GETTING TO THE HEART OF YOUR PHOTOS

by Patricia Newman

Photographs are a huge part of my middle-grade nonfiction STEM books for children. My books feature environmental science in the field, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a ready source of images from scientists excellent at documenting their work. Usually, my challenge is one of quantity! With that in mind and considering that other blogs in the NF Fest catalog focus on permissions and working with photographers, I’d like to address how I choose the best photos from the hundreds available to me.

For any nonfiction book, images must add clarity to the text just as the illustrations in picture books do. Photos are great for a step-by-step approach, to give readers a sense of place, and to drop them into the adventure. But if you’re only using your photos for clarity, you’re missing out on a fabulous opportunity to add heart to your project.

The right photographs can elicit emotions and ratchet up suspense. In each of my environmental books, my goal is to help readers understand that we are not separate from nature. We have a role to play. By establishing connections to nature, I can help readers care enough to act. And photos help me do that.

After collecting the photos, I create a digital folder for each chapter in my book project. These folders are ultimately shared with the editorial and design teams. I add images that best match the events and details described in each chapter. Then, I drop in images that make me react in physical ways. I’m lucky enough to have a design team at Millbrook Press who allow me to have input on the images we use. Often, we swap out photos during the design process. Here are a few examples of what we came up with:

On the last pages of Plastic, Ahoy!, I quote Miriam Goldstein the lead scientist on one of the first expeditions to study plastic in the North Pacific. She says, “People want to know that there are wildernesses out there somewhere. If even the open sea is no longer a wilderness, what is?”  This thought-provoking statement paired with Annie Crawley’s photo of a single water bottle floating in the vast sea still takes my breath away.

Giant Rays of Hope: Protecting Manta Rays to Safeguard the Sea focuses on an amazing conservation project in Peru that uses giant manta rays as a flagship species to inspire the community to protect the ocean. In a dramatic twist, the largest manta ray anyone had ever seen was inadvertently caught in a fisher’s net. The media called the manta a “monster” and vilified the fisher who brought it ashore. The suspended manta gives readers an idea of the size of these creatures, and its sad end shocks us into paying attention and urges us to find out more.

Planet Ocean: Why We All Need a Healthy Ocean is a book about our connection to the sea. Throughout, Annie Crawley and I use text, photos, and video QR codes to share the beauty of our ocean, but also to explain and explore the devastating effects climate change has on the sea. One of our favorite spreads includes two photos (see below, right side). In the first, two children play on a trash-strewn beach. It dawns on us that the kids probably have never seen a pristine beach. The second photo shows a submerged baby doll that Annie calls the “creepy baby” photo. The doll’s incongruous cheerful expression is at odds with her new underwater home eliciting conflicting emotions in the reader, too.

In my books about animals, photos illustrate a variety of cool behaviors to engage and surprise readers and (I admit) appeal to their sense of awww. In Zoo Scientists to the Rescue, Annie Crawley and I included a photo of an orangutan inspecting a piece of fruit. His human-like dexterity, his curiosity, and his sense of awareness draw us in.

In Eavesdropping on Elephants: How Listening Helps Conservation, the photo of two bulls fighting gets readers’ hearts pumping from the power and fierceness with which male elephants protect their territory.

And in Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem who can resist a raft of fuzzy-faced otters posing for the camera?

 

Reading photos is a learned skill that our young audience must practice, but perhaps it would benefit nonfiction authors to learn to get to the heart of their photos, too! Check out this LitLinks lesson that provides a framework for describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating photos.

I wish you much success in choosing the perfect photos to add heart to your project.

 

Patricia Newman

Sibert Honor author Patricia Newman uses social and environmental injustice to empower readers to seek connections to the real world and act on behalf of their communities. Patricia's nonfiction titles have received multiple starred reviews, ALA Notable Awards, two Orbis Pictus Awards (NCTE), two Green Earth Book Awards, and several Eureka! Awards (CRA). All her nonfiction titles are Junior Library Guild Selections, and most appear on the Bank Street College's Best Books of the Year lists. To learn more, visit her website at patriciamnewman.com or connect with her on BlueSky (@patricianewman.bsky.social), X (@PatriciaNewman), Instagram (@patricianewmanbooks), and Pinterest (@newmanbooks).

