On Wednesdays this fall, I’m
sharing the process of creating my recently-published book Ick! Delightfully
Disgusting Animals Dinners, Dwellings, and Defenses step-by-step. (To learn about the whole process in one sitting or to share an age-appropriate version with your students, check out this new resource on my website.)
the book. You can scroll down and read that post. Today, I’ll focus on how I
went about gathering information.
For a narrowly-focused concept book like Ick!,
there’s no quick or easy way to do the research. I collected examples in a
burgeoning folder over the course of many, many years.
In my office, I have a large, three-drawer vertical file
cabinet full of these folders—each one represents a potential book. Every time
I read an article or hear an idea that fits one of my categories, I add it to
the designated folder. Over time, the information adds up.
For Ick!, I combined information
from several files, including:
—animals that regurgitate,
—unusual animal homes,
—animals that use pee and poop in surprising ways,
—animals that spit
—cannibal animals
I also gathered information by reading books, using the internet,
observing things in nature (like the jackal and gerenuk), and interviewing
scientists and other experts. You can see the
range of sources I used for Ick! by looking at the Selected Sources list
on pages 107-108.
Let me share one example here: the bombardier beetle—an
insect that blasts enemies with a scalding spray that bursts out its butt. I
observed the insect in action during a class I took at Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, many years ago.
In March 2018, an article in Science News led me to an amazing video of a Japanese common
toad vomiting an African bombardier beetle drenched with gooey mucus. For 88 minutes, the tenacious insect
fought for its life by blasting the toad’s insides with nasty, sizzling-hot
spray. Finally, the toad couldn’t take it anymore and spewed its supper. After
a brief rest, the slime-covered beetle slowly crawled away. You better believe
this incredible example ended up in the book. Check out pages 94 and 95.
You know you’ve chosen one of the world’s best professions
when watching something so weird and wonderful is a legitimate part of your
job! Observational research—whether it’s in person, through videos, or via
webcams—is one of my favorite parts of being a nonfiction writer. It’s also one
of the best ways I know to gather tantalizing tidbits that can transform a
piece of science writing from okay to outstanding.
Eventually, I realized I had enough information for the book, so
it was time to move on to the next step in the process—making a plan. I’ll talk
more about that next week.
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2 Responses
I am enjoying this series of posts about ICK! Great book, and always enlightening to see how the process played out.
Research is so much fun!! Especially when it's hands on.