Science Author-Illustrator Katherine Roy Visits Shore
Katherine Roy, award-winning author and illustrator of How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild and Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Island, visited Shore on March 29 to speak with students about the creative process behind her science-heavy works based on extensive field research. Roy is also the illustrator for Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere, by Barb Rosenstock, the Expeditioners series by S. S. Taylor, and Buried Beneath Us by Anthony Aveni.
Explained Roy, "I love science, history, and big adventures, and am endlessly fascinated by the way things live, so my books often focus on informational storytelling and science education." She took students in Grades 2 through 6 through the entire process of creating one of her books, How to Be an Elephant. In it, she tells the story of an infant elephant as it learns the incredible array of skills that are necessary to keep up with the herd, from projecting her voice across a 10-octave range to using the 100,000 muscles in her trunk to stay hydrated. The book delves into the intricate family dynamics at play in a typical African herd. Drawing upon the latest scientific research and Roy's own expedition to Kenya, and brimming with lush watercolor illustrations and detailed diagrams, this book vividly portrays the life and development of an elephant from an uncertain newborn into a majestic adult.
Roy shared behind-the-scenes videos and photos with students in the Trustey Family Theatre, narrating thrilling moments from her research among wild elephants on safari in Kenya and revealing early ideas and sketches which she painstakingly transformed over many months into a finished book. "An idea for a new book begins with weeks (or months) of reading and sketching," she explained, "followed by a research trip to meet experts in the field, where I study my subject in the wild and ask lots and lots of questions." Roy offered encouragement to the young writers and artists in the audience. "It takes countless dead ends and several terrible drafts to arrive at a story that works. A book doesn’t come into being by magic—it’s a thing that is built in layers by someone who refuses to give up—so my job is to find a way to turn information into words and pictures, as beautifully and accurately as possible." The author and illustrator also spent time in the classroom with S.A.I.L. teacher Betsey Holland, where she worked with second graders on watercolor paintings of marine life.
Roy's books have received numerous awards. Her first, Neighborhood Sharks, was named a Robert F. Sibert Award Honor Book, a John Burroughs Association Riverby Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, an Orbis Pictus Recommended Title, a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and an ALA Notable Children’s Book. How to Be an Elephant has been named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year, a 2017 Booklist Editor’s Choice title, a Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017, and was included in The San Francisco Chronicle’s 2017 Gift Guide. Otis and Will Discover the Deep, written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Roy, was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Orbis Pictus Recommended Book, and a National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Best STEM Book, among many other distinctions.
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Explained Roy, "I love science, history, and big adventures, and am endlessly fascinated by the way things live, so my books often focus on informational storytelling and science education." She took students in Grades 2 through 6 through the entire process of creating one of her books, How to Be an Elephant. In it, she tells the story of an infant elephant as it learns the incredible array of skills that are necessary to keep up with the herd, from projecting her voice across a 10-octave range to using the 100,000 muscles in her trunk to stay hydrated. The book delves into the intricate family dynamics at play in a typical African herd. Drawing upon the latest scientific research and Roy's own expedition to Kenya, and brimming with lush watercolor illustrations and detailed diagrams, this book vividly portrays the life and development of an elephant from an uncertain newborn into a majestic adult.
Roy shared behind-the-scenes videos and photos with students in the Trustey Family Theatre, narrating thrilling moments from her research among wild elephants on safari in Kenya and revealing early ideas and sketches which she painstakingly transformed over many months into a finished book. "An idea for a new book begins with weeks (or months) of reading and sketching," she explained, "followed by a research trip to meet experts in the field, where I study my subject in the wild and ask lots and lots of questions." Roy offered encouragement to the young writers and artists in the audience. "It takes countless dead ends and several terrible drafts to arrive at a story that works. A book doesn’t come into being by magic—it’s a thing that is built in layers by someone who refuses to give up—so my job is to find a way to turn information into words and pictures, as beautifully and accurately as possible." The author and illustrator also spent time in the classroom with S.A.I.L. teacher Betsey Holland, where she worked with second graders on watercolor paintings of marine life.
Roy's books have received numerous awards. Her first, Neighborhood Sharks, was named a Robert F. Sibert Award Honor Book, a John Burroughs Association Riverby Award, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, an Orbis Pictus Recommended Title, a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and an ALA Notable Children’s Book. How to Be an Elephant has been named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year, a 2017 Booklist Editor’s Choice title, a Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017, and was included in The San Francisco Chronicle’s 2017 Gift Guide. Otis and Will Discover the Deep, written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Roy, was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Orbis Pictus Recommended Book, and a National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Best STEM Book, among many other distinctions.
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Roy with an African elephant. Photo: Tim Stout
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Young fans greeting Roy
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Librarian Debora Collison introducing the author-illustrator
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Speaking about 'How to Be an Elephant'
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In the S.A.I.L. classroom
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With S.A.I.L. teacher (and near-twin) Betsey Holland
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