Me: Congratulations on your cool new picture book, I, ROCK: A GEOLOGY TALE (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster)! It’s quite the fun and informative journey that our four billion old character takes us on. What inspired you to write this book?
Katie: Thank you, Jonathan! I had a lot of fun creating this one. I feel like the inspiration came from many places. I used to teach geology to elementary schoolers as part of my old work as an educator at the Museum of Science, Boston, and so I wanted to find a way to continue spreading that knowledge in my career as an author. But for the specifics of Rock as a character, that comes down to my stepson Max (who the book is dedicated to)! I wrote much of it next to him, at age 5, playing in the garden during the pandemic era, and would bounce ideas off of him and see how he reacted to different lines I’d write, and if he laughed or seemed interested, I’d know I’d have it right. He also told me the rock in the book needed to have googly eyes!
Me: Do you have a rock collection of favorite types of rocks? What about places to look for them?
Katie: Oh, I have MANY rocks in my collections, hah! I think almost all rocks are cool and have their own story to tell, so I don’t have specific ones I look out for… unless we’re talking fossils. I do have a lot more fossils than the average person, but that’s probably because I used to be a paleontologist. So that comes with the territory. As for places to look? I do love a good rocky beach. Especially a lake beach. It’s calmer than an ocean beach, and the collection of rocks that wash ashore at lakes are often from glacial movements or ancient waterways and it becomes such a cool hodge-podge, you just never know what you’ll find!
Me: Steph Stilwell’s artwork, like your text, really helps to make these concepts understandable; plus kids will love her cartoony characterization of Rock! What, if any, was your role in choosing her and collaborating on the illustrations?
Katie: Steph is AMAZING! She just totally nailed the tone of the book and brought in so much great comedy. So far kids have been utterly eating up her illustrations in I, ROCK – spotting each and every thing that has a face drawn on, cheering on her oh-so-relatable Rock, etc. It’s delightful. My editor sent me some of Steph’s artwork ahead of offering up the illustrator role to her (the awesome art director at Beach Lane Books found her), and I immediately knew she’d be a great match. I gave the thumbs up, and then she said yes! And she was so great to work with, constantly patient as I sent literal tomes of write-ups about *exactly* what each ancient environment could have in it, how each geological feature could be portrayed, etc… just endless science notes. “Sorry, you can’t have grass in that scene, grass hadn’t evolved yet! Here, try these fungal mounds…” “Oh, the ancient ocean wouldn’t have had vertebrate life yet, please delete the fish!” That kind of nerdy thing. What a trooper Steph was getting all those notes from me. I never had notes about the characters or expressions or fun, though. That was all Steph, and all fantastic.
Me: How did you get into writing books for kids?
Katie: I’ve always been a writer, ever since I could put letters together. The earliest story I’ve found was from when I was 4 in a notebook I’d scribble in during church. (It was a short story with many misspellings about a little girl who wanted a kitten. And then got a kitten. Give the audience what they want, am I right?) I wrote constantly throughout growing up, longer and longer novels as I went. But it wasn’t until I was an adult in my 20s that I realized I wanted to write for kids, specifically. It came hand in hand with deciding to become an educator. I always loved working with kids, and the dots just connected. Of course I’d write for kids! Kids are awesome! And I was pretty darn good at teaching and reaching them. Switching my writerly focus to kidlit was the most natural choice ever. Then it was just a matter of practicing that new style, which took (and continues to take) a lot of focused effort and thoughtful work.
Me: Can you share what you’re working on next?
Katie: I do have another picture book forthcoming, which isn’t yet announced. So I’ll tease it here! It’s of course another science-focused book, and about a topic I feel really strongly about. It’s kind of the nice middle ground between my two currently published picture books. It’s got the more serious tone of THIS WOLF WAS DIFFERENT, but deals with deep time much like I, ROCK. I’m extremely eager to share it with kids.
Me: Thank you so much for chatting, Katie. Wishing your book much success!
To learn more, please go to Katie Slivensky: Science Educator and Children’s Author
