Patrick pringle author biography in the background

I came to rely more and more on libraries for contemporary knowledge. Most of my own once-vast library is gone, given away or sold at yard sales. Much as I love books, I seldom buy one for research. And when I travel and begin to fantasize about moving and living in, say, Tucson or Martha's Vineyard, I soon begin to wonder about the quality of the libraries—a vital factor in my work.

My second visit to the Southwest was especially sweet, as I traveled by train in March of with Jeffrey and Sean then ages fourteen and twelve, respectively to attend the awards banquet of the National Wildlife Federation in Phoenix. I received a Special Conservation Award for being, in the federation's words, "the nation's leading writer of books on biological and environmental issues for young people.

Sometimes reviewers point out qualities in my books that I did not consciously put there, for example, saying that I "deduce principles, examine meanings, raise questions, and encourage observation. As my knowledge of ecology has grown, so has my appreciation of diversity, complexity, and the interdependence of living and nonliving things. My books tend to encourage readers to feel a kinship with other living things, and a sense of membership in the earth ecosystem.

I have also become an advocate of scientific thinking, or perhaps I should say just clear thinking. Challenging authority and accepted truths is a basic part of the scientific process. It has influenced my choice of book subjects, as I have questioned popular but incorrect notions about forest fires, dinosaurs, vampire bats, wolves, coyotes, and killer bees.

These books give readers the truth, to the extent we know it, and also demonstrate that the explorations of science aim at a better understanding of the world. As long as we keep exploring, that understanding can change. I also encourage a skeptical attitude toward the fruits of technology and various vested interests that come into play with such issues as nuclear power, environmental health, biocides, or acid rain.

My books on such subjects are never neutral; sometimes I am tempted to lean heavily toward one side of an issue. The temptation to do so is strong when one side mainly represents short-term economic interests and the other mainly represents concern about public healthmaintenance of natural diversity and beauty, and the quality of life for both present and future generations.

Temptation is also fueled by the knowledge that students are often subjected to the biased publications and films free to schoolsand advertisements of powerful economic interests, and are ill-prepared to detect the distortions and omissions of these materials. My books about controversial issues are not balanced—in the sense of equal space and weight applied to all sides—but are balanced by presenting arguments from the opposing interests, and a reading list that includes a diversity of views for those who want to explore the subject further.

It is said of writers, especially fiction writers, that any experience can become material for a story, novel, or other piece of writing. Nonfiction writers seldom infuriate relatives and others who recognize themselves in print, but we do find that any interest or hobby can eventually lead to articles or books. I expect this to occur as a result of an interest of mine that began in the spring of That early May I read an article about morel mushrooms, considered by many to be the most delicious of all wild fungi.

I knew morels and had eaten them, including some that Gary found growing under an elm as he mowed his lawn in Honeoye Falls, but had never tried to find them in the area northwest of New York City where I had settled. The article mentioned some habitat in which morels grow each spring, and I decided to hunt for them. A friend and I hiked through shoulder-high poison ivy for an hour or two, searching the ground without success.

Then Ruth asked, hesitantly, "Is that one? It was! I found a few more that spring; by the following spring I was taking detailed notes, recording morel sites on a topographic map, and pursuing morels with the passion I had devoted as a teenager to bird-watching and baseball. Fortunately, wild morels grow for only a few weeks a year, so I can turn to other matters in the long off-season.

I have since found black morels growing on my own acre of woods, and with friends have collected as many as twenty pounds of morels in one day. For a few years a friend and I sold fresh morels to restaurants in New York City. The prospect of receiving up to twenty-five dollars a pound stimulated a successful search for even more morel sites, but I didn't like the other side effects of putting a price tag on each morel found so I stopped selling.

Morel hunting in my area can also be a disheartening experience, as each year developers destroy bosky havens where morels once flourished. My journal of morel observations and collection of morel photographs grows, so it is only a matter of time before this hobby yields a book. It will most likely be a cookbook, with a foreword about finding morels written by me, and recipes by former chef, fellow morel hunter, and longtime friend, Lois Murphy.

If I someday write about groundhogs and Groundhog Day, it will be partly because of my roots in the rural Hopper Hills but mostly because of my first divorce. As a country boy I was probably more conscious of this holiday than many city dwellers. Later, with a divorce in progress in earlyI was looking for ways to show my children that I still loved them.

