Sayre, April Pulley 1966-

views updated

Sayre, April Pulley 1966-

PERSONAL:

Born April 11, 1966, in Greenville, SC; daughter of David Clarence (a university professor) and Elizabeth Richardson (a science educator and businesswoman) Pulley; married Jeffrey Peter Sayre (an author and ecologist), 1989. Education: Duke University, B.A. (biology), 1987; Vermont College, M.F.A. (creative writing). Hobbies and other interests: Bird-watching, herb gardening, travel, scuba diving.

ADDRESSES:

Home and office—South Bend, IN. E-mail—apsayre@aol.com.

CAREER:

Author; National Wildlife Federation, associate editor for school programs, 1988-91; author and video producer, 1991—.

MEMBER:

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, National Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy, American Birding Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

John Burroughs Award, Best Books citation, School Library Journal, and Notable Books for Children citation, Smithsonian, all 1995, all for If You Should Hear a Honeyguide; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children selection, National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council, 1999, for Home at Last and Dig, Wait, Listen; John Burroughs Award, 2001, for The Hungry Hummingbird; Best Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library, for Endangered Birds of North America; Riverbank Review Children's Book of Distinction designation, 2002, for Dig, Wait, Listen; Bank Street College of Education Best Books designation, 2003, and Notable Book designation, American Library Association (ALA), 2004, both for One Is a Snail: Ten Is a Crab; John Burroughs Award, 2005, for The Bumblebee Queen; Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books, American Association for the Advancement of Science/Science Books & Films, and Notable Book designation, ALA, both 2005, both for Stars beneath Your Bed; Theodore Geisel Honor Book Award, ALA, and Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books, American Association for the Advancement of Science/Science Books & Films, both 2008, both for Vulture View.

WRITINGS:

If You Should Hear a Honeyguide, illustrated by S.D. Schindler, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Endangered Birds of North America, Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

Hummingbirds: The Sun Catchers, NorthWord Press (Minocqua, WI), 1996.

Put on Some Antlers and Walk like a Moose: How Scientists Find, Follow, and Study Wild Animals, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1997.

Home at Last: A Song of Migration, illustrated by Alix Berenzy, Holt (New York, NY), 1998.

El Niño and La Niña: Weather in the Headlines, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 2000.

Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, illustrated by Lee Christiansen, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Splish! Splash! Animal Baths, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2000.

Crocodile Listens, illustrated by JoEllen McAllister Stammen, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2001.

It's My City! A Singing Map, illustrated by Denis Roche, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale, illustrated by Barbara Bash, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2001.

The Hungry Hummingbird, illustrated by Gay W. Holland, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2001.

Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero, illustrated by Stephen Costanza, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Army Ant Parade, illustrated by Rick Chrustowski, Holt (New York, NY), 2002.

Shadows, illustrated by Harvey Stevenson, Holt (New York, NY), 2002.

Secrets of Sound: Studying the Calls and Songs of Whales, Elephants, and Birds, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2002.

Rain Forest, Scholastic Reference, 2002.

One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab, illustrated by Randy Cecil, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Trout, Trout, Trout! A Fish Chant, illustrated by Trip Park, NorthWord Press (Chanhassen, MN), 2004.

Stars beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust, illustrated by Ann Jonas, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 2005.

The Bumblebee Queen, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne, Charlesbridge (Watertown, MA), 2005.

Ant, Ant, Ant! An Insect Chant, illustrated by Trip Park, NorthWord Books for Young Readers (Minnetonka, MN), 2005.

Vulture View, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

Hush, Little Puppy, illustrated by Susan Winter, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

Bird, Bird, Bird! A Chirping Chant, illustrated by Gary Locke, NorthWord Books for Young Readers (Minnetonka, MN), 2007.

Trout Are Made of Trees, illustrated by Kate Endle, Charlesbridge (Watertown, MA), 2008.

Articles have appeared in World, Ranger Rick, Earth Explorer Encyclopedia (CD-ROM), and various educator's guides and scientific curricula.

