Photo by Kollmer Photography
Jessica Fries-Gaither is the author of the new children's picture book So Rude!: Animals Behaving Badly. Her other books include Nature's Rule Breakers. A science educator, she lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Q: What inspired you to write So Rude!?
A: Unlike my previous book with Millbrook (Nature’s Rule Breakers), I can’t point to a specific moment or event that inspired So Rude!.
As an elementary science teacher, I spend a fair amount of time talking about animal behavior with my students, and frequently have to help them avoid anthropomorphizing the animals we are studying in class. At some point, I decided the idea of “bad manners” would be a fun and accessible way to address this.
Q: How did you choose the animals to include and do you have a particular favorite?
A: I started my research phase by brainstorming a list of behaviors that we consider bad manners: everything from lying to being a bully. Then I listed examples of animals that I knew exhibited these behaviors and researched to fill in gaps in my knowledge.
When I started drafting the manuscript, I asked myself a couple of questions for each animal: Could I explain the animal’s behavior easily to a young audience? Was the behavior (and the explanation for it) appropriate for young readers? It turns out that there are many examples that aren’t suitable for a kids’ book!
After that, it was a matter of choosing the animals that would be especially interesting or funny. I think I came up with a pretty obnoxious crew, although my favorite is definitely the tongue-eating louse. Every single person who has read the manuscript has had the same reaction: EWWW!
I’ll also add that the orcas wearing salmon hats (see the back matter for more information) is a favorite silly example of unusual animal behavior, even though that isn’t one of the “rude” examples.
Q: Can you say more about how you researched the book? Did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: As I mentioned before, I did quite a bit of research just to choose the animals I wrote about. I read scientific papers, blog posts, and online articles – sometimes all three about the same animal. I wanted to be sure that I was accurate in the information I shared with my readers.
As for surprises, I knew that animals definitely behaved in ways that would be considered rude by human standards. Even so, I was surprised at just how rude – and sometimes even mean – the behaviors seemed! Yikes!
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: First, I hope that kids laugh! And then I hope that they (as well as any adults who read the book with them) learn something new, whether it is about one specific animal’s behavior or the way that we understand animal behavior in general.
If readers walk away knowing that we can’t judge animal behavior by human expectations, I’ll have done my job well.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve got a number of manuscripts out on submission with editors, so I’m hopeful that I’ll sell another book soon!
I’m currently revising a picture book biography about a woman who excelled in both art and science and trying to put the finishing touches on a nonfiction middle grade proposal based on the work of a scientist I’ve been following.
And, I just returned from a year-long fellowship at the Library of Congress, so I have more ideas than I could ever hope to write. I keep reminding myself that that’s a good problem to have.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Just how excited I am to see this book out in the world! And how much I appreciate people reading my work.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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