Mrs. Carver’s fourth grade class at Edison Elementary School, Tonawanda, NY asked April Pulley Sayre, the author of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, the following questions and Ms. Sayre graciously replied.
Dear Mrs. Carver’s Class,
Thank you for your excellent questions! They were clear and thoughtful. I enjoyed answering them.
Happy Reading!
April
April Pulley Sayre
If You’re Hoppy (Greenwillow, New release!)
Rah, Rah, Radishes: A Vegetable Chant (Beach Lane/S&S, June 16, 2011)
What inspired you to write the story?
I’ve always loved sea turtles. While snorkeling and scuba diving, I’ve seen them. They’re such peaceful swimmers! What directly inspired the book is the many people worldwide who care about sea turtles and work to help them. Sometimes when we care and worry about animals we have times when we feel alone in loving them. When I read about all those people helping turtles, I felt joyful to know that other people cared. I thought those loving hearts and working hands should be shown in the turtle’s journey in a book.
Do you know the illustrator?
I do not know the illustrator, Annie Patterson. We have never met. I would love to meet her someday.
When did you want to become an author?
When I was a little girl I never imagined being a book author. But I did dream of traveling by working for National Geographic. I thought I might become a scientist. I studied biology, especially primatology, in college and went to Madagascar. But it was clear that I wasn’t as good at doing science as I was at communicating about science. After college I worked as an intern at National Geographic and as an intern and associate editor at the National Wildlife Federation. Only after I had this on-the-job writing training did I become a freelance writer and, eventually, book author.
Why did you want to become an author?
I didn’t have a clear thought of why. I just started putting my energy into what I liked doing and was good at doing. I had a passion for communicating about science, making it understandable to non-scientists. Slowly, over time, that developed into this career of being a children’s book author. When I look back, it seems obvious that this is what I would become. Back then, it was not clear. There are lots of reasons I am glad it turned out this way, though!
What is the best part of being an author?
Inspiration—that bubbly feeling of a new idea, or a solution to a problem in my writing. Yet there are other surprising joys—seeing the finished product, connecting with readers through writing, and speaking with audiences in person.
Tell us about your education. What was your favorite subject in school? Did you go to college? What did you study?
My favorite subject in elementary school, middle school, and high school was biology. But some years I also loved English, math, and social studies because of terrific teachers. Along the way I developed my writing and speaking skills. I entered essay contests. I worked at a raptor center and brought hawks and owls to schools to teach about birds. During college I worked at a science museum, giving science presentations to classes for hundreds of Girl Scouts doing sleepovers at the museum. Now, all those speaking and teaching experiences come in handy because part of my work involves visiting schools and speaking at conferences.
In college I studied biology. So I took lots of chemistry and math. I also studied lemurs at the Duke Primate Center. I learned writing mostly by volunteering for a student science magazine. I also learned some of it on the job, later.
Are sea turtles your favorite animals? Do you have a favorite animal or pets? Do you have any turtles?
Sea turtles are among my favorite animals. Box turtles are special for me, too. My list of favorite animals is rather long, however. I tend to get carried away when I study an animal species. So, usually, I’d say dragonflies and sea turtles are my favorite animals. But, right now, because I’m writing about elephants, I’d add them in, too!
My husband and I don’t have any pets. But we do have bird feeders. Those feeders attract many squirrels, chipmunks, blue jays, and other creatures in our yard. We know some of them individually and treasure our encounters with them. They’re used to us so they aren’t very scared when we walk around the yard. Yet we don’t pet them or feed them by hand. They are wild.
Are you interested in keeping beaches clean, too? Do you live near a beach?
We are interested in keeping beaches clean but we don’t live near any ocean beaches. The beaches of Lake Michigan are an hour and fifteen minutes away from our house. But we do not visit those beaches very much. We spend more time in forests and wetlands near home. I am always excited when I get to travel to a place with ocean beaches. I love the ocean and feel happy when I see it.
Do you recycle or do other things to help the environment?
Yes. We do all that we can. We recycle. We reuse a lot of things. We take things we’re not using to others. We switched out our light bulbs for energy efficient ones. We share one car instead of having two.
My favorite little environmental thing is that I bought a huge, cheap pack of wash cloths. I use these to wipe my hands and dry my hands. Then I toss them in the laundry. By using these, I keep from making a big towel dirty for a little job. (My hands are really muddy sometimes from gardening, so they could mess up a towel!) This reduces the amount of laundry and that saves water, soap, and energy.
The biggest thing we do is garden for wildlife. This means we have a lot of flower beds and don’t have to mow much lawn. We have gardens and wild spaces. We plant trees, bushes, and flowers that attract birds and butterflies. They provide animals with food and shelter.
What sort of research did you do? How did you get information about the turtles?
I read books by scientists. We worked with a sea turtle scientist. We helped her walk beaches to find nests. We were with her when she measured nests and when turtles were hatching. She also attached a tracker to a turtle. We were able to see where the turtle was every day, as she swam. You can see some tracked turtles on seaturtles.org.
April Sayre, May 2011
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