Talk to the Scientist! The Ultimate Primary Source

 By Darcy Pattison (MimsHouseBooks.com) 

I’m the author of twenty-four children’s nonfiction picture books, mostly about STEM topics. Most of the books require me to talk with a scientist who has done research on a topic. Today, I’ll talk about how to talk with scientists, credit them and use their information to enrich a story.

 

Here's some ideas for questions:

• At what point in your research process do you contact a scientist?

When I think of a topic, I’m usually looking for a specific thing. ANOTHER EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL is a series of animal biographies of a single animal, instead of a species. The latest story, PELORUS JACK, THE NEW ZEALAND DOLPHIN is about a dolphin who charmed a nation and inspired them to pass one of the first conservation laws to protect an animal. It took place in the early 1900s, so there wasn’t a scientist to interview this time. But that’s rare. Usually, the stories rely on first-hand information from a scientist. That means I contact them early in the process. I do preliminary research, and then zero in on a scientist who could answer specific questions.

For example, for DIEGO, THE GIANT GALÁPAGOS TORTOISE, I interviewed Linda Cayot, Ph.D, the
leading herpetologist in the Galápagos Islands for four decades. Along with her colleagues, she wrote a 1000-page book about the tortoises, detailing the species from each island. She allowed me to interview her by zoom, vetted the manuscript, and saw the book receive a starred Kirkus review before she passed away.

Linda’s information was vital to the story, and the accuracy of the information. The Española Island tortoises were down to just 14 individuals, almost extinct. The herpetologists sent messages throughout the world asking if anyone had another tortoise of this species. Amazingly, they found one in the San Diego zoo. When the tortoise was returned to the Tortoise Breeding Facility, he was named Diego. Linda provided photos of Diego from the time he first stepped foot back in the Galápagos. And details about the forty years it took to save this species from extinction.

• How did you find and contact the scientists?

Contacting scientists can be straightforward or convoluted. When I contacted the scientist on Midway Island about a Laysan albatross, it was easy. I found his information online, emailed him and set up a phone call. The result was WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS. But the book also put me in touch with other conservationists working with albatrosses. When I needed to contact someone about the Galápagos tortoises, it turned out the albatross guy also knew conservation personnel on Galápagos and gave me contact information.

One great way to find contact information is to find scholarly articles by scientists. I use Goggle Scholar (scholar.google.com) which restricts results to journal articles. Often in the article, you’ll find an email address for the scientists. Sometimes, you’ll find the university or facility where they work listed and can search for contact information that way.

• How do you get past feeling intimidated about approaching a scientist?

I’m not intimidated by scientists. I have a Master’s degree in Audiology, the study of hearing. I can read scientific articles and understand them in general. I know how to look up unfamiliar terms, do background research when needed, and understand even unfamiliar areas of research. And when I get stuck or confused – I ask the scientist to explain!

• How did you prepare to interview the scientists for these books?

I do respect the scientists and their time. That means, I take the time to read their specific research and absorb what it means for the story I want to tell. Then, I create a short list of things that I don’t understand or questions specific to the story. Usually, I’m looking for what it was like for the scientist to do the research: the sensory details, the unanswered questions, the tidbits that didn’t make it into the research paper. I keep in mind that the scientist has spent years in specialized research, but they would also like their work explained to kids. I think about how to bring the scientist, their work, and kids together in an accurate, but entertaining way.

• What questions do you find most important to ask?

I like to hear about their experiences! For example, when I talked to the scientist on Midway Island, it was about the 2011 Japanese tsunami. The tsunami waves had hit Japan and damaged a nuclear plant, killed thousands, and devasted the area. But the tsunami wave also sped across the Pacific Ocean, and would surely hit Midway Island. The scientist said they knew about when it would hit, and took refuge at the top of the tallest structure on the island, a e-story barracks. The scariest thing, he said, was that the tsunami wave hit about midnight when they could hear the water rushing in, but they couldn’t see it. That detail made the danger more poignant!

• Are there questions you've learned not to ask?

There aren’t any topics that I avoid. But remember, that I’m usually dealing with research project associated with published journal articles. The public information is rarely sensitive.

