Some Part of My Soul Needs the Wild
An Interview with Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
Bette Ammon
What
a treat to contribute to Public Libraries’ “Book Talk”
column by writing about an author I know personally and admire professionally.
Children’s nonfiction author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent has been writing
and researching books for young readers since 1971. Patent writes about
what she knows and loves—nature, animals, science, and more. Patent
knows about these things because she grew up with a lot of curiosity and
an avid interest in the natural world. This led to years of training and
degrees in multiple sciences, including a doctoral degree in zoology.
Patent has lived in Missoula, Montana, since 1972 with her husband, the culinary genius Greg Patent. I am privileged to see her often. She’s a regular library patron and has been a member of the Missoula Public Library (MPL) Foundation Board for over seven years. Following the monthly foundation board meeting this month, I asked Dorothy to talk about her writing, her life, and her connection to libraries. After reminding me with a grin that she is “a very serious and formal person,” we proceeded.
PL: Please talk about your involvement with the MPL Foundation and libraries in general.
DHP: Of course, as a writer I feel very closely associated with libraries because I use them for my work, and libraries are the major market for nonfiction children’s books. I have a loyalty to libraries and librarians that goes back to the time I started writing, because librarians were the first people who recognized me and encouraged me as an author. And, because I know libraries, I know that there is never enough money to run them. So being a member of the library foundation board is important to me, and fun. The fun part is distributing a portion of the foundation’s earnings to support library staff and programs.
PL: In 1998 the MPL Foundation held a