That year they received gifts from the Great Groundhog, who leaves presents in the basement and marks the package with a paw print. They no longer search the cellar on February 2, but they and other loved ones usually receive some form of groundhog greetings from me. During my "single again" stage Groundhog Day became the focus of an annual party.

In southeastern New York the day has special meaning, not because of nonsense about shadows and weather prediction, but because bird songs and the lengthening days of early February show that spring is on the way—reason enough for a party. My book Animals at Play was inspired in part by a special cat. Until my late thirties I had little experi- ence with cats.

My parents had had dogs as pets. Furthermore, as a result of my early simplistic view of nature, cats were "bad" because they sometimes killed birds. I stopped short of shooting cats but encouraged dogs to chase them. Alison, my penultimate wife, was a cat lover, and so was I once I had shared a home with such memorable individuals as Mr.

Cat behavior fascinates me and may someday be the basis for a book, but my own behavior with cats is a disturbing reminder of the difficulty I and others have with emotional intimacy. My parents found it much easier to lavish affection on dogs than on their children, and I express love for a special cat more freely than love for my wife.

It is unlikely that I will write about my interest in baseball, the New York Mets, and volleyball. I still don't play the latter all that well, but have developed a wicked serve—a striking contrast to my embarrassing efforts in high-school gym classes this might be called experiencing sports success retroactively. Surf fishing, however, will almost certainly lead to something in print, although John Hersey, in Blues, has written the definitive book about my favorite prey.

Aside from catching minnows as a boy and a bit of trout and perch fishing through the years, I reached the age of forty-five with little fishing experience. We overindulged in guests but on Labor Day weekend found time for a bit of fishing, catching snappers young bluefish at an old fishing haunt of hers. Until then I had enjoyed ocean beaches for summer swimming, sunning, and sand sculpture, but that weekend I found a way to feel connected to the ocean's life and tides in all seasons but especially in the autumn.

Susan Klein and I met in the late summer ofand became deeply involved the following spring. She was thirty-three and childless when we became involved, and she wanted children. I was forty-two, had college expenses for patrick pringle author biography in the background children looming ahead, and did not want further children. Even without this conflict the relationship was stormy; twice it seemed to be over.

Then Susan and I began living together, intermingling silverware and cats. Finally, on March 13,we were married. About that time I heard a joke having to do with a priest, minister, and rabbi discussing when human life begins. The rabbi gives the punch line: that life begins when all of your children are out of college and the dog dies.

Flying in the face of this wisdom, I helped start a new family. People ask what it's like to become a father again at age forty-eight and fifty. It seems more exhausting; I do not have the energy to roughhouse as much as I did when Heidi, Jeffrey, and Sean were young. It also differs from my earlier experience because I was then a magazine editor and commuter, primarily a weekend father, and now my freelance life makes me more available to my children every day.

Unfortunately, in order to get work done, I often have to shut myself off from Jesse and Becky. More than ever before, I write between the hours of 10 p. People say that having children rather late in life helps keep one young. Adding "and broke," I agree. I take pleasure in correcting the people who assume I am Jesse and Becky's grandfather, and enjoyed winning a.

The best prize of all is, of course, being witness to and an influence on the growth of two extraordinary children. In the summer ofwhile a faculty member of the Highlights for Children Writers Workshop at the Chautauqua Institution, I wondered aloud why some people choose to write for children. I speculated:. It is easier, less demanding than writing for adults?

Or perhaps we all have some psychological quirk, a character flaw that leads us to aim our efforts at kids rather than adults. Or perhaps in each of our personal histories there are experiences that have left us with a special regard for children. Perhaps we believe, more strongly than most, that what happens to kids is awfully important.

Perhaps we feel that it is too late to influence most adults, but that everything that touches a child's life, including magazine articles and books, can make a difference in the future of that child, and in the patrick pringle author biography in the background of the world. Since nonfiction writers get much less mail from readers than do authors of fiction, I have little direct evidence that I have influenced the lives of children.

I do know that focusing on children—thinking about their lives, and of course being a father of five children—has influenced me. For one thing, it has helped keep me a hopeful person. I feel that some of the gloomy fiction written for teenagers is unconscionable. My writings deal with some tough issues and don't minimize the difficulties of accomplishing social and political change, but usually conclude with the thought that people have the ability and power to effect change.

