The Boy would never see the Prince as anything other than this thing that took up a lot of Mommy’s time. I worried (among a million other things) that they’d never have that special sibling bond I had with my sisters and brother. But mostly the days were filled with the daily grind of making it through to the next day, and all the little things that filled my life as a mommy. The Boy and I managed to go to the zoo just the two of us on his birthday. We still went to story time and the cafe, we just had an extra little guy in tow.
The Boy started three-year-old pre-K one rainy November morning. There were holidays, more birthdays, and pretty soon I had toddler and a little boy who seemed so far away from being a baby. I often wondered where the days, weeks, months, years had gone.
Always we had our trips to the library, walks downtown and to the beach, treats at the cafe, and playtime at the park. The milestones, the big moments continued to come and go, a million little ones filling all the in-between moments. I tried to remember each one, I took a lot of pictures, and I wrote in the boys’ journals I keep for them. 
Year four brought a new school, new friends, new interests, new challenges. New fears. Somewhere along the way, that bond I had worried would never happened blossomed. The Boy and The Prince were brothers, friends, combatants, partners-in-crime. My little nugget–the baby who always had a quick smile turned toddler who could always tell when mommy needed a hug turned pre-schooler who tried my patience to the very end and beyond–was not so little anymore.
I hope he never grows out of speaking his mind (even though it can be sooooo annoying for me as a parent) and being passionate about his interests (no matter what they end up being in the future). I hope he continues to love learning and reading. I hope he never tires of The Prince looking up to him and copying him (even though it can be soooo annoying as an older sibling–I know from experience!). I hope he keeps working on expressing his emotions and figuring out how to do that in productive way (a lesson I’m continuing to learn as well). I hope he continues to challenge me to be a better mom, a better person. I hope he doesn’t drive me crazy!
Most of all I hope he knows how much I love him and how proud I am of him. The Boy. My hurricane baby. My 5-year-old. My kindergartner.
Almost three years into this crazy grounding experiment and it’s going strong. (To remind you what grounding is, it’s my quest to put my bare feet on the actual, physical earth most days.) I’ve grounded in all kinds of weather throughout all four seasons and on all types of natural surfaces. I kept at it when pregnant with The Prince. It’s become an important part of my routine.
The kiddos have gotten into the spirit of it. They often take their shoes off while we’re outside and say they want to ground themselves (though I’ll definitely be limiting this once the weather turns colder). Recently, I even caught the hubby standing with his bare feet in the grass, staring off into space (and he hates dirty feet!).
The meditative aspect of grounding has become really important to the process. It’s a time to remember my breathing and think about, well, nothing really. It’s a few minutes a day, and it’s not every single day, but it makes a big difference to my sanity.
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