TROST, Lucille W(ood) 1938-

(Lucille Wood-Trost)

Personal

Born November 4, 1938, in Candor, NY; daughter of Stiles A. and Alice (Keim) Wood; married Charles Trost, June 18, 1960 (divorced, 1980); companion of John Brunson; children: Scott. Ethnicity: "Caucasian-mixed." Education: Pennsylvania State University, B.S., 1960; University of Florida, M.S., 1963; Union Graduate School, Ph.D., 1974. Politics: Democrat. Religion: "Science of Mind (Religious Science)." Hobbies and other interests: Dreams/psychic capabilities, hiking, cat behavior, reading.

Addresses

Home— 2636 MacKenzie Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226. Office— Northwest Indian College, 2522 Kwina Rd., Bellingham, WA 98226. Agent— Sharene Martin, Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency, 1138 South Webster St., Kokomo, IN 46902. E-mail— lwoodtrost@hotmail.com.

Career

University of Florida, Gainesville, research associate in biology, 1962-64; freelance writer, 1964—; Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah, assistant professor of behavioral science and director of human relations program, 1976-81; Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, WA, professor, counselor, interim academic dean, and director of individualized studies, 1984—.

Member

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Authors Guild, National Writers Union, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, American Society for Psychical Research, Association for the Study of Dreams, Association for the Study of Psychic Phenomena, National Organization for Women, Association for Transpersonal Psychology, Phi Sigma, Sigma Xi.

Awards, Honors

Grand prize, Pomona Valley Writer's Contest, 1965, for the article "A Grain of Sand"; Outstanding Science Book for Children citation, Children's Book Council/National Science Teachers Association, 1973, for The Lives and Deaths of a Meadow.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

Biography of a Cottontail, Putnam (New York, NY), 1971.

A Cycle of Seasons: The Little Brown Bat, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1971.

The Fence Lizard: A Cycle of Seasons, Addison-Wesley (Reading, MA), 1972.

The Lives and Deaths of a Meadow, Putnam (New York, NY), 1973.

The Wonderful World of American Birds, Putnam (New York, NY), 1978.

(As Lucille Wood-Trost) Native Americans of the Plains, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

OTHER

Coping with Crib-Sized Campers, Stackpole (Harrisburg, PA), 1968.

(As Lucille Wood-Trost) Broken Ashes (novel), Branden Press (Boston, MA), 1978.

Right Brain/Left Brain (film script), Multi Media Productions, 1986.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Science of Mind; Los Angeles Herald-Examiner; National Wildlife; Baby Talk; Climb; Boys' Life; Body, Mind & Spirit; Partners to Improve Education; and Night Vision: A Dream Journal.

Work in Progress

Three picture books, including Can You Imagine, about "the amazing capabilities of invertebrates," Once Upon a Time, about evolution, and Nature Singer, "the biography of a woman who was a well-known naturalist and writer." Other works in progress include "middle grade and YA novels and a picture book focusing on the life of a Native American (Lummi) child. I'm also working on a nonfiction picture book about an extinct bird that I knew well when healthy populations still existed. It is tentatively called Evensong. I am conducting historical research about the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in New York City for my middle grade novel."

Sidelights

Lucille W. Trost told SATA: "I joke that I was born with a pen and paper and taking notes. In truth, I've been writing stories, poems, articles, and essays for as long as I can recall. Such work is necessary for my mental balance as is sleep, and I can't imagine living without it.

"Over the years I've chosen subjects I know and love and the resulting books have been primarily natural history. For example, my award-winning book The Lives and Deaths of a Meadow focused on a place important to me during my Pennsylvania childhood. As I researched its history, I was fascinated by the rich environmental relationships that existed before my time.

"Bats, lizards, cottontail rabbits, and birds are all subjects of my published books and are animals I know well, like, and respect.

"My nineteen years as a counselor, teacher, and program director at Northwest Indian College gave me a deep appreciation for Native cultures and an understanding of their present-day issues and concerns. I used this understanding when I wrote Native Americans of the Plains.

"I've lived in many different places and from each have gained a richer understanding of the world about me. I was born on a farm in New York state and grew up first in New York City and then in the Pennsylvania countryside. I've lived in Florida, southern California, Idaho, Utah, New Zealand, and Australia. For the last twenty-two years I've lived on the Lummi Indian Reservation near Bellingham, WA. My friend John Brunson and I share our home with seven cats and two (mostly) Bernese mountain dogs. All were abandoned and some abused before they came to us."