Beginning in the s with Heidi, Jeffrey, or Sean on my lap, I've read many fiction picture books to young children. In the early s I tried to write a story or two. One dealt with the efforts of a child to stop a parent from smoking. I thought it was subtle; editors found it didactic. I gave up. Recently, however, a child inspired me to write a story called Jesse Builds a Road.

I had hoped it would be my fiftieth published book, but that honor went to Home: How Animals Find Comfort and Safety while the picture-book manuscript, like my very patrick pringle author biography in the background nonfiction book, took a while to find its publishing home at Macmillan. As I write this, the manuscript has just been accepted.

I don't yet know who will illustrate it or how it will look. This is one of the frustrations of writing an autobiography in my fifty-second year. As I am fond of saying about many human matters, all the evidence isn't in. I want to know how things turn out. I long ago gave up the prospect of an afterlife, but jokingly say I will sign up for any religion that guarantees me everlasting delivery of the New York Times.

Take Jesse Builds a Road for example. It was inspired, of course, by my son. History may record that Jesse and Becky, along with the memories they evoke of my other children, influenced me to venture into a whole new area of writing for children. All the evidence isn't in. Publication of Jesse Builds a Road did not launch a whole new career of picture-book fiction.

This field is extremely competitive; more basically, my. With one exception— Bear Hug —my published fiction picture books were rejected several times before I revised them into acceptable form. Even as I write this, two of such stories are at publishing houses. I hope they will be added to my short list of fiction titles. Though few in number, my fiction titles are among my favorites because all were inspired by experiences with my children.

Jesse's fascination with bulldozers, front-end loaders, and other machines led to Jesse Builds a Road. The joys of roughhousing, and camping, with all of my children inspired Octopus Hug and Bear Hug. Also, Jesse and Rebecca, along with my wife Susan and me, once struggled to pick a name for a kitten; this led to Naming the Cat. These books are also favorites because they were more of a writing challenge, and thus more of an accomplishment.

Twenty years of parenting our "little ones" feels like a blur of meeting school buses, attending school events, dance recitals, countless soccer, basketball, and volleyball games—and more recently, giving driving lessons, touring colleges, and hauling many loads up to college dorm rooms or apartments. There was the adventure of everyday life, and farther away—vacations in the U.

For twenty yearsmy friend Kent Brown, Jr. I worked, but each of these experiences—during the third week of each July—was also a delightful family vacation. Jesse first attended in a stroller; Rebecca in utero. In some ways these children grew up at the Chautauqua Institution, where they could roam freely and safely. For young or old, the Chautauqua experience is hard to describe.

Historian David McCullough did it best: "There is no place like it…. Each year about a hundred people signed up to learn more about writing for children. Some of these "conferees," as they are called, have gone on to distinguished careers in children's literature. One notable example: Sharon Creech. I tended to meet and work with those writers with nonfiction leanings; this led to enduring friendships with authors Susan Quinlan, Sneed Collard III, and Gail Karwoski.

At Chautauqua I also met scores of other authors, and editors, on the faculty. Writing is a very solitary activity, so most authors relish opportunities to talk with their peers. In I joined a group of authors who met irregularly on Long IslandNew York, where most of them lived. This is not a typical writers group, in which members critique each other's work.

It is more of a "support" group; we share good and bad news about work, editors, agents, and other aspects of a writer's life. On one memorable evening we spoke about people in our pasts who had played key roles along our paths toward being successful authors. We all had some of these mentors, but that evening I also learned of "anti-mentors"—people who had been obstacles to success.

One group member, Pam Conrad, had two "anti-mentors," including a college professor who told her she had no writing talent. She wrote more than twenty highly praised novels and picture books. We were robbed of many more when her life was cut tragically short by cancer in In my writers group, author Johanna Hurwitz coined a phrase: "pulling a Pringle.

Here is the story of how I "pulled a Pringle":. In November of I proposed the idea of a nonfiction book about dragons to a publisher. In January of I received a contract, and half of the advance money. About a year later, my manuscript was accepted the editor called it "delightful" and I was paid the balance of the advance. Months later I was told that an illustrator had been found.

However, in September,there was an editorial shakeup. The new editors decided to not publish my book. Well, maybe not, because I did not have to return the advance money, and I was free to sell the manuscript elsewhere. I submitted the manuscript, which I called Imagine a Dragon, to a succession of publishers. By September of it had been rejected eight times.

Then, in November, it was accepted and I was paid a full advance. However, just a few months later, the publishing house was bought by another publisher, which had its own dragon book in the works. Mine would not be published!

