The Lady Hermes

When Paul Meisel and I did WHY ARE THE ICE CAPS MELTING? we realized that it couldn’t cover the huge subject of global warming in its entirety.  We felt other books were needed to expand the subject for children to offer them more to think about.  And one of the most urgent aspects of the problem is the contribution of carbon dioxide to global warming made in large part by the burning of fossil fuels.

As I child I was fascinated by fossils.  I still am.  Not only that, but a weekend  trip to a gas station on some lone highway in rural Mississippi was a treat for me.  I loved the smell of the stuff, and wished I understood the arcane language of the discussions my father always had with the gas station owner as soon as the hood of the car was opened, to check the oil, and whatever. So my new book with Paul, WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT GASOLINE?, offered me a chance to learn about just what gasoline is, and how it is made from an infinite number of tiny fossils buried beneath deserts (which were once seas) and seas themselves.

I learned too about its cousin, coal.  We had a coal furnace when I was a child, and I well remember the dramatic dumping of the shiny black lumps from a truck and into our basement, and getting to help my father shovel the coal into our small inferno.  I knew about coal mining, too, because news of the hard lives of miners was always in the newspaper,  but I had no idea it was still used in the rest of the world to the extent it is.  So researching and writing this book was fun!  I learned a lot.

I love working with Paul Meisel, for he digs deep into any subject he illustrates.  He is as fascinated, I believe, by finding things out, as I am.  His enthusiasm makes his pictures interesting for the children who they’re meant for.  While researching his illustrations he found out new and fascinating things about petroleum, from which gasoline is made.  It was helpful in making Egyptian mummies, and ancient desert people used it to keep their dry skin moisturized. Paul sees the humor in factual details. We have other books planned, but given the present state of book publishing – about as dismal as the American automobile industry – they are on hold.  But be on the lookout for them!  We’re not giving up.