Who doesn’t love a 2-for-1 deal?! If you’re really lucky, the solution to your story idea that results in “too much information” just might be two books! Kid lit writer Meeg Pincus was paying attention and, in solving her manuscript problem, found two “solutions”!
And we have a GIVEAWAY! Just leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of MAKE WAY FOR ANIMALS!
Congratulations to Linda Skeers who won a copy of TO THE FRONT! in the giveaway from Christopher Cyr!
“One Research Dive, Two Books” by Meeg Pincus
In the Before Times, when I had the time/energy currently used for pandemic parenting, I spent hours each week researching story ideas. My nonfiction picture books focus on “solutionaries” helping people, animals, and the planet, so I was sniffing out “solutionary stories” that had yet to be told.
Around 2017, a friend sent me an article about people in Los Angeles trying to get a wildlife crossing built over a major L.A. freeway to help save the area’s mountain lion population. What a solutionary concept!, I thought. And thus began my years-long research dive into the world of wildlife crossings.
My research took me in two directions:
One was to a lone mountain lion (a.k.a. cougar or puma) who somehow scaled 16 lanes of L.A. freeways and got stuck in a Hollywood city park. This puma—called P-22—had become the face of the L.A. wildlife crossing movement. I reached out to the scientists and wildlife advocates working with P-22 and that crossing, and a story began to take shape.
The other was to wildlife crossings for various species all around the globe, which were fascinating, inspiring structures. I kept seeing the alliterations in my mind as I uncovered them: A pipeline for penguins! A bridge for badgers! An underpass for elephants! (I adore alliteration!). I knew kids would love learning about these crossings as much as I did.
At first, I tried to integrate the two together. Within my P-22 story, I included the global wildlife crossings (complete with alliterations). That stayed put for several drafts, but as P-22’s story became more complex, it was clear that I needed to keep it focused—and cut the other crossings.
Two other things happened in those years: One was a SCBWI nonfiction workshop I attended, where the presenter encouraged us to find more than one story in any research dive. The other was a Lerner Books open call for a specific kind of STEM picture books, which I thought my global wildlife crossings could fit. So, I wrote a second manuscript—an expository one, very different from my narrative P-22 story—to give it a shot.
Amazingly, after many drafts of the two stories and years of swimming in this topic, offers surfaced for both within weeks of each other! They ultimately became two different books with two different publishers:
Cougar Crossing: How Hollywood’s Celebrity Cougar Helped Build a Bridge for City Wildlife came out from Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster in spring 2021.
Make Way for Animals!: A World of Wildlife Crossings launches from Millbrook Press/Lerner Books in April 2022. See the alliteration, alive and well in this interior spread:
Don’t forget to leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of MAKE WAY FOR ANIMALS! (Ends 3/25. US addresses)
Bio:
Meeg Pincus writes nonfiction picture books about “solutionaries” helping people, animals, and the planet—including Winged Wonders (Golden Kite Nonfiction Honor), Ocean Soup (Eureka! Nonfiction Honor), Cougar Crossing (an NSTA Best STEM Book), Miep and the Most Famous Diary (Kirkus/SLJ starred reviews), and more. A longtime nonfiction writer/editor and educator, Meeg loves teaching nonfiction writing workshops, mentoring nonfiction writers, and sharing great (yep, nonfiction) books. Sign up for her e-newsletter at http://www.MeegPincus.com.
Beth Anderson, Children's Writer 
Meeg’s books are so fabulous! Would love another on the shelf! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who knows….you just might win one! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
LikeLike
This is such a good reminder to use research in multiple ways – thank you. Can’t wait to read this one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pure gold, right!?
LikeLike
The topic was on my list to research and write about but I just didn’t get to it yet! (Or maybe I can still find a new angle on animal crossings?) Thank you for sharing your insight, Meeg. I’m a huge fan of your books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That happens…but given time, there are always new possibilities to consider!
LikeLike
These both look like wonderful books! Congratulations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And that title – Make Way for Animals – is absolute perfection!!
LikeLike
Looking forward to another heartfelt and insightful book by Megan Katchitani about animal crossings and our human endeavor to find ways to cohabitate with the wild animals whose habitats we have encroached upon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such important and fascinating books for kids!
LikeLike
I’m excited to read this author’s books–this topic is so important as we continue to expend into rural areas. I love the idea of looking for more than one book idea in all the research. Thank you for this interview.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the way they sprang from the same topic with 2 very different angles.
LikeLike
Both of Meeg’s books sound fantastic! And I learned a new word: solutionary! Living in Los Angeles, I know about Cougar P-22 and look forward to reading both of the books. NF books are a great way for kids to learn about our world, and many kids love animals, so learning about animal crossings would be of great interest to them (and me).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know! I can’t wait to get my hands on both of these books!
LikeLike
Beth – GREAT post. I loved Meeg’s Cougar Crossing and am so excited to see that she used the “extra” research that she found to created this second fun book. I can’t wait to get a look at it. Thanks for hightighting it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Meeg hit the gold mine! I usually find a teaser in my research dive that leads to another separate dive…but that’s good too!
LikeLike
These books look amazing! And the concept of solutionary stories is just brilliant! Great interview which has inspired me to take another look at my nonfiction manuscripts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cougar Crossing is party of our 2022 Nonfiction March Madness tournament. Such a great story. I am now excited to read Make Way for Animals and share it with my class.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such great ideas. Thanks for your insight. These books look fabulous!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking forward to reading both of these nonfiction books to see two different approaches to the same topic. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great story! Meeg is such an inspiring writer and human! Can’t wait for “Make Way for Animals!: A World of Wildlife Crossings.” The art looks vibrant, lively & beautiful, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person