"EXPLORING EARTH'S BIOMES" SERIES

Tropical Rain Forest, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

Desert, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

Grassland, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

Temperate Deciduous Forest, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

Tundra, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

Taiga, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

River and Stream, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

Lake and Pond, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

Wetland, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

Seashore, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

Coral Reef, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

Ocean, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

"SEVEN CONTINENTS" SERIES

North America, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1998.

Europe, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1998.

Antarctica, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1998.

Australia, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1998.

South America, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1999.

Africa, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1999.

Asia, Twenty-first Century Books (Brookfield, CT), 1999.

"OUR AMAZING CONTINENTS" SERIES

G'Day, Australia!, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2003.

Welcome to North America!, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2003.

South America, Surprise!, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

April Pulley Sayre is the author of dozens of science books for children, including award-winning books in series and stand-alone titles. An adventurous person, "Sayre has followed lemurs in Madagascar, pursued army ants in Panama, and eaten piranha in the Peruvian Amazon," according to her home page. Each of these experiences inspires and influences her work, from story books such as Hush, Little Puppy and nonfiction picture books like Trout Are Made of Trees to well-illustrated, fact-based references such as Endangered Birds of North America.

In her first books, in the "Exploring Earth's Biomes" series, Sayre presents elementary-grade readers with information about the various habitats found on Earth, and in the "Seven Continents" series she provides overviews on the geography, wildlife, and weather to be found on each continent. Several critics singled out the author's "lively and precise" writing style, to quote Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan in a review of Wetland and Lake and Pond. In a joint review of Coral Reef and Ocean for Voice of Youth Advocates, Mary Ojibway praised the "conversational style" in which Sayre presents "clear, accurate information."

Sayre is an avid bird-watcher, as books such as If You Should Hear a Honeyguide, Hummingbirds: The Sun Catchers, The Hungry Hummingbird, Endangered Birds of North America, Bird, Bird, Bird! A Chirping Chant, and Vulture View each attest. If You Should Hear a Honeyguide and Hummingbirds, both picture books, give glimpses into the life of the birds mentioned, followed up with an author's note to give more detailed information. According to Maryann H. Owen in School Library Journal, the artwork and easily accessible facts combine to make The Hungry Hummingbird "a winner" and a "pleasant, versatile book." Written for somewhat older juvenile readers, Endangered Birds of North America presents information on the snail kite, Kirtland's warbler, red-cockaded woodpecker, piping plover, and whooping crane, all in what Booklist critic Stephanie Zvirin called "a stimulating fashion." Patricia Manning praised Sayre's text for the book in School Library Journal as "clear" and "readable" and also remarked favorably on the photographs and maps.

Winner of the Theodore Geisel Honor Book award, Vulture View pairs Sayre's text with collage art by award-winning illustrator Steve Jenkins to explore the life of a much-maligned bird. In addition, Sayre discusses the way birds travel through the air on rising warm air and cooling sinking air. In what School Library Journal contributor Robin L. Gibson described as a "spare, rhyming text," the author provides basic information about the carrion eaters while Jenkins's "dynamic" images "are often quite dramatic." "Sayre's text is positively gleeful" in depicting the lowly vulture "not as cartoon villains but as a necessary part of nature," according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. As Ilene Cooper noted in Booklist, author and illustrator "buoyantly approach" their unusual subject, "celebrating the majesty of an underappreciated creature," and she commended the book "for its fascinating content and sprightly execution." "Rarely has a book about these scavengers gotten such a gorgeous treatment," Cooper added in a nod to Jenkins's art.

Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, Crocodile Listens, Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale, and The Bumblebee Queen number among Sayre's picture-book treatments of individual animal species. In Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! she shows the life cycle of the sea turtle, "drawing readers into the turtle's story without anthropomorphism," wrote Phelan. Similarly, in Crocodile Listens she provides readers with a glimpse of life in the habitat of this dangerous African reptile in a work that a Kirkus Reviews contributor called "playful without being precious." The only book for children presenting the life cycle of the desert-dwelling spadefoot toad, Dig, Wait, Listen features a text that Phelan described as "clear, precise, and poetic." Younger readers are introduced to selected species in the companion volumes Trout, Trout, Trout! A Fish Chant, Ant, Ant, Ant! An Insect Chant, and Bird, Bird, Bird!. Sayre includes common names as well as assorted facts about each creature depicted in the books' amusing art. Reviewing Ant, Ant, Ant! for School Library Journal, Carolyn Janssen wrote that "text and illustrations are a natural pairing for exploring the insect world."

Sayre has also treated various topics from a wider point of view. In Put on Some Antlers and Walk like a Moose: How Scientists Find, Follow, and Study Wild Animals she introduces methods that biologists use in the field to track and study a variety of species and presents the pros and cons of such work. Reviewing the work for School Library Journal, Arwen Marshall declared it a "lively and informative book" and an "excellent resource." Splish! Splash! Animal Baths and Home at Last: A Song of Migration are picture-book treatments about how animals bathe and find their ways "home," respectively. In the former title, which Booklist critic Ellen Mandel called "wonderfully entertaining," readers learn about how elephants, birds, horses, and even fish groom themselves. Birds, sea turtles, and Monarch butterflies number among the animals discussed in Home at Last, which with its combination of text and pastel art, may "strike a chord in young readers," according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. Sayre's focuses on a tantalizing topic in Stars beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust. The narrative prompted Cooper to cite the author's "poetic treatment" of her "lowly" subject, while in Kirkus Reviews a contributor noted that Sayre's book "will leave readers with a greater appreciation" for the ubiquitous and timeless substance.

Sayre's picture-book texts are accompanied by child-friendly artwork by several talented illustrators. In Trout Are Made of Trees Sayre draws readers into an introduction to the life cycle while Kate Endle brings the circular story to life in "attractive collage illustrations in natural colors," according to School Library Journal critic Christine Markley. Hush, Little Puppy, in which a boy and his pup recall their daytime play as they fall asleep, features what Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman described as "soft-toned illustrations" by Susan Winter.

Sayre once commented: "As a child, I spent hours picking flowers, watching insects and birds, reading books, and writing. Now I do the same thing, only as a career. My favorite part of the work is researching—reading books and magazines, calling people on the phone, and visiting museums, parks, and aquariums. The writing itself is difficult. But I write and rewrite until I'm satisfied with every paragraph. I try to communicate the excitement I feel about nature and my fascination with the way scientists discover how nature works. I also feel it's important to write about the environmental problems our planet faces and what's being done to solve those problems.

"My favorite activity is traveling. I have been fortunate to visit many of the grasslands, forests, seashores, rain forests, deserts, and other biomes I describe in my books. I scuba dive and snorkel over coral reefs. My husband and I spent a month in the rain forest of Madagascar, studying lemurs. But most of the time we tromp through wetlands, forests, and grasslands nearby, in order to watch birds.

"My advice to young writers/naturalists is to read a lot, write a lot, and grab a hand lens, go outdoors, and check out all the bizarre and beautiful insects and spiders that live on the plants in your neighborhood. Like me, you'll probably be amazed by what you find living close to home."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, reviews of Temperate Deciduous Forest, Tropical Rain Forest, and Desert, p. 821; September 1, 1995, Julie Corsaro, review of If You Should Hear a Honeyguide, p. 80; June 1, 1996, Carolyn Phelan, reviews of Wetland and Lake and Pond, pp. 1712-1713; December 1, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of Put on Some Antlers and Walk like a Moose: How Scientists Find, Follow, and Study Wild Animals, p. 632, and Stephanie Zvirin, review of Endangered Birds of North America, p. 632; December 1, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of Home at Last: A Song of Migration, p. 682; February 1, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Antarctica, p. 972; August, 1999, Hazel Rochman, review of Asia, p. 2055; April 1, 2000, Ellen Mandel, review of Splish! Splash! Animal Baths, p. 1466; August, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, p. 2150; September 15, 2000, Catherine Andronik, review of El Niño and La Niña: Weather in the Headlines, p. 238; December 1, 2000, Stephanie Zvirin, Splish! Splash! Animal Baths, p. 73; June 1, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale, p. 1881; November 15, 2001, Gillian Engberg, review of The Hungry Hummingbird, p. 579; December 1, 2001, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Dig, Wait, Listen, p. 658; February 15, 2002, Kay Weisman, review of Noodle Man: The Pasta Superhero, p. 1021; March 1, 2002, Lauren Peterson, review of Army Ant Parade, p. 1138; April 1, 2005, Ilene Cooper, review of Stars beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust, p. 1362; June 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Hush, Little Puppy, p. 76; November 1, 2007, Ilene Cooper, review of Vulture View, p. 44; February 15, 2008, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Trout Are Made of Trees, p. 94.