MARRYING STEM AND SEL TO CREATE BOOKS THAT SOAR

By Maria Marianayagam

STEM and SEL are often designated as two separate categories when authors consider what type of book they want to write. (For those who aren’t familiar, STEM refers to “science, technology, engineering, and math,” and SEL is short for “social-emotional learning.”) When we think of SEL books, we may think of titles like Lisa Katzenberger’s EVERYTHING WILL BE OK and Cori Doerrfeld’s THE RABBIT LISTENED. When brainstorming STEM titles, books like Melissa Stewart’s WHALE FALL or Rebecca E. Hirch’s RISE TO THE SKY: HOW THE WORLD'S TALLEST TREES GROW UP may come to mind. Today I want to talk about a different category: one that marries SEL and STEM into powerful stories for young readers.

Before we do that, I want to touch on how important SEL is in STEM careers. As someone who worked as an engineer for a decade, the ability to collaborate with others, deal with frustration, persevere through challenges, and listen to other people’s opinions, were all critical parts to success. These are skills any scientist or science-enthusiast needs to hone and I believe introducing these skills from the start can set kids up for success. So, by combining social emotional learning with STEM themes in children's books, we can not only create engaging narratives that spark curiosity about science, technology, engineering, and math but also delve into the complexities of human emotions and relationships. 

I find that this is already done quite well in picture book biographies. Often, those stories share the accomplishments of an individual, but the main story grapples with the journey and the tools these characters used to overcome obstacles. I believe the same can be true for other science-themed books. For example, in my debut picture book, THE AMAZING POWER OF GIRLS (releasing in June with Sourcebooks eXplore), I wanted to explain the forces of physics—gravity, buoyancy, magnetism, etc. to young readers. But I also wanted girls to feel empowered to pursue a STEM career since it’s still a very male-dominated field. So, I personified each girl as a force and I used the text to doubly explain what the forces do while showcasing the powerful characteristics of a girl. An example below.

In my next STEM/SEL picture book, WAIT TILL YOU'RE OLDER, releasing with Sourcebooks eXplore in 2025, I introduced STEM into what felt like more of an SEL story about a younger sibling wanting to play with her older brother’s big toy and being to told to wait till she’s older. Her reaction? Try to build a time machine. And throughout the story, she tries a variety of time-travel theories to accomplish this, including: trying to travel faster than light, looking for wormholes, etc.

Other great examples that incorporate SEL concepts into STEM themes:

• EXCEPT ANTARCTICA  by Todd Surgell
• THE VERY IMPATIENT CATERPILLAR by Ross Burach
• FUSSY FLAMINGO  by Shelley Vaughan James and illustrated by Matthew Rivera
• PLUTO GETS THE CALL by Adam Rex and illustrated by Laurie Keller
• THE QUESTIONEERS  series by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts
• THE FIRE OF STARS  by Kirsten Larson and illustrated by Katherine Roy
• CODING TO KINDNESS  by Valerie Sousa and illustrated by Jennifer Leban
• FAIRY SCIENCE  by Ashely Spires
• COUNT ON ME  by Miguel Tanco
• DO TREES HAVE MOTHERS? by Charles Bongers

As an author, I love creating stories that intertwine the wonders of science and the nuances of human emotions. I hope this post helps you consider incorporating SEL elements into your NF stories.

 

About the Author:             

Maria Marianayagam is a Tamil Sri Lankan-Canadian children's book author. She was born in India and grew up in Nigeria and four provinces across Canada.  Maria is a former chemical engineer who fell in love with children’s books (again!) after becoming an Amma (mom). Maria enjoys writing lyrical picture books centered on STEM, faith, and South Asian culture, as well as high concept middle-grade grounded in culture. The first two installments of her debut board book series, BABY HOPE and BABY COURAGE (WorthyKids/Hachette), and her debut picture book THE AMAZING POWER OF GIRLS (Sourcebooks eXplore) release in 2024.

