Today we continue the series in which award-winning nonfiction authors discuss the joys and challenges of the research process with an essay by Miranda Paul. Thank you, Miranda.
I
often ask readers, “How long do you think it takes to make a book?” Older
students know that research and writing can take a year or more. But once, a
child told me it only takes him 12 minutes. Imagine his face when I told him
about my book’s 12-year journey
One
Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia was the first
children’s book to chronicle the women of Njau, Gambia. At school visits, I
show photos from my in-person interviews and artifacts like my scribbled notes
in English and Wolof. Sometimes I bring my small stack of the video tapes, hard
drive, and CF cards from my first digital camera. I demonstrate how I picked
up, washed, dried, and cut plastic bags with the women. I admit to them that I
failed almost every attempt at trying to crochet a plastic purse myself.
Students love seeing how research meant cooking and eating and laughing and
crying with Isatou and the women over several research trips to the village.
Nearly
ten years after first buying one of Isatou’s recycled purses, I tucked
away most of my research, thinking I was done. The book had been acquired and
revised, and I’d sent off photos to artist Elizabeth Zunon.
Elizabeth
wanted to make the illustrations as accurate as possible. But she needed to
know more about Isatou’s first crochet hook—specifically, what was the hook
made of?
Out
came the research!
The
photos I’d snapped showed metal crochet hooks that had been sent by a European
volunteer. But my pictures were taken a decade after Isatou made her first
recycled plastic purse. Could the hook have been plastic? I wasn’t sure.
Today,
I’d whip out my smartphone and ask Isatou on WhatsApp. But back then, Isatou’s
and my access to technology was more limited.
I fired an email off to Isatou,
but I wasn’t sure she’d reply before the deadline. I also reached out to Peggy
Sedlack, the Peace Corps volunteer who worked with Isatou in the 1990s and
supplied back matter photos. Alas, we couldn’t confirm what Isatou’s first
crochet hook looked like.
Time
passed without an email from Isatou (left), so I picked up my landline, checked the
time zone in Gambia, and dialed Isatou’s number. Telephone service was not
always reliable with my provider or within the Gambia, and my first two
attempts got dropped. The lines crossed on my third try. Finally, the drawn-out
beep of the international ring ended with a familiar voice.
We
exchanged greetings and I asked Elizabeth’s question. Isatou told me about how
she didn’t own a crochet hook back then and couldn’t buy one, but she spotted a
broomstick and got the idea to whittle a piece roughly the same shape and size
as the crochet hook she’d seen her sister use.
“Incredible,
Isatou! Why did you never tell me that before?”
“You
never asked.”
We
laughed, and Isatou enthralled me with more tales of her resourcefulness. I was
so engrossed, I forgot that I was paying for the call by the minute! Though I
later got a pricey bill, it had been worth it. I reported the news to my
editor, requesting to add a line to the book—even though the text was already
“finished.”
In
the hundreds of questions I’d asked over the book’s twelve-year journey from
inspiration to publication, this one never would have crossed my mind if not
for Elizabeth’s curiosity. Finding the answer wasn’t my biggest research
challenge, nor is it the most fascinating, but it remains my personal favorite.
Why?
Every
time I read the line, “Isatou finds a broomstick and carves her own tool from
its wood,” I’m humbly reminded to embrace the power of collaboration. Research
isn’t a lonely venture. Listening and including others makes research stronger.
Investigations aren’t always over when you think. Many facts aren’t documented
in writing or media—they’re only tucked away in someone’s memory.
My
new favorite research question became: What question hasn’t been asked yet?
As
part of my One Plastic Bag author visits, I play a silly research game
with large student groups. We do primary research without books or websites,
just like I had to do. Student solutions and ideas play out differently at each
school, proving that there are many valid paths to finding answers. Through the
game, students also discover how to try more than one method to find the facts.
The
Q&A portion that follows the game sparks many predictable questions—but I
savor the outliers. I encourage educators to use prompts that spark outliers.
To harness the collective curiosity of a hive mind, teachers might hold up a
single photograph or artifact and have each student each write one question
about it. There might be as many unique questions as there are kids. Intriguing
questions are a great place from which to start research—because a good
question is worth its weight in phone bills!
Miranda
Paul is an award-winning author of books for children. She has received starred
reviews and Junior Library Guild distinction for several titles, including One
Plastic Bag, Water is Water, I Am Farmer, Nine
Months, and Little Libraries, Big Heroes. Her book, Whose
Hands Are These? was an ILA Teacher’s Choice and Speak Up was
an NEA Book Pick. Miranda is a co-founding member of We Need Diverse Books. More
at MirandaPaul.com.
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2 Responses
Such a cool story. thanks for sharing it!
Terrific article! And that final question was worth its weight in gold!