Posts by slthomson@earthlink.net

Picture Book Contest

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Jan 5, 2023 in PIcture Books | 0 comments

Astra is once again running its picture book contest–open to manuscripts (no illustrations) for ages 3-8 written in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese. The deadline is April 30, 2023, so plenty of time to polish up your latest manuscript!

Prehistoric Turtles

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Dec 15, 2022 in Animals, Nonfiction, SERIES: Save the... | 0 comments

Archelon. Cretaceous period. Scarier than T. rex.

Currently I’m researching turtles for a nonfiction chapter book. I have discovered that in prehistoric times there was a turtle with a shell thirteen feet long. IT HAD TEETH.

I am not okay with this.

StoryCorps

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Dec 8, 2022 in American History, BOOK: Storycorp, Nonfiction | 0 comments

Our stories are our history and our identity.

I’m so excited to announce that I’m going to working on a graphic novel–no, a piece of graphic nonfiction–boy, do we need a better term for this genre!–anyway–a work of historical nonfiction in a graphic format based on the wonderful, touching, and uplifting stories collected by StoryCorps.

I’m thrilled to get to work with such great material, and also excited to be tackling my first script for a graphic work. So far in my career I’ve published novels, picture books, chapter books, early readers, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry–delighted to add graphic work to the list!

Why Do Sloths Poop On the Ground?

Posted by Sarah L. Thomson on Dec 1, 2022 in Animals, Nonfiction | 0 comments

One day you may discover the secret of my poops.

Just send a new manuscript off to my agent–fingers crossed that we’ll find a publisher. The working title is SCAT! Fascinating Facts About What Animals Leave Behind. Because who doesn’t love a good poop book?

(My teenaged daughter, that’s who. She’s the one who has had to listen to me chat about my topics of research over the dinner table for the last few months.)

I thought I’d share my favorite fascinating fact: sloths poop on the ground. It is literally the only time they climb down out of their trees, and it’s a fraught and perilous journey. They are in danger the whole time, vulnerable to predators that they can’t run away from. Luckily they only defecate about once a week. (Their digestive system is as slow as the rest of them.) But why would they do it this way in the first place?

NO ONE KNOWS. It is one of the great mysteries of biology.

There are theories. It sends a signal about readiness to mate! It fertilizes the tree upon which the sloth depends for food and shelter! And my favorite–it allows the moths which nest in the sloth’s fur a chance to lay their eggs in the poop! But no one is really sure.

I love that there are mysteries left in the world.