YES! YES! YES! It’s time to sing Happy Birthday to another beautiful new book! And this book has a VERY SPECIAL back story…this book was an Honorable Mention in the 2022 #50PreciousWords Contest. If you check yesterday’s blog post where we announced the prize winners and Honorable Mentions, who knows how many books-in-the-making you will find!

Author Jessica Stremer is such a fabulous writer…and her books are incredible. And what a wonderful partnership the editor created when they signed on Gordy Wright to do the illustrations!! The cover invites and intrigues…and the reader can’t wait to open the book to see more!

And we are so lucky…Jessica stopped by to chat…and to share her story behind the story of how her #50PreciousWords entry became a REAL BOOK!!!

ME: WELCOME, Jessica. thank you for stopping by.

JESSICA: Thank you so much for having me, Vivian. I’m excited to share how PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN came to be a book.

Pelicans are one of my favorite birds. I tried writing a story about them years ago, but it just wasn’t working, primarily I think because it was missing the “so what” factor.

In early 2022, my family and I took a trip up the coast of California when I began brainstorming ideas for the 50 Precious Words competition. Pelicans once again popped into my head. My books GREAT CARRIER REEF and LIGHTS OUT both have a hopeful environmental theme and I wondered if I could find a way to incorporate that approach into my entry.  Here’s what I came up with:

Soaring

Skimming

Climbing

Spotting

Diving

Splashing

Scooping

Gulping

Toxins leaching

Silently building . . .

Courting

Nesting

Shells thinning

Eggs crushing

Numbers dwindling

Pelicans needing

            HELP

Researchers observing

Laws changing

Toxin banning

Scientists offering

            HOPE

Eggs hatching

Numbers growing . . .

Chicks chirping

Feathers molting

Fledging

Flapping

Lifting

Flying

Species SURVIVING

Pelicans on Parade

That entry received honorable mention and had a lot of my critique partners excited, so I decided to flush it out into a full picture book manuscript, sticking to the sparse language while working in some layered text for additional context.

My editor loved the concept, but wanted the layered text incorporated into the main body of the manuscript. She also had the brilliant suggestion to add a few spreads about animals that are currently at risk to show that there is more work to be done. Each revision was a lot of work and I’m really proud of how this book turned out.

I was also excited when my editor said that Gordy Wright, who also illustrated my debut picture book GREAT CARRIER REEF, signed on to also illustrate this book. His work elevates the story to a whole new level.

I’m grateful to Vivian for continuing the 50 Precious Words competition. Without her PLIGHT OF THE PELICAN wouldn’t exist.

ME: AND WE ARE GRATEFUL TO YOU, JESSICA, FOR WRITING SUCH BEAUTIFUL BOOKS!!!

Dear friends, here’s a little bit about how you can buy this book and how to find out more about Jessica and Gordy.

Here is the link to the publisher’s website.
Signed copies of the book can be purchased through Books and Company. 

Jessica Stremer is a children’s book writer with a background in biology and ecology. Her passion lies in inspiring curiosity, wonder, and respect for our natural world. Jessica’s debut picture book, Great Carrier Reef, also illustrated by Gordy Wright, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection and received two starred reviews. She lives in Wisconsin with her family.

Gordy Wright is an illustrator and printmaker who paints by hand in gouache and acrylic. Recent projects include Wild In the Streets by Marilyn Singer, and Strange But True by Kathryn Hulic, as well as Great Carrier Reef, by Jessica Stremer, which received two starred reviews. Gordy graduated with a first class degree in illustration from the University of the West of England, and lives in Bristol.

Thank you so much, dear friends, for spending your precious time with us here. And thank you for the books bought at Toadstool Bookshop in Keene for the #50PreciousWords Literacy Initiative that is supporting the Children’s Literacy Foundation’s work in supplying books to underserved schools in Vermont and New Hampshire. And thank you to all who mailed books to me…those will be delivered to Sunset Heights Elementary School in Nashua, NH this month.