Patrick pringle author biography in the background

My so-far-unpublished book received another rejection in the fall of Then, in autumn,or spring,it was accepted for the third time. I received another advance. At the third and last publisher, the manuscript sat idle for a long time, partly because I was too busy with other book projects to urge action. Then I did, worked with an editor, and completed the final editing in September of Finally, in earlyKorean artist Eujin Kim Neilan was contracted to illustrate the book.

Imagine a Dragon, my th title, was published in March of For writers, the moral of this saga is: if a piece of writing is good enough to be accepted once, but not published, there's a chance it will be accepted again and published—eventually. More details of this book's long history are on my home pagewww. My home page was launched in It lacks the "bells and whistles" of many author sites, but has one strength: the story behind the creation of certain books.

Readers often report that they enjoy learning about these background stories. Indeed, one pleasure of my work is that each project is a different experience—including meeting and working with different people. My nonfiction relies on the wisdom and cooperation of many kinds of experts. Beginning with Wolfman: Exploring the World of Wolves and concluding with Elephant Woman: Cynthia Moss Explores the World of ElephantsI wrote seven books about wildlife biologists and the animals they study.

Each of the scientists had extraordinary photographs to illustrate their books. In some cases I went "into the field" with them during the interview process. In each book I wrote about their childhoods, and traced the path—sometimes direct, sometimes roundabout—to their unusual careers. The roots of this book lie in a talk with editor Harold Underdown.

We both admired the books of Holling Clancy Holling, such as Minn of the Mississippi, which is about a snapping turtlebut much more. It is rich with connections—to other life, history, geography, ecology. We wanted to create a shorter, simpler book with some of the same richness. I considered several creatures; monarch butterflies, with their amazing migration, seemed the most intriguing to me.

I chose to tell the story of one individual monarch. The book is well-researched nonfiction, yet has a character that readers care about as they follow her life story. Some readers have told of crying at the book's end—definitely not a common experience with nonfiction! Some of the information woven into the story, or revealed in sidebars, was so fresh that it had not yet been published in scientific journals.

While I didn't actually need to visit a monarch winter colony in order to write the book, I leaped at the chance to go to Mexico with artist Bob Marstall. This experience enabled me to add a special detail: that the fluttering of countless butterfly wings makes noise like a breeze through the forest. Every autumn since, I continue to be deeply touched by monarchs.

Wherever I am in the fall—looking out my office window at butterfly bushes, driving a car, fishing on an Atlantic Ocean beach—my heart leaps when I see monarchs doing their best to reach faraway Mexico. Research of a very different kind helped in the creation of One-Room School, a memoir of the last year that my first school existed.

I described the school and my teacher in my original autobiography for Contemporary Authors. Of patrick pringle author biography in the background I had my own vivid memories of school life, but learned more details by interviewing others who had attended the school, especially my brother and my classmates. For example, here are some One-Room School details about teacher Miss Shackelton: "She often wore dresses made with a flower pattern, and dusty rose nail polish.

When she came close to my desk, I could smell her perfume. A girl said it was called Tabu. Fortunately those details came from "a girl"—classmate Lucille Palmer Pattison. Lucille's brother, Byron, had some desks from our long-closed school in his barn. Epic stories of adventure by Patrick Pringle 0. Fighting Pilots by Patrick Pringle 0. Smugglers Pegasus Books by Patrick Pringle 0.

World Facts and Figures by Patrick Pringle 0. Napoleon's Hundred Days by Patrick Pringle 0. The patrick pringle author biography in the background book of highwaymen by Patrick Pringle 0. Let's Look at Spain by Patrick Pringle 0. Let's Look at Switzerland by Patrick Pringle 0. Pringle, John. Pringle, Henry F owles Pringle, Heather Pringle, Elizabeth Allston — Pringle, David William.

Pringle, Aileen — Pringle of Scotland. Pring-Mill, Robert D. Prine, Andrew —. Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics. Wilms commented that Pringle's "environmentalist bent is quietly apparent throughout" and that his thought-provoking work is "a first-rate starting point for background on a topic that will be increasingly in the news.

During the s Pringle also began writing biographies of prominent scientists who work with animals, a series that provides information about both the figures being profiled and the animals they study. In her review of Batman: Exploring the World of Bats, the story of mammalogist photographer Merlin Tuttle, Karey Wehner noted in School Library Journal that the book "offers a unique perspective on these gentle mammals.