 

The World Needs Weird!

By Kari Lavelle

Like many others, I was not very productive during the pandemic. My brain could not easily move to creative endeavors because it was too preoccupied with parenting 24/7 or stressing about COVID.

When I read an article about farmers in Botswana painting eyes on the behinds of their cattle to confuse predators, my tired, worrying brain actually started playing the “what if” game. What if a lioness said to herself, “Is that a butt or a face?” BOOM! A bootylicious idea of a title sparked in my head!

One day, with loads of giggles, I bravely shared my hare-brained idea of BUTT OR FACE? with my pandemic Zoom writing friends. They immediately loved the idea and were very encouraging (as always), but deep inside, I didn’t think it was very marketable and doubted it would turn into a sale. Still, it felt so good to have a project that captured my attention and researching animal derrieres daily was fascinating.

When my agent liked BUTT OR FACE? and sent it off on submission, I had very low expectations. Let’s be real - it has the word “butt” in the title! What editor would connect with this super weird idea? Turns out, Kelly Barrales-Saylor at Sourcebooks did and not only did she want that manuscript, but she thought it had series potential. Our initial Zoom to chat about ideas made my (facial) cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

So, my suggestion to you, my nonfiction friends, is to get weird. The weirdest you’ve ever been. Yep, even weirder than that.

Exercise 1: Think of a manuscript draft you’re stuck on. As you read through it, conceptualize where you can take it further. How can you get weird? It could be funny weird or strange weird but get funky in there!

Exercise 2: Think of three of the weirdest words or nouns you can. Can’t think of anything? How about gobbeldygook, snood or poppycock? Or fungus, bumfuzzle or kerfuffle? Brainstorm a story that uses these concepts as much as you’d like. Then, take the same words and brainstorm a different story. Which one is weirder? If one tickles your fancy, then keep going through the writing process. If not, congrats! You just pushed your brain to deeper depths of oddness!

Exercise 3: Brainstorm strange characters or stories (books, movies, shows, etc.) that you connect with and consider the elements you love about them. i.e. the dysfunctionally charming cast of characters from Schitt's Creek, the witty Matilda from Roald Dahl, or more recently the quirky, clever Wednesday Addams from the show, Wednesday. Are there any of these elements that you can infuse into your own WIPs?

Of course, I realize that getting weird isn’t a great solution for all manuscripts, but it does help us stretch our brains into new creative possibilities. Take risks, have fun - the world needs weirdness!

 

Meet the Author:

Kari Lavelle is the author of WE MOVE THE WORLD (HarperCollins), the BUTT OR FACE? series (Sourcebooks, 2023) and an unannounced picture book biography. She has always had a love for words: as a kid reading books, as a speech pathologist helping children communicate, and now as a writer creating stories. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, their two children, and doggo, Dobby. Learn more about Kari and her books at karilavelle.com.

Writing the -TEM in STEM

By Jennifer Swanson

So, you want to write a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) book. Awesome!  Why not consider a book with a technology, engineering, or math focus. It’s a great way to introduce young readers to the possibilities of a STEM career and get them excited about new and ground-breaking technology.

These are the topics that I’m very passionate about. If you look at my list of books, you’ll see many of them are -TEM topics. I am always asked where I get my ideas and more importantly, how do you sell a topic that is mostly technology, engineering, or math?

Here are a few tips to do just that.

1.  Find a BIG hook

A -TEM book needs a BIG hook, bigger than most books. That’s because they must be accessible. (If you write STEM books, you’ll hear this word a lot from your editor). Accessible means that this book must not only capture the interest of a kid who already likes science and technology but also that of one who might not.  By “hook” I mean that the topic needs to be very obvious, unique, and something that makes kids stop in their tracks. Humor is a plus. 

Let me give you an example. A few years back, I desperately wanted to write a book about the Google self-driving car. I wrote a proposal titled, “Engineering a Self-driving Car.”

