"How I Wrote and Published More Than 100 Children’s Books" with Caroline Arnold

Mel is Mel Boring, moderator of this chat with Caroline Arnold and web editor of the ICL Web Site.

Mel: Caroline Arnold and I WELCOME you WARMLY to the ICL Chat Room! We have perhaps never had a children's book author and illustrator who is quite so accomplished and versatile as Caroline Arnold in both writing and illustrating books for children. Presently, 130 of Caroline's books have been published, some of which she illustrated herself. Caroline Arnold began as a professional artist, then later began writing children's books. The subjects of her books range as widely as modern times range from prehistoric, and she has written about fossils, ancient cultures, and sports, as well as many other modern topics. Having met Caroline some years ago in her now-home state of California, it's a very special treat for me to welcome her to this chat room. A WARM WELCOME to you, Caroline!

Caroline: Thank you for inviting me! I look forward to my chat!

Mel: Caroline, were there other writers in your family of origin?

Caroline: My family hasn't had any published writers until me, but my father loved to write. And both my parents were avid readers who instilled in me a love of books.

Mel: There must have been books you read as a girl that started you thinking about becoming a writer. What might those books have been?

Caroline: I grew up in Minnesota and admired two Minnesota authors—Laura Ingalls Wilder and Maude Hart Lovelace. I loved their stories based on their own childhoods. When I was eleven, I met Maude Hart Lovelace at a booksigning in Dayton's Department Store. She is the only "real live" author that I ever met when I was growing up.

Mel: What a great memory--and influence on you! The great land of Minnesota must have also influenced you and your later writing. How did that great north woods influence you?

Caroline: I spent most of my summers in the north woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota. My father founded a camp in northern Wisconsin and that was where I learned to love the out of doors. I got up early to go birdwatching with my father—and now you'll see that many of my books are about birds. I also learned about animals, flowers, geology, just about everything was exciting to my father and that was passed on to my three brothers and me as we were growing up.

Mel: Your father's founding a camp must have been great joy for you as a child! Did you help out with the camp work itself?

Caroline: As a child I was a camper, and then as a teenager and college student I worked as a counselor.

Mel: What did you study in college that further led you toward a career in writing, Caroline?

Caroline: I went to Grinnell College in Iowa where I majored in art and minored in English Literature. At the time I had no intentions of being a writer, especially of children's books but I realize now that my liberal arts education and training in both the visual arts and in literature were the perfect preparation.

Mel: Of all the art work you might have done, and books you could have written, what inspired you to write children's books in particular, then?

Caroline: The inspiration was my own children. When they were small I read stacks of books to them and began to think that perhaps I could be a children's book illustrator—I still wasn't thinking of doing any writing! My mother encouraged me to try illustrating but when I got out my art supplies to begin I realized that I first needed a story. That was the beginning of my writing career.

Mel: Tell us about your children, any "following in Mom's footsteps" there? (-:}

Caroline: I have two children. Jennifer is the oldest and is now married with her own two children. I am the proverbial proud grandma and already my grandchildren have begun to inspire new projects. Matthew is my other child. He and his wife are doctors. Matt is also a musician and writes songs. Jennifer is good writer but used most of her skills professionally as a linguist. My husband, Art, is also a good writer, but uses his talents in writing scientific articles.

Mel: CONGRATULATIONS on those grandkids! As I recall, your husband is a scientist at UCLA, is he not? How has HE helped your career in writing and illustrating children's books, Caroline?

Caroline: My husband is a neuroscientist at UCLA and studies birds. His training as a graduate student was in animal behavior, so for many of my projects he is a live-in expert. Art is also an excellent photographer and has illustrated several of my books.

Mel: What a FASCINATING family you have, friend! Tell us how you first got started writing for children. What exactly did you do first? Did you write for magazines in the beginning?

Caroline: My first writing projects were picture books, mostly fiction. I showed one of those stories to a family friend who was a published writer and she recommended that I take a class in writing for children. So I enrolled in a class at UCLA Extension in the Writer's Program. That was the best thing I ever did! In the class I met other people—many have become long- time friends—and I became exposed to nonfiction writing. I realized that many of my ideas suited themselves to a nonfiction approach, and that was the beginning. My first book, Five Nests, (about parenting in birds and inspired by my husband's teaching at UCLA) was published because of a contact that I made in that class I took at UCLA. Now I teach at UCLA.

Mel: It sounds like you made a very NATURAL transition from fiction to nonfiction. Do you still write fiction, or have a yen to?

Caroline: I like to write fiction and have recently embarked on several fiction projects. One of them was a story published last year by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The assignment was to create a fictional story inspired by a piece in the museum collection! I chose a picture by one of my favorite artists, Cézanne. I also have a new fiction book—a tall tale—coming out from Boyds Mills Press next year.

