Nicola Davies
About Author
Nicola Davies is an award-winning author, whose many books for children include A First Book of Nature, Ice Bear, Big Blue Whale, Dolphin Baby, Bat Loves the Night and the Silver Street Farm series.
She graduated in zoology, studied whales and bats and then worked for the BBC Natural History Unit.
Nicola lives in Crickhowell, Wales.
Author link
Interview
LOTS: THE DIVERSITY OF LIFE ON EARTH
WALKER BOOKS
APRIL 2017
Nicola Davies, author of The Promise and A First Book of Nature, returns to nature in Lots: The Diversity of Life of Earth (Walker Books). While this is a simple text, aimed at those aged seven years plus, it covers some big concepts, helping explain the diversity of life on Earth while also reminding us of the threats to that diversity.
In LOTS, a young girl is exploring our world, learning that life on Earth ranges from huge elephants to tiny microbes; there is life everywhere on Earth, and it is all linked. 'We have learned that every kind of living thing is a part of a big, beautiful, complicated pattern.' But this interdependence is under threat as humans destroy parts of the pattern through overfishing, environmental damage and the destruction of habitats.
This beautifully-illustrated book delivers a simple but profound warning of the damage we are doing to our planet, and reminds us that 'we could not live on an Earth where we had counted down instead of up, from LOTS to one'.
We asked Nicola to tell us more about LOTS, what children can do to support its message, and her work on the environment:
Q: When did you decide to take your passion for nature into books?
A: I was asked to be a consultant on a picture book about blue whales... the person who was writing it kept getting things wrong and eventually Walker Books just threw up their hands and said 'Oh just write it!'
Q: Your latest illustrated book, Lots, gives us a glimpse into the diversity of life on Earth. Why did you decide to look at this subject?
A: Because it's the most important thing on earth. Diversity is the web, the network of life, that supports every living thing in it, whilst also creating the air, water and food we need to survive.
As more and more research is done, scientists find more ways in which living things are interdependent. Biodiversity isn't just a pretty add on - it's essential.
Q: Diversity is a complex idea to describe, how do you tackle it in Lots?
A: It took a long time to think how to do it, but eventually the key scientific concept and one of the first things that children learn how to do came together: counting!
A lot of the focus of scientific research is on how many different species there are. Identifying them and totting them up is often the first stage of understanding how any biological system or the whole biosphere, works. Children understand about that because one of their key skills is learning to count.
Q: How hard is it to develop non-fiction into a text that can be read aloud like a story or picture book?
A: What can I say? VERY VERY VERY. This is the hardest challenge I have to face in writing. You have to have the feeling of freedom and loveliness of a poem whilst keeping to the strict accuracy of the factual material. It's like second stage Ashtanga for the brain.
Q: What are your top tips for creating strong non-fiction texts?
A: Love what you are writing about. Understand what you are writing about and remember what you loved when you were six.
Q: Why did you decide to put a child at the centre of this text?
A: With a picture book you want to encourage children to empathise and put themselves into the story, and that's much easier to do if you have a character at the heart of the text to help you. Also I wanted to send messages about science... 'this could be you, going round the world finding out about living things'. And it's a girl because we still need to get more women into science.
Q: You mention the interdependence of nature in this book - how did you decide which examples to use?
A: It's very difficult as there are so many. Prettiness and availability of visual references were big factors. Also I wanted good global coverage, so there are examples drawn from many different parts of the world - for example you'll see rainforests from SE Asia and S America, Polar seas and tropical reefs.
Q: In Lots you look at some of the creatures we have lost through humans' activities; is there one that you would bring back if you could?
A: Every single one of them of course - but especially the ones that we lost - and are losing - before anyone has had a chance to study them.
What people don't realise is that we are now at risk of losing animals that are part of every child's animal lexicon - giraffes for example are slipping away year by year; lion populations in East Africa are in free fall.
Do we want a world with no big gorgeous exciting wild animals? Do you want to explain to your grandchildren that there used to be these things called elephants?
Q: What about the recent discoveries that you mention, is there one newly discovered creature that stands out for you?
A: Any new discover is exciting but of course big vertebrates are especially thrilling. I'm particularly fond of the pig-nosed frog. It remained undiscovered for so long because no one went to its habitat in the rainy season, which is the only time these little frogs come out above ground and are active.
It makes me wonder how many other things we've missed because we didn't look in the right place at the right time.
Q: What do you think of Emily Sutton's illustrations, and is there one spread or idea that you particularly like the illustrations for?
A: Emily is a genius. Every time I look at the book I have a new favourite spread. The title page of the Sonoran desert I love so much - I've travelled through that habit twice now, and watch the cacti slipping by through the window of a bus without the chance to get out and explore, so Emily's picture reminds me of that feeling of being tantalised by an unfulfilled promise!
Q: What do you want the child reader to take away from this book?
A: Wonder, delight but most of all, curiosity... a desire to find out more and to explore the world of nature for themselves
Q: What can children / schools do to support the concerns in this book?
SOOOO many things but here are just a few:
- Learn about the biodiversity on your doorstep: it is possible to see 598 different species of bird in the UK but many children and adults who I meet struggle to name the most obvious. If we can't name our own birds and animals then they can disappear without us noticing. So name it, learn it, love it.
- Twin your school with a school in another country and swap your knowledge of the wildlife on your two back yards...
- Measure the area of your school playground or sports field. Find out how many different species might live on a patch of rainforest (be specific... choose one in particular place) and then fund raise to safeguard a patch of forest of the same size . The conservation organisation The World Land Trust can help you out and they will soon have a scheme for schools to help save a patch of rainforest the same size as their school grounds.
Q: You trained as a zoologist, do you still do this kind of work with animals?
A: Sadly no. I have helped out on the research projects of friends - living on small boats and studying whales but I haven't done that for four years or so. However, I learned to scuba dive this year and I'm planning to take more dive qualifications and to train to be able to help with undersea research work in future - and to learn enough to write about coral reefs and sea kelp beds.
I visit the conservation projects run by the World Land Trust as part of research for books - I based Elephant Road, Walking the Bear and The Leopard's Tale on real WLT conservation projects
Q: Where would be at the top of your 'wishlist' to see animals in the wild - and what would be the creature you'd want to see?
A: Oh... such a hard choice but South America - The Pantanal, natural grasslands with rivers and copses of trees has to be in the top three. Three of my favourite species could be found there - giant anteaters, hyacinth macaws and giant otters.
Q: What other book(s) are you working on now, and are there any coming up that we should look out for?
A: The next picture book from Walker is out in May... it's called King of the Sky. It's about a little boy who has to move to another country and struggles to settle in. But he makes friends with a racing pigeon and its owner and finds a way to be happy and feel at home.
It's already been a theatre production and audiences seem to love it, so I'm hoping readers will too. It's a universal story of finding new friends in unexpected places and has been endorsed by Amnesty UK.
My next one for Graffeg is The Pond, about a family finding help and healing and new hope through the life blossoming in their garden pond.
I'm working on a story about an Inuit child in the Arctic, then one about a boy and an albatross and then a story about how humming birds touch lives of humans along their migration route.
King of the Sky
Lots: The Diversity of Life on Earth
