We’re pleased to welcome Leslie Helakoski and Darcy Pattison to the blog today! Darcy and Leslie make a terrific teaching team for the Highlights Foundation and have led both in-person and online picture book workshops for us. We’re always happy to share picture book wisdom from them! Their conversation below is all about how facts have inspired some of their picture books.
Leslie:
I write mostly fiction but many of my writing friends write nonfiction. I think I’ve been influenced by them more than I realized. Now, after 20 years, I find myself sneaking nonfiction elements into my fiction.
A few years ago, I was cooking up a story about a family inviting others over to an increasingly crowded house. Fun, right? But my story was flat. I needed to spice it up. Maybe I could try adding a pinch of nonfiction to the pot?
Being a Louisiana native, I’ve lived through many storms. And after these storms there is a powerful outpouring of aid and assistance. People open their hearts and doors and call others over into increasingly crowded houses.
I took real things that happened during Hurricane Katrina and other storms and sprinkled them into my story of a crowded space. WHEN THE RAIN CAME DOWN is also a story about a boy and his dog who are rescued and brought to a shelter. They watch the rain come down and the community rise up. Educators use it to teach about erosion on the Gulf Coast and how community works. A deeper well-seasoned story is the result.
Darcy:
I write a lot of nonfiction, with occasional fiction. Leslie’s commitment to fiction has inspired me, and I find myself writing fiction—with a nonfiction element.
My biologist sister and co-author was reading about conservation of matter. That’s the idea that nothing is lost or gained in the universe. Instead, a calcium molecule from dinosaur bones would be recycled to calcium in your teeth. She said, “You have a little bit of dinosaur in you.”
We could’ve written a nonfiction book locating dinosaur fossils around the world and talking about how bones are hardened into fossils. Instead, we wrote a rollicking, fun story of a calcium molecule that travels from Colorado (where they really do have T. Rex skeleton—fact) across the plains to Arkansas where it’s taken up by an irrigation pump. The pump waters a corn field; the corn feeds a cow who gives milk that is made into cheese. And “your mother” buys the cheese to make you a cheese sandwich. The A LITTLE BIT OF DINOSAUR book–and eventually series–has garnered over 6 million reads on the EPIC! reading app.
Suddenly, readers realize they really could—it’s a fact–have “a little bit of dinosaur” inside them. Before, kids wanted facts about dinosaurs, but now, they realize they could BECOME dinosaurs. It’s a fun way to tackle a difficult concept, conservation of matter in the universe.
Combining fiction and nonfiction can add depth to an idea. Author Jacquie Sewell’s book, WHALE FALL CAFÉ, is a great example. In a submersible, she takes us deep in the ocean to view what happens around a decomposing whale. She includes snappy dialogue from our host and café customers to deliver amazing facts. Jacqui was fascinated by her research into whale falls and found a way to make all that information readable and fun.
Another example is Matthew Cordell’s new book, TO SEE AN OWL. The main storyline is about a young girl who wants more than anything to see an owl. Along with the tale, Cordell weaves information about different owls, their habits and sounds. These additions to the story provide teachers and parents with more information about these amazing birds.
When you’re inspired by fascinating facts, you have options about how to use them—fiction, nonfiction, or a combination of both. How will you tell your story?
Learn from Leslie Helakoski and Darcy Pattison!