Mel: A question pre-submitted by Arnalda: Hi, Caroline! I have a superweakness for museums and not long ago visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. When I was there, I noticed they were handing out complimentary copies of a little booklet that they had published and you wrote, entitled "An Apple a Day." I have it in front of me now. It's great and it has inspired me to write about other works of art - something that I have wanted to do for a long time. My question is: How approachable are museums regarding this sort of thing? Thanks in advance for your answer.

Caroline: I don't know exactly what to say because the Museum approached me through my publisher. But I think that it is worth sending out query letters to various museums. I believe that the Met had some sort of a grant that supported the publication of my story and several other stories in the series.

Mel: I am intrigued by your upcoming tall tale from Boyds Mills, Caroline. Can you give us a teaser of a summary of that book?

Caroline: This book is a sequel to my book The Terrible Hodag, a retelling of a story that I heard around the campfire when I was growing up. The Hodag is a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator. Stories of the Hodag come from the logging camps of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. My new story is an original tale based on that character.

Mel: THANKS, I'll be one of that book’s most eager readers!

Caroline: No, I'm not the Hodag.

Mel: HA! I didn't think so—you’re too pretty for that!

Caroline: When I'm writing a nonfiction book and I am having trouble finding a fact I think--oh, wouldn't it be much easier to write fiction--then I could must make it up! But then when I'm writing fiction and come upon a stumbling block I think--I wouldn't it be much easier just to tell the facts! I have written so many nonfiction books that it is easier for me in most cases because I have learned how to organize the facts. But the trick with nonfiction is to find an organization that makes the material fresh and fun to read--and that's not always easy or obvious.

Mel: GREAT answer, Caroline!

Caroline: Yes, I think that getting discouraged goes with the territory--especially when you send out a story to a publisher and it comes back with a rejection letter. I try to look at each manuscript with fresh eyes—even if I have been working on it for weeks and months, or when it comes back with that rejection letter. But my real solution to overcoming discouragement was to write lots of stories. Not only did it give me practice, but eventually I had a greater number of stories to try to sell, and just in case you're wondering, I do have a file full of unsold stories. And periodically I go through them to see if I think I can make them better.

Mel: Caroline, I remember you saying that you wrote MAGAZINE pieces AFTER writing books. Can you explain just how that came about, please?

Caroline: Yes, magazine writing came as a supplement to my book writing. After each book project I always found that I had a mountain of research material that I didn't use because it just didn't fit into the book. So in many cases I turned that "extra" material into a magazine article. For instance, an early book was called Electric Fish and then I sold a short article about electric fish to the Cousteau Society's children's magazine, Dolphin Log.

Caroline: My first published book, Five Nests, was an easy-read book for second graders. The manuscript was five pages long. The content was based on material that my husband taught in his class at UCLA so that helped cut short the research time. I may have written the manuscript over a period of several weeks. (At that time I had a part-time job and was the mother of two young children.) However, after I sent it to the publisher (Dutton) it came back with a letter asking if I was willing to revise it. Of course, I said Yes! So then I spent many more weeks revising it. After those revisions the publisher bought it—much to my delight—and then of course I had to spend more time making changes as I worked with the editor. So, it took at least six months to write that first book, and that is typical, even for a short manuscript.

Mel: As a general rule with children's writers, do you think that shorter books, ironically, take longer to write?

Caroline: Yes. Short books are difficult because you have to leave so much out—and every single word has to count.

Mary Speer: In my heart I am a children's writer. I have illustrated two of my kids' versions of stories I wrote but I seem to be stuck on "how-to projects," which although may be good for a quick sell, may not be where my heart is in children's writing. How did you ever get published as widely as you have—any special tips to give me?

Caroline: It sounds like you are good at writing how-to projects. However, if you really want to try something else, you should do it. I would recommend finding some already published books that you admire and use them as a model. And it always helps to take a class or join a writer's group to get feedback on your work.

Caroline: I would say that you should start with the age group you are most comfortable with. Usually, this is the age of your own children or children you know. Another secret in writing for children is to have a really clear idea of your audience. I often try to imagine a child (of the age I am writing for) sitting in the chair next to me and nodding in agreement or rejecting in disapproval each word I write.

Caroline: Drawing is like any other skill—the more you practice, the better you get. Drawing is not so different from writing—the key is becoming a keen observer of detail. If you can learn to draw those details, your drawing will come alive. I don't know of any particular books to recommend, but I'm sure you could go to your library and see what's available.

Mel: Caroline, how does/can a writer also come to illustrating their books, as you did? Is there a kind of "double process" you follow?

Caroline: Most writers don't illustrate their own books. The few who do, like me, have some previous training in art. Unless you really think that you can do a great job illustrating your own book, it is almost always better to let someone else do it and concentrate on making your writing the very best it can be. I find that illustrating takes a huge amount of time—and this is time away from my writing—so I am only willing to illustrate a few of my books. Most of my books have wonderful art by other illustrators and I am thrilled that they have been chosen to do the art for my books.