• What's one of your favorite experiences in interviewing a scientist?

One of my favorite experiences was to interview an astronaut. NEFERTITI, THE SPIDERNAUT is the true story of a spider that went to space on the International Space Station (ISS). First, I went to Colorado Springs and interviewed Stephanie Countryman, the person responsible for all live animal experiments on the ISS. She showed me prototypes of the spider habitat and explained the whole process. Vital information!

But then, she offered to have the astronaut, Captain Sunita Williams call me. Notice that this time, I didn’t get contact information! Instead, Captain Williams called me. We spoke for about five minutes in-between meeting at SpaceX. But her information was crucial.

We quickly discussed the science experiment involving Nefertit, the Johnson jumping spider. Then, Williams said that after the experiment she was supposed to just put the spider habitat back in storage to return to Earth. In other words, the spider would die in the dark. Instead, she put the habitat beside her workstation. It was fascinating, she said, to look over and see Nefertiti watching her work. Nefertiti’s eyes would track her movements. It’s a small detail! But it helped bring the story to life.

·       How do you credit scientists?

 

Often, the scientist is one of the major sources for my story, so I’ll mention them in the SOURCES section of the book. This may be listing an interview, but often I list their relevant publications, as well. Always ask if there’s an article they prefer to see listed. If that doesn’t work, you can thank them in the dedications. As with everything else, be sure you spell names correctly, and list their positions correctly.

 

·       What do you do when there are no scientists to interview?

For my newest book, PELORUS JACK, THE NEW ZEALAND DOLPHIN, the events took place in early 1900s. Instead of scientists, I relied on eye-witness accounts published in newspapers of the time. The New Zealand National Library (https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/papers-past)maintains an extensive repository of newspaper archives, searchable by topics and keywords. But I also sought out logbooks from captain and ship’s doctors of the time. I even found archival videos of Pelorus Jack! See this from the Archives of New Zealand. (https://youtu.be/AgFQul3rlLk?si=R3qGil55eNDol3l3)

Scientists are the ultimate primary source for many of my stories. But when they aren’t available, I look for other primary sources such as newspapers, journals, and audiovisual materials. The main goal is a primary source to underpin the story with veracity. Then, it’s up to me to bring the story to life for kids.

SO, WHAT'S NEXT?

 By Stephanie Bearce

What a great month of nonfiction learning! Do you feel pumped up? Are you ready to write your award-winning book?

Or are you feeling a little lost? Wondering what you should do next?

That’s how I feel after every great learning experience, whether it’s NF Fest, a retreat, or a conference. Now that I’m back at my computer, without the inspiration and encouragement of fellow authors - exactly what am I supposed to do?

Because the “After-Event-Slump” is REAL – (and probably diagnosable by your local critique group…) I’ve come up with a few brain and writing boosters. Try these tricks to get moving on that fantastic new nonfiction project!

1.     Get an accountability partner.

Find a fellow writer who is willing to check in with you at least once a week and make sure you are on track. It’s amazing how productive you get when you must give an accounting to another person. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate meeting or reporting system. Just take ten minutes a week to exchange writing goals and accomplishments with a fellow writer. Accountability builds success.

2.     BIC – Butt in Chair.

Okay – here’s the cold hard truth. Sometimes you need to glue that hinny in the chair and WRITE. It’s a job. Block out your time. Cancel extraneous appointments and start writing that story. If you don’t spend time with your fingers tapping on those computer keys, you won’t have a manuscript to critique or sell. Write the horrible, awful, disgusting first draft and then set it aside. Once you have SOMETHING to work with you can move forward. Revisions are what makes the story shine. But first you must WRITE!!

3.     Dig out old projects.

Use what you’ve learned from NF Fest to revitalize old manuscripts. You’ll be amazed what new ideas pop into your head for how to write that story with a new format. Can you add humor? Turn it into a layered text? Examine the story from a different perspective? Take what you’ve learned and apply it to those old stories, and you may be astonished at the shiny new manuscript you create.