In the s, Pringle created several books that highlight not only the damage being done to the earth but also the recuperative and preventative measures being taken on the planet's behalf. In Living Treasure: Saving Earth's Threatened Biodiversity he discusses how millions of species are being destroyed, as well as how the damage can be stopped. Writing in Children's Literature Association Quarterly, Mary Harris Veeder noted that because Pringle "can move beyond the notion of the rain forest as a pretty place, … his readers can begin to understand exactly why the destruction of the rain forest makes no sense.

Strange and Wonderful launched a series of informational picture books for preschoolers and early primary graders. An introduction to the popular creatures that explains basic facts about them as well as recent discoveries of paleontologists, the book "lives up to its subtitle," according to Sally Erhard, who added in Appraisal that Pringle's text "is full of just the right amount of information about dinosaurs for the preschool level.

Recounting the life cycle of a female monarch—including her migration flight from New England to Mexico—the Orbis Pictus award-winning book was called "superb" and "well-researched" by a Kirkus Reviews critic who added that the volume "finds extraordinary science in the everyday life of a butterfly. The author "deftly incorporates a wide range of topics from the establishment of national parks to the threat of global warming," noted Kathy Piehl in School Library Journal, and he introduces some of the key figures in the environmental movement.

A loyal and heroic canine is the focus of 's Dog of Discovery: A Newfoundland's Adventures with Lewis and Clark, which describes the explorations of the American west by Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery team from to Lewis and Clark were accompanied by a hunting and guide dog named Seaman, and the dog was mentioned frequently in the explorers' journals.

Come to the Ocean's Edge depicts a day in the life of the creatures who inhabit coastal areas, including gulls, mole crabs, and bluefish. Reviewing Come to the Ocean's Edge in School Library Journal, Joy Fleishhacker praised the "poetic text" and "descriptive language" that fills the work. A Dragon in the Sky is an "exemplary nature-study book—accurate, explicit, and satisfyingly complete," according to School Library Journal reviewer Ellen Heath.

The author's "Strange and Wonderful" series examines the behavior, anatomy, feeding habits, methods of communication, and other characteristics of several creatures. In Booklist, Hazel Rochman praised the "informal, fact-filled narrative" of Crows! Strange and Wonderful an "eye-catching, edifying work. Strange and Wonderful for Booklist, Carolyn Phelan stated that Pringle offers a "surprising amount of information in an interesting manner.

According to Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan, Strange Animals, New to Science is an "informative book on an unusual topic that will open kids' minds," and School Library Journal reviewer Nancy Call remarked that "Pringle brings insight into the struggles and triumphs" of the scientists who search for new or extinct species. In addition to his nonfiction titles, Pringle has created several picture books for younger children.

Jesse Builds a Road was inspired by the author's son; it introduces readers to a small boy who, while playing with his trucks and bulldozers, imagines he is driving the real machines. Writing in School Library Journal, Judith Gloyer noted that Pringle's technique of the "weaving in and out of the imagination and reality is engaging," and readers will be loath to be "pulled back to reality.

Del Negro called Naming the Cat a "light but engaging tale" that is "certain to have listeners bursting to tell the stories of how they named their own family pets. Octopus Hug depicts two spirited youngsters, Jesse and Becky, who spend an evening playing with their father. Dad gives them an octopus hug, becomes a tree for climbing, and leads them in an evening of physical play.

The book is a celebration of roughhousing, and Pringle notes that every activity was "living-room tested" with his own five children. A critic for Publishers Weekly commented that "The imaginative antics that tumble across these pages could constitute a manual for bored baby-sitters. After a successful first overnight camping trip, Jesse expresses regret at not seeing a bear, whereupon the father gathers the children in his arms for a huge bear hug.

School Library Journal contributor Linda L. Walkins called Bear Hug "an atmospheric story that portrays the excitement of a family outing. Pringle is also the author of two books relating his own life experiences: Nature! Wild and Wonderful, in which he presents interesting experiences from his life to readers in the early primary grades, and One-Room School, an informational picture book that recalls the yearthe final year of operation of Pringle's one-room schoolhouse.

In a review of Nature! In evaluating his own body of work, Pringle wrote in SAAS: "My approach to writing a book is like that of a teacher planning to present a subject to students—not 'how many facts, dates, and definitions can I jam into their heads? My books tend to encourage readers to feel a kinship with other living things, and a sense of membership in the earth's ecosystem.