Mel: Very WISE response—and thank you!

Caroline: Kids like all sorts of books—from sports and science to crafts and pets. They also use nonfiction for reports in school. As far as "popular" it depends on whether you mean popular with kids or popular with publishers. Most nonfiction today is published for the school and library market and it is produced mainly by dedicated school and library publishers. And they publish just about anything that fits into the school curriculum. So there really is no limit and the kind of topic you can write about.

Caroline: Good question, and one that every published writer ponders. I would definitely send manuscripts that are not suited to the publisher elsewhere. That should produce no conflict. I would try several of the stories that you think are most likely to interest the publisher. If you are lucky they may offer you a contract for more than one. Probably the best thing to do is to discuss this with your editor and try to find out how they feel about your future stories there. I apologize if this doesn't sound very helpful. This is always a dilemma when you have a number of stories.

Caroline: Yes and no. The children's market has changed dramatically since 1980 when my first book was published. Since then, many of the independent publishers have consolidated. However, there are MANY new smaller publishers emerging to fill the gap. When I started to submit my stories I read in a book about publishing that .4 percent (That's 4 out of 1000) stories submitted to children's book publishers got published. That's a pretty discouraging statistic. Yet, I still sent out my stories, and rather amazingly I seem to have beaten the odds. It is probably about the same or worse today, but the only way to succeed is to try.

Caroline: My primary age group is grades 3-6, although I have recently written two baby books and occasionally I write longer books for middle school. I like to write for the elementary school age child, because these are the kids who are using books in school and who love to learn and find out things.

Caroline: I try to familiarize myself with other books in the market that are for that age group and I also try to interact with kids of that age so that I can get a sense of their language and the complexity of their thinking.

Caroline: Each writing project presents its own challenges. With my photographic books there is always the question of whether or not I can find a picture to illustrate a certain idea or concept. Or when I work with a photographer, whether it will be possible to take the picture—animals and weather don't always cooperate!

Mel: Caroline, animals seem truly YOUR subject! When and how, through your life, did you develop your passion for animals?

Caroline: I've always like animals and from the time I was very small I've had a pet cat. (My cat, Rocky, is now sitting on top of my file cabinet impatiently waiting to be fed!). But I think that the combination of my summers at camp and my husband's training in animal behavior have helped to make me a self-taught expert. The most exciting thing I ever did in my life was a 3-month stay in east Africa when my husband was doing a research project in a national park in Western Uganda. On a daily basis we were seeing elephants (who raided our trashcans at night), lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, and all the animals of the African plain. This experience has influenced many of my books, including my 100th book, African Animals. Some of the photos in that book were taken during the time we spent in Africa. Today, though, I do most of my observations of animals in zoos or wildlife parks.

Mel: How long does it take you to research and write a book? How do you decide what animals to write about?

Caroline: When I was doing the animal books published by Morrow Junior Books--such as Koala, Llama, Lion, Penguin, etc.—the choice of animals depended on interest and availability. I learned from my school visits which animals were the most popular with kids and which ones hadn't been written about very much. Then the challenge was to find a zoo or animal park where the animals could be photographed in a natural environment and where we could observe various stages of their life cycle. The whole process of doing one of those books usually took about a year—in several stages. I would spend a month or so preparing for a trip to some place like Australia, several weeks there, and then several months or more writing the manuscript, selecting the slides and then doing the rewriting and fine-tuning. Although I did go to Australia for the first two books, Koala and Kangaroo, all the rest were done in local zoos or other zoos in the US.

Mel: I'm curious about the koala you're holding in the picture on your web site. Was holding the koala part of your study of koalas?

Caroline: Not exactly. This picture is a good illustration of how a vacation experience can be the inspiration for a book. This photo was taken on a family trip to Australia. When I returned I was talking about my animal experiences with my editor, and this was the beginning of the koala book. In case you are interested, if you want to hold a koala, you pretend you are a tree and let the koala hold onto you—that's what koala's do in nature—they climb trees. Koalas have incredibly soft fur. The down side is that they are VERY smelly. They smell like concentrated eucalyptus oil!

Mel: I LOVE that story—and your explanation of how to attract koalas! You've mentioned the publishers, Dutton and Morrow Junior Books. Have you published with mainly one publisher, or has there been a combination of publishers for your 130 books, Caroline?

Caroline: I've published with about a dozen different publishers--partly because different publishers do different kinds of books and partly because editors and publishers change. (Morrow Junior Books no longer exists.) I try to stick to a few main publishers. Clarion has been my primary publisher almost since the beginning (my Dutton editor moved there after my first book) and they are publishing books like Giant Shark illustrated by Laurie Caple, and Uluru: Australia’s Aboriginal Heart, a book about Ayers Rock in Australia, illustrated with photos by my husband. I've also recently published a number of books with Charlesbridge—Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines and my two baby books, Who Is Bigger? And Who Has More? In the past I've done a number of series books with publishers like Watts, and Lerner.