4.     Plug into a writing community.

Part of the joy of NF Fest is learning that there are other writers out there working and struggling just like me. Carry that spirit into your everyday writing life and participate in writing communities.  If you don’t have a critique group – form one! Put out a call on NF FEST FB page to see who would like to form a critique group. Check out your local SCBWI region, and organizations like Storyteller Academy, Manuscript Wishlist, Highlights Foundation, Institute of Writers, Storystorm, and 12x12 challenge.

5.     Plan your next learning event!

Writers need to be learners. While it is a whole very l-o-n-g year until the next NF Fest – there are many other learning opportunities out there. Find a retreat, class, or event that will move you forward in your career and enroll! 

Most important of all – keep telling those true stories. The world needs your voice and perspective.

And keep in touch – let us know how the journey is going! The Nonfiction Ninjas care and we’re here to help.

Happy Writing!

About the Author: 

Stephanie is the award-winning author of 35 books for children. Her newest book, Mary Anning and Paleontology for Kids, will be released by Chicago Review Press in May. You can learn more about Stephanie and the world of writing on the Way-Word Writers Podcast. Waywordwriters.com or follow her X - @Stephanie Bearce,  Insta and FB - @stephaniemowrybearce.

 

 

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

By Steve Swinburne

Some books take years and years to evolve, mature, unfold. And some books are born out of spontaneity. For example, the idea for one of my new books, BIG TRUCK SUPER WASH, came to me by pure serendipity. A few years ago, we visited our daughter and her husband living in New York City. As you do, we went out for coffee and bagels one morning and we happened to pass Brooklyn’s Famous Car Wash. Watching the cars go in and out, a thought popped into my head, “Where do trucks get washed?”

I think all stories are born from curiosity. What if a shark played the ukulele? What do sperm whales eat? How large were T Rex eggs? Where do trucks get washed?

While the idea for BIG TRUCK SUPER WASH came out of the blue, my other new book, GIRAFFE MATH, was another matter.

I’ve been trying to write a book about giraffes for over a decade because I think they are ridiculously cool and one of the most unique creatures on the planet. My Vermont buddy, Peter Lourie, and I first proposed The Giraffe Scientist for the Scientist in the Field series with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2009. Pete would take pictures and I would write. After HMH and others rejected our project, we tried a new hook, Tall Beauty-Desert Giraffes of Africa. This was to be an adult coffee-table-style book about giraffes living in the Namibian desert. After a year or so of submitting we realized it was not to be.

I couldn’t shake my obsession with giraffes so I tried writing a very simple and short nonfiction manuscript about giraffes. It flopped. About the time GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE, I thought I’d try a funny book about giraffes. No go. Then I played around with a giraffe joke book. My manuscript was a joke! I even tried a young nonfiction book that I thought might work as a board book. My ingenious title for that one was Giraffes Are Tall. 

After over a decade of giraffe book trial and error, I hit the pause button. Shortly thereafter I was invited to Kenya for an author visit. After the school visit, my wife and I went on a 3-day safari. Seeing giraffes in the wild reignited my fascination for this creature.

When I got back home, I sat down with a blank yellow pad and began making a list of things I knew about giraffes. How tall they were. How long was their tongue. Their weight. How long they sleep. I looked at the page and realized it was all numbers. It was math! It wasn’t long before I connected Giraffe with Math and I had my title, GIRAFFE MATH.

Do you have a manuscript that seems to be stuck? Is it possible your younger nonfiction story is really mid-grade nonfiction? Would lyrical poems best suit your tale about baby dinosaurs? What if you told your examination of recycling practices from the first-person point of view? There’s no ironclad way to write your nonfiction manuscript.

Moral of the story: some ways to tell your story take a very, very long time to congeal, to crystallize. Be flexible. Be patient. Never give up. 

