Ann McCallum Staats is the author of the new children's book Fantastic Flora: The World's Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants. Her other books include High Flyers. Also an educator, she lives in Virginia.
Q: What inspired you to write Fantastic Flora?
A: My office is in a back room of my house and my desk faces some undeveloped land. One day I was thinking about what to write next and staring at the trees beyond my window. It kind of started as a self-challenge. Like, let me take a seemingly boring topic like plants and make it exciting for kids.
After doing a little research, I realized, wow, plants aren’t boring at all! They are actually amazing, especially in the ways they adapt to conditions around them.
I organized all that I learned into four broad sections: the big, the bad, the smelly, and the exceptionally strange. Who knew that there are seeds that explode, traveling faster than a bullet as a way to disperse their seeds? Who knew that there are plants that look like stones so that they don’t get eaten out of existence by hungry predators? Who knew that there’s a plant that looks and smells like rotting meat so it can attract certain pollinators?
All this to say that I used this mini challenge to create my current book Fantastic Flora: The World’s Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants.
Q: How did you choose the plants to include, and did you have a favorite among them?
A: Once I had the categories, I looked for plants in each. There were so many to choose from, and I ended up going down many rabbit holes. Ultimately, I wanted the plants I chose to be from around the world, and diverse in terms of what made them special.
As for a favorite, these are all my favorites out of the around 400,000 different species of plants there are in the world.
Seriously, though, when I share the books with kids, I often start with the dead horse arum. I mean, the name alone is incredibly intriguing, right? The plant mimics a piece of meat in color, smell, and even shape (it has a tail-like appendage to further entice blowflies to come and help with pollination). Wow.
There are also carnivorous plants or the dynamite tree, or trees that need fire to reproduce …
Q: What do you think Zoë Ingram’s illustrations add to the book?
A: I am beyond thrilled with what Zoë did with these illustrations. When my editor at Candlewick first gave me a list of illustrators to choose from, she was my first pick.
I love how her artwork is botanically accurate and super vibrant and alive. Her gorgeous illustrations add character to the book and make it almost a coffee table book that you want to leave out so that you can open it again and again to various pages.
The words alone might be interesting, but the illustrations make this book a destination! I’m so grateful to Zoë for the massive amount of work she put into Fantastic Flora.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: When I began to “dig in,” I talked to experts and read and read and read. I also included kids’ books on my reading list. I wanted to know how other authors made the topic interesting.
Honestly, there was a lot that surprised me. I learned about plants that communicate using chemical scents. I learned about extremophiles that really tuck in to survive in various inhospitable places around the world. I began to really notice (and respect!) those plants in the middle of the highway or popping out from a crack in a rock. I thought deeply about seedbanks and how incredibly important they are.
While some plants have survived for millions of years (think ginkgo), we can’t let others go extinct. What if they hold the key to disease research or some other crucial thing? I could go on. There was a LOT that I found fascinating and surprising.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My next book is called A Quilt of Stars. I co-wrote it with astronaut Karen Nyberg. I truly love this book not only because Karen is so amazing, but because of its underlying message.
It’s the story of when Karen spent months aboard the International Space Station and decided to sew gifts for her family. This led to her sewing a quilt block in space and inviting people around the world to contribute their own quilt blocks.
The resulting 28 quilts are a symbol of our patchwork world, of how we are all so different but united by our humanity. I can’t wait for this one to come out in 2026.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I’m doing a number of school visits and other presentations, but this summer, I’d like to highlight two events. One is a drop-in game and book signing at the Fairfax Barnes and Noble on July 12 from 12 to 3 p.m. The other is at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, on Sept. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. Both events are free of charge and targeted at all ages, even adults!
I’m incredibly grateful to all the people who made Fantastic Flora a reality. Thank you! Also to you, Deborah, thank you for all you do for the kidlit community.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Ann McCallum.
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