Mel: We'll give Caroline a very short break so she can go feed her cat, Rocky, while I make some necessary announcements! (-:}

Caroline: First, it should be on a topic that kids really want to know about. Secondly, it should have a unique viewpoint or special twist. Thirdly, it should lend itself to great illustrations. Fourthly, if you can make it funny or clever, you'll probably have a bestseller!

Caroline: The Geography Activity Book published by Wiley is an example of an early project rewritten for a new audience. With my background in art, I always enjoyed doing projects both when I was growing up, as an art teacher (my previous career), and with my own kids. I did have some success with my early writing with activity books or activity projects for magazines. In the early eighties I wrote a series of six geography activity books for second graders. They have long been out of print. A few years ago I took some of those ideas, rewrote them for older children and added new projects for the book, which was published by Wiley. This isn't a typical book for me, but goes to show that all writers can have diverse interests. I like to write different kinds of books to give some variety to life!

Caroline: In most cases, I come up with an idea, I propose it to one of my editors, and that's how the topic of a new project gets chosen.

Mel: Caroline, could you tell us how you prepare for and write books, such as your most recent, Hawk Highway in the Sky: Watching Raptor Migration?

Caroline: The Hawk Highway book was a collaboration with photographer Robert Kruidenier, who had worked at the banding station in the Goshute Mountains of Nevada run by HawkWatch, International in Salt Lake City. Most of the research for the book was done on site at the banding station. One part of my preparation was getting together the backpacking equipment I would need to hike up the mountain and stay there for a week! My plan was to spend a week watching the scientists count and band the migrating raptors and work with Robert to get the photographs we would need to illustrate the book. As it turned out, the week we were there was so busy that they put me to work helping to gather data and helping to hold and release some of the birds. It was very exciting and I got to learn what I needed to know by doing it myself. My years as a birdwatcher helped me to know what questions to ask. I also had the experience of two previous books, Saving the Peregrine Falcon and On the Brink of Extinction: The California Condor, to help me know what kinds of things I would want to find out for the book.

Mel: I've been figuring: If you've been writing just 25 years, and have 130 books, that's about five or six books a year! How is that possible?

Caroline: In the early years I did a lot of series—sometimes six or ten books at once. Most of these were for younger readers, so it was really like writing one book with six or ten chapters. So some years I wrote more than five or six books. Now, I tend to write two or three books a year.

Mel: Now that you have passed the publication of your 130th book, and you look at your vast body of work, what do you feel is your greatest achievement in your writing? What do you hope to achieve in future books?

Caroline: My goal in my writing is to produce books that make kids excited about what they are reading. I do many school visits, and the most rewarding part is seeing the thrill of kids who are learning about sharks, or lions, or some other topic that they think is exciting. I have so many ideas for future books that I don't think I'll ever run out of projects.

Mel: Now of course I'm eager to ask you, Caroline, of all your 130 books, which ONE is your most favorite?

Caroline: I knew you'd ask that. I don't have just one favorite—in fact, each one is special for its own reason. Many authors say that their favorite book is their newest one. For me, that will be Pterosaurs, Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age. This book will be out later this fall. It's hard to pick a favorite. It is like asking a mother to pick a favorite of her many children. I love all my book-children, each for their own special qualities!

Mel: Are there any animals that have not been written about very much yet?

Caroline: There are an endless number of animals that have yet to be written about. These can make fascinating books if you can figure out a way to show why we need to know about them. Just think of all the bats, and insects, and fish, and snakes, and more!

Mel: What is the best advice that you can offer to aspiring young writers-or us aspiring OLD writers? (-:}

Caroline: Write what you love! If you are passionate about your topic, it will come through in your words. And the other advice is practice, practice, practice.

Mel: Our chat is over all too soon, Caroline Arnold. Your very sensible answers to the questions have made the time fly by. Hearing your answers, it’s easy to see how you have been successful in writing and publishing 130 books for children. And you are a rare children's author with training in BOTH illustration and writing. We would all like it if you could return someday and continue the strong presentation you have made here tonight. May we invite you back again to our chat room in the future?

Caroline: I would enjoy that! And thank you for inviting me to be here tonight and to answer all the thoughtful and challenging questions!

Mel: I have always had GREAT respect for Caroline Arnold and her writing, but tonight with what she told me privately just before we started, my respect grew greatly. Caroline said she was doing a school program recently, showing slides, speaking over the microphone, when the electric power went out—and stayed out for two hours! But, trouper that she is, she went on. Caroline Arnold, you have been an inspiration!

Caroline: Thank you, and good night!