About the Author:

Steve Swinburne has worked as a national park ranger and is the author of more than 40 children’s books. His extensive travels to faraway lands such as Africa, Borneo, Bangladesh and Dubai along with treks through Yellowstone and the highlands of Scotland, have influenced his book projects. Steve researched sea turtles in the Caribbean Islands for Sea Turtle Scientist and Run, Sea Turtle, Run, and he went on safari in Kenya for his nominated STEM title, Giraffe Math. Steve visits nearly 70 schools a year across the United States as well as many international schools. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Heather. For more information, see www.steveswinburne.com. 
Steve blogs at https://stephenswinburne.wordpress.com/. 
Website: www.steveswinburne.com
Blog: https://stephenswinburne.wordpress.com/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/steverswinburne

PUBLISHING SMALL FOR A BIG WIN

By Kelly Milner Halls

Throughout my 30-year career, I’ve written nonfiction for major houses like Harpercollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, National Geographic, Random House and Lerner. It’s been fun to imagine myself a part of the big dog team. But publishing more recently with Sasquatch/Little Bigfoot--a smaller house in Seattle—has given me a big new win.

My first book with Little Bigfoot was CRYPTID CREATURES: A FIELD GUIDE (2019). My book about mysterious creatures, TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS (Lerner, 2006) has been a favorite among elementary school readers for almost 20 years. But as those readers aged out, they asked for a meatier bone—a bone I hoped to deliver. Lerner wasn’t willing, but Little Bigfoot was.

Instead of mimicking the 72-page TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS picture book, they allowed me to write the expanded 224 page paperback my older readers wanted. They even let Rick Spears, the illustrator who made TOTC a masterpiece, create original art for the project—a lot of it.

We offered well documented eyewitness reports on 50 different unconfirmed animals with three illustrations for each one—an adult, a baby and a skeletal feature. I loved the book throughout the process, but I expected it to take years to be discovered. Silly me.  

Almost immediately, the book—distributed by Random House/Penguin—sold like gangbusters. After 18 years, TOTC has 145 Amazon reader reviews. Five years into CRYPTID CREATURES, there are more than 700, most of them five stars.

Little Bigfoot promoted the book with gusto, in part because they had fewer titles to present than the major houses might have. My editor was exceptionally gifted and the publicist lined up the best television coverage I’ve ever enjoyed.

I attribute the success to Little Bigfoot’s willingness to take a chance on a book I was convince would find an audience, when the big houses refused. The partnership was so successful, I have another Little Bigfoot book on Washington State’s only dinosaur fossil discovery coming this fall. SEA MONSTERS: A FIELD GUIDE and BABY CRYPTIDS (a board book) will be available from Little Bigfoot in the fall of 2025—all illustrated by Rick Spears.

Publishing with any house is a win, and I’d still work for the big dogs if the opportunity arose. But I’ll never overlook the little guys again. Little Bigfoot may be small by New York standards, but the results have been super-sized for me!  

About the Author:

For the past 30 years, Kelly Milner Halls has crafted high-interest nonfiction books and articles for young readers. Known for well-researched topics, Halls delights in drawing even reluctant readers into the realm of discovery through the exploration of dinosaurs, Sasquatch, mummies, UFOs and dozens of other themes. She makes her home in Spokane, Washington with two daughter and a cat named Sue. She speaks at schools and conferences all over the world. 

 

 

  

5 TIPS FOR FINDING AN AGENT

By Lisa Amstutz

You’ve done the research. You’ve written, revised, and polished your manuscript until it’s as shiny as you can make it. Now what?

If you want to publish in the trade market, you may want to find an agent. It is possible to sell your work on your own, especially to smaller publishers, and many authors build successful careers that way. However, an agent can open doors for you. They handle submissions and contracts and may help edit your work, give marketing and career advice, offer a shoulder to cry on, and more.

Unfortunately, finding an agent is easier said than done. While agents are more accessible than ever before thanks to the Internet, competition is stiff. Agents receive hundreds if not thousands of queries during open submission periods, all competing for one or two spots on their list. It sounds discouraging, I know. But you can improve your odds!

1. Start with a strong manuscript. Study the market to see what is selling; read new releases to learn what styles are popular and what feels overdone. What will make yours stand out on the shelves?

2. Know your book’s genre and target audience. An agent or editor will have a hard time acquiring a manuscript if they don’t clearly know how to position it in the market.