Horn Book, November-December, 2001, Lolly Robinson, review of It's My City! A Singing Map, p. 738.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1998, review of Home at Last, p. 1464; August 15, 2001, review of Crocodile Listens, p. 1221; April 1, 2005, review of Stars beneath Your Bed, p. 424; March 15, 2007, review of Hush, Little Puppy; September 1, 2007, review of Vulture View; September 15, 2007, review of Bird, Bird, Bird! A Chirping Chant.

Publishers Weekly, July 9, 2001, review of It's My City, p. 67; February 11, 2002, review of Shadows, p. 184; April 8, 2002, review of Noodle Man, p. 226; November 5, 2007, review of Vulture View, p. 63; February 18, 2008, review of Trout Are Made of Trees, p. 153.

School Library Journal, January, 1995, Eva Elisabeth Von Ancken, reviews of Tropical Rain Forest, Desert, and Temperate Deciduous Forest, p. 131; February, 1995, Eva Elisabeth Von Ancken, reviews of Tundra, Taiga, and Grassland, p. 110; October, 1995, Susan Scheps, review of If You Should Hear a Honeyguide, p. 129; June, 1996, Lisa Wu Stowe, reviews of Wetland, River and Stream, and Lake and Pond, p. 148; January, 1997, Frances E. Millhouser, reviews of Seashore, Ocean, and Coral Reef, pp. 134-135; January, 1998, Patricia Manning, review of Endangered Birds of North America, pp. 130-131; February, 1998, Arwen Marshall, review of Put on Some Antlers and Walk like a Moose, pp. 124-123; December, 1998, Patricia Manning, review of Home at Last, pp. 113-114; February, 1999, Jeanette Larson, reviews of Australia and Europe, p. 125; April, 1999, Mollie Bynum, review of Antarctica, p. 156; May, 2000, Blair Christolon, review of Splish! Splash! Animal Baths, p. 164; October, 2000, Susan Scheps, review of Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!, p. 136; June, 2001, Ellen Heath, review of Dig, Wait, Listen, p. 129; October, 2001, Anne Knickerbocker, review of It's My City, p. 130, and Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Crocodile Listens, p. 130; November, 2001, Maryann H. Owen, review of The Hungry Hummingbird, p. 150; April, 2005, Patricia Manning, review of The Bumblebee Queen, p. 126; December, 2005, Carolyn Janssen, review of Ant, Ant, Ant! An Insect Chant, p. 134; August, 2007, Alyssa G. Parkinson, review of Hush, Little Puppy, p. 105; December, 2007, Robin L. Gibson, review of Vulture View, p. 115; January, 2008, Martha Simpson, review of Bird, Bird, Bird!, p. 111; April, 2008, Christine Markley, review of Trout Are Made of Trees, p. 13.

Teacher Librarian, March, 1999, Shirley Lewis, review of Home at Last, p. 44.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1997, Mary Ojibway, reviews of Coral Reef and Ocean, p. 60; February, 1998, Marilyn Brien, review of Put on Some Antlers and Walk like a Moose, p. 404.