Q&A with Vicky Fang

  

 

Vicky Fang is the author of the new children's picture book Lots and Lots of Ocelots: A Skip Counting Book. Her other books include the Ava Lin chapter book series. She lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Lots and Lots of Ocelots, and how did you choose the animals to include in the book?

 

A: It started with my kid in the car, saying something about “lots of ocelots.” “Lots and lots of ocelots,” I replied. And we both decided then and there that it had to be a book!

 

It was a years later that the idea of skip counting came to my head. I’ve always loved math (I was a math + theatre major in college.) I think it was around the time that my younger son was learning skip counting that I came up with the idea. Since kids love animals, I thought skip counting animals would be a fun way to introduce this math concept to kids.

 

The animals I picked for the book really started from what I could make rhyme. Next, I thought about what animals made sense in small or large quantities, what animals kids would recognize, and what animals created a diverse range for interest in the book.

 

Q: What do you think Angel Chang’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: Angel’s illustrations are so beautiful! I think they really add to the appeal of the book because kids (and parents) will be drawn into the images and enjoy looking at them over and over.

 

I love the colors that she’s chosen and the wonderful attention to detail she’s put into all of the individual animals—which is not an easy feat when there are sometimes dozens of animals on a page!

 

Q: You’ve written for different age groups--do you have a preference?

 

A: I really love writing for all the different age groups, but I think they have different highlights for me. My early readers and chapter books are fun because they encourage new readers—who sometimes send me fan mail!

 

The picture books are fun because in person story times are so rewarding. I started writing books because of picture books. It’s always such a joy to sit  with a little kid and read a book together.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: For the animal facts, I focused on how animals group together, whether socially, for mating, for protection, etc. I did my research online. I had a lot of help from my editorial team at Workman, who did a ton of fact checking.

 

I learned lots of fun little facts along the way—that groups of kangaroos are called “mobs,” that cockatoos mate for life, or that cane toads are an invasive species in many parts of the world.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on my upcoming early reader chapter book series, One Mad Cat, about a cute, mad, mystery-solving cat who steps outside of her comfort zone to help her friends. I’m also working on a couple of not-yet-announced picture books.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope kids find some of the fun, creative aspects of math in this book, because that’s something that I always loved about math.

 

In Lots and Lots of Ocelots, the early pages that suggest how to skip count, and then the later pages that ask how YOU might count. It’s a nice way to show that there’s more than one way to solve the problem, and I hope kids will enjoy that, too!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Vicky Fang.