3. Research agents who represent your genre. QueryTracker is a good place to start. Writer’s Market guides are another good resource. Find out who represents other nonfiction writers too. Google can help, or ask around in the writing community. Check out agency websites for current submission guidelines. 

One caveat here: I sometimes have to reject projects I like—even ones with offers!—because they are too similar to something else on my list. I can’t ethically set up competition between clients. So the ideal agent may represent clients whose work is similar—but not too similar.

4. Write a standout query letter. Start with a pitch that grabs the reader’s attention. Include the genre, age category, and word count of your book as well as several comps. These should be trade books published in the last three years, if possible.

Write a bio that highlights any relevant writing or educational experience. It’s nice to share a personal detail or two, but don’t overshare. Do mention if you’re a member of SCBWI, 12 x 12, or other professional organization.

Keep it professional. Don’t oversell or undersell yourself. Your book likely isn’t the next Harry Potter. But be positive about it—and yourself! Be polite and friendly.

5. Remember that while writing is an art, publishing is a business. Agents have to earn a living too, and many work on commission alone. So they look for books they think they can sell. That means books with an appealing hook, a clear market, strong writing, and a fresh take on a topic.

I see a lot of submissions that, while nicely written, feel vaguely familiar. They’re too similar to other books already on the market to really stand out. The ones that give me goosebumps are those that feel so exciting, lovely, or unique that I am still thinking about them the next day. Those are an easy yes!

Finding an agent is not easy, and it may take time. But if you hang in there and keep learning and growing as a writer and putting your work into the world, I am confident you will succeed!

Meet the Author: 

Lisa Amstutz joined Storm Literary Agency in 2021 after sixteen years as a freelance writer and editor. She is the author of more than 150 children’s books for the trade and educational markets and a member of the Nonfiction Ninjas. See www.LisaAmstutz.com for more info.

POETRY AND NONFICTION: HOW DOES THAT WORK?

By Lindsay H. Metcalf

So you want to write a poetic and/or rhyming nonfiction book. How do you balance a factual, compelling story, with lyricism and/or poetry? It can be done!

Sometimes it feels like throwing all the poetic devices in a pot, stirring it up, letting it simmer, not knowing what kind of soup it will make. That’s the beauty of poetry—you can change the recipe AFTER your soup is made.

But there are a few techniques to make the process a bit easier: 

1. Let the story drive the writing. Research is paramount. Do your basic reading, watching, and listening first.

For my upcoming picture book, OUTDOOR FARM, INDOOR FARM, illustrated by Xin Li (Astra Young Readers, April 2024), I started with a few ingredients for my soup but didn’t know how to combine them for a delicious meal. I had my inspiration—huge, indoor vertical farms like this one. The idea of converting a sunless warehouse into a plant factory differed greatly from my experience growing up on a traditional wheat, corn, soybean, and milo farm in Kansas. I wanted to compare the two types of farms. I decided that I would challenge myself and do it in sparse, rhyming verse. 

Here’s the opening from my first draft:

Old farm,

field and sky.

New farm,

trays stack high.

Not terrible. But I realized that comparing “old” and “new” would pit them against each other. When really, both kinds of agriculture are based on foundations of innovation.

Changing  “old” to “outdoor” and “new” to “indoor” helped me set the frame and guide my research. This was about similarities and differences. Here’s the final version of that stanza, which is no longer the book’s opening:

Outdoor farm,

field meets sky.

Indoor farm,

trays stack high.

From there, I had to do a lot more research before I could come up with a solid draft.

I saw myself writing an expository compare-contrast book in verse. I wanted young picture book readers to understand how much science and innovation goes into food production, and why. I wanted all the facts to be correct, so I attended conferences with hydro- and aeroponic growers online, connected with experts, and asked questions to fill in the gaps of my understanding.

Beyond a frame for the verse, I needed a scaffold on which to hang the story. I needed a clear opening and satisfying closing. One of the main differences between outdoor farms and indoor is growing seasons: Outdoors, especially in colder climates, growing fields lay dormant for part of the year. Not so with hydroponic and aeroponic farms. If I organized the text around seasons, I could show the progression of growth outdoors while also contrasting it with what happens indoors. I could talk about planting, growing, harvesting, and enjoying the fruits of that harvest. I had my recipe!