Eh. Not that impressive is it? Editors didn’t think so either. So, I set about trying to come up with a really unique angle for the topic. One that would grab the reader right from the start.

Two years later, I had it. My new title was Save the Crash-test Dummies. My book would follow the day in the life of a crash-test dummy as he goes through his job. The book would depict the history of car safety engineering and end with “Crash”  driving off into the sunset in a self-driving car. Now that is a unique hook! And one, thankfully, editors loved.  

You don’t have to put your hook in the title, but if you can, that’s awesome. It’s the first thing people see, so they immediately know what this book is about.

Most of my books have their hooks in the title:

Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact

Super Gear: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up!

Beastly Bionics: Rad Robots, Brilliant Biomimicry, and Incredible Inventions Inspired by Nature.

How do you come up with a title as your hook? Be creative.

a.      Do an internet search of terms associated with your topic. For example, when I needed a shorter ending to my Super Gear book, (a book about nanotechnology and sports), I looked up short sports terms and came up with Team Up!

b.     Beastly Bionics came from me searching for words that would describe animals that started with a “B.”

You try it! – Have a topic in mind and need a short title? Search for synonyms for your topic, or look for terms that are in the same family (like sports or animals). Want your title to be alliterative, look for words that start with  the same letter as your title.

 

2.  Expository or Narrative?

Will your manuscript be expository or narrative? That depends on you. Either is acceptable. Some amazing -TEM narrative books have done very well.

Teresa Robeson’s Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom does a fabulous job of telling the story of explaining the physics of beta decay that happens within atoms.

In her book, Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics,  Laurie Wallmark takes us on a journey with Sophie Kowalevski as she mastered differential equations (math).

Both of these books have complicated topics, but they are brilliantly explained through their narrative stories. But not all -TEM books need to be narratives.

Pretty much all of my STEM books are expository. For example, my Beastly Bionics introduces the reader to cutting-edge technology about biomimicry, the science of using nature to inspire complex problem-solving. Many of these inventions are quite complicated and to explain them in a narrative way would take too many words. Instead, I had one invention per spread. I used 5 different sidebars, high energy words, and concise descriptive terms to explain the technology and intrigue my reader.  

How do you decide which way is best for your story? Write it both ways and see which way works best.

You try it! – Take one section of your book. Write it in narrative form and in expository form. Compare them. Does one seem too wordy? Is this topic covered much better with shorter, snappier, sidebars with only a mix of narrative? Or does the narrative flow better? Which one works best?

  

3.  Explain Everything

This is the most important part about a -TEM book. When you are tackling complex technology and engineering topics, you MUST explain them well. To do this, think like a kid! Use comparisons they will understand. And words that are their level. Illustrations help, too. For example, when you describe distance, don’t say 100 yards, say it’s as big as a football field. 

 

In my Astronaut-Aquanaut, when I explain the extreme pressure you feel as you go down deep in the ocean, I tell kids to imagine themselves as a soda can being squeezed and crunched. They get the idea… ouch!

 

You Try it!- Explain to a 10-year-old how a ship floats without using the term buoyancy. (Not easy, is it?)

Whatever topic you choose, you can’t go wrong with a -TEM book. They are fun to write, amazing to research, and just might be the one thing that inspires a young reader to pursue a career in STEM. It doesn’t get much better than that. GO STEM!

 

ACTIVITY

Complete at least one of the Try-It suggestions.

 

ABOUT THE PRIZE

Jennifer will be giving away an autographed copy of Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of 40+ books for children, mostly about STEM. A self-professed science geek, she started a science club in her garage when she was 7 years old. Jennifer has spoken about her books and her passion for science at numerous NSTA conferences, SCBWI conferences, book festivals across the country, the Atlanta Science Festival, the World Science Festival, and the Library of Congress’ National Book Festival. She is also the creator of the STEM Tuesday blog, STEAMTeamBooks promo group, and has a science podcast called Solve It! for Kids. Find Jennifer at www.jenniferswansonbooks.com