2. Make a dummy. Now that I knew the structure and the facts, I could start to puzzle out how the individual page spreads would look. Where’s the poetry, you ask? Nowhere—yet! 

Writing nonfiction poetry—especially rhyming verse—can be painstaking. First creating a dummy, or outline, will save you a lot of headaches as you revise and keep the focus on your subject rather than the wordplay. 

When I say dummy, I’m not talking about making sketches, although you can. I’m talking about envisioning how the story will unfold. Try Tara Lazar’s method of pagination, and lay out the scenes to make sure your book will be well-paced.

Practically speaking, I created digital notecards for each page spread in Scrivener, a program that allows you to move chunks of text around easily and visualize the work as a whole. I jotted down as many compare/contrast ideas as possible, and dropped in some of my research and sources. I reordered the concepts by season. Then it was time to make them rhyme.

3. Write. (Finally!) This, my friends, is the agonizing part. My final manuscript for OUTDOOR FARM, INDOOR FARM clocks in at 162 words, but my “overflow” file with draft stanzas is 1,800 words long. Once I sold my book, it took me almost a year of revising with my editor before the manuscript moved on to copyediting. Sometimes I spent days puzzling out a single stanza—like this one:

Rhyme is tricky! But if you know what you want to say, you can look for similes and words that rhyme within a small family of words and concepts. If you haven’t planned what you want to say, the manuscript can careen off the tracks pretty quickly. 

Some tips for writing rhyme:

•       Beware of forced rhyme. If the writing doesn’t read as you would naturally speak, it’s bad rhyme.
•       Rhyme and stressed beats must be perfect to be publishable. (Here’s my plug for Renee LaTulippe’s excellent Lyrical Language Lab course, where you’ll learn all things rhyme and meter.)
•       Rhymezone is your best friend. You can search for synonyms, filter by the number of syllables, stressed beats, parts of speech, and even the starting letter. An “advanced rhyme” filter allows you to see only perfect rhymes.

4. Be honest: Is it fiction or nonfiction? Rhyme and poetry can absolutely be nonfiction. But be honest with your readers if you stray from the facts. In poetry and verse, nonfiction still means not-fiction. Any shred of made-up information means your book pushes it into informational fiction territory. Attributing unverified emotions or actions to a character, writing about someone other than yourself in first person, making up quotes… that’s fiction, even in poetry.

Is this OK? Yes, if the story calls for it! I wrote OUTDOOR FARM, INDOOR FARM as nonfiction, but when illustrator Xin Li brought her vision to the book, she created two characters who live on separate farms and have a pen-pal relationship. And you know what? Now I can’t imagine our book any other way. The point is, feel free to write the story that needs to be written. Just be honest and upfront with your readers about what is fact and what is fiction.

Rhyme and poetry can feel intimidating, but once all the ingredients come together, they blend for the heartiest, most delicious stew—the kind your readers will want to taste again and again.

                                                   About the Author: 

                                                       

Lindsay H. Metcalf is a former journalist who writes nonfiction nd poetry for children. Her books include BEATRIX POTTER, SCIENTIST, a Mighty Girl Best Book of 2020 and Young People’s Literature Award winner from the Friends of American Writers Chicago; FARMERS UNITE! PLANTING A PROTEST FOR FAIR PRICES, a Kansas Notable Book, Friends of American Writers honoree, NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book, and Junior Library Guild selection; and NO VOICE TOO SMALL: FOURTEEN YOUNG AMERICANS MAKING HISTORY, a Kirkus and Chicago Public Library Best Book, Notable Social Studies Trade Book, and NCTE Notable Poetry Book. Her latest title, NO WORLD TOO BIG: YOUNG PEOPLE FIGHTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, is a poetry anthology from the team behind No Voice Too Small (Charlesbridge, 2023). Forthcoming in April 2024 is OUTDOOR FARM, INDOOR FARM, a Junior Library Guild selection illustrated by Xin Li (Astra Young Readers). Lindsay lives in north-central Kansas with her husband, two sons, and a menagerie of pets. Learn more at lindsayhmetcalf.com and @lindsayhmetcalf on Instagram, X, Threads, and Bluesky.

RECYCLE YOUR RESEARCH

By Bonni Goldberg

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve read (so long ago that I can’t remember who wrote it) that applies to non-fiction kidlit writers is don’t squander your research on just one project.

It resonates with me as part of a family that makes it a mission to use every part of a Thanksgiving turkey (turkey sandwiches; soup from the bones, cartilage, and marrow; giblets incorporated into the gravy; the skimmed fat to roast potatoes; and crackling).

We all know that writing a nonfiction picture book takes a great deal of research. Imagine a word count or page count comparison between the research notes and a finished picture book. Most readers would be shocked. Whereas we non-fiction writers would simply nod.

For some of us, research is the best part of the writing process. Others of us set timers for our research sessions to avoid rabbit holes.

Either way, research takes a lot of time. Your time is valuable. So is your research. And not just for your current book project. Besides, why would you keep the cool, unused information you found to yourself?

Before bundling your notes away in a drawer or the cloud, consider publishing some of it in a different format. Here are ten options.

Writing Formats

1. Activity Sheets
Create activity sheets related to your book that further enrich, entertain, or educate a young reader’s experience and make them available on your website. As an example, DONA GRACIA SAVED WORLDS includes the fact that Gracia and her family spoke Ladino. I made an activity sheet introducing young readers to a few Ladino phrases. The activity is also valuable for Jewish educators.

2. Articles
Use your research to write an article for a children’s magazine. Write about an aspect of the topic of your book that you had to leave out or an additional aspect of something in your book that children would also find fascinating.

3. Poetry
Write a poem to submit to a children’s magazine. Let the poem speak to a theme, lesson, or take away from your book. Or write a poem about something you followed down a research rabbit hole.

4. Another Book
Write a book for a different audience that incorporates an aspect of your topic or includes the same topic and focuses on a different theme. I’m working on a middle grade historical fiction that includes Gracia. In the novel, she isn’t the main character. Also, the novel’s themes differ from the picture book.

5. Blog Posts
Did you have an unusual experience while pursuing your research? Write a post about it on your own blog or as a guest blogger on a site related to the topic. I know a writer whose research included discovering some lesser-known historical sites in Ireland. He wrote about them for a travel blog.

6. Activity Book
Compile a group of similar activities, or a mix of different ones, centered on an aspect of your topic: recipes, jokes, experiments, action steps for social change, etc. A funny camel appears in an information fiction project of mine. I’ve collected a lot of camel themed jokes and puns that may find their way into a camel themed activity book.

Alternative Formats

Don’t forget formats other than writing.

7. Podcast
Did you interview some interesting people? If you have their permission, create a short podcast interview series.

8. Thematic Calendar
Each month of your calendar could highlight a seasonal habit of the animal you wrote about. Depending on the topic of your book, you could feature monthly recipes, environmental actions, etc.

9. A Poster
This is the best medium to emphasize a statement or to help young readers remember steps, an affirmation, or important facts. A theme from Doña GRACIA SAVED WORLDS that could make an engaging poster is, every person is like a whole world.

10. A Card Deck
There is no set number of cards in a deck. A card deck would be fun for a book like Tara Lazar’s ABSURD WORDS. In round one each player could pick one word from the deck to use in a sentence and in subsequent rounds two words, three words, and so on until only one player is successful.

Your turn: Pick one format above. Give yourself an hour to develop it using research from your last or latest research.

These are just some ways you can further utilize your research. Please share creative ways you’ve done it or other options you’ve considered.

About The Author

Bonni Goldberg is author of the children’s picture book, Doña Gracia Saved Worlds, illustrated by Alida Massari. Bonni is an award-winning poet and writer and the author of The Write Balance: How to Embrace Percolation, Revision & Going Public, the companion book to the best-seller Room to Write: Daily Invitations to a Writer’s Life. You can find more about her at www.bonnigoldberg.com and check out all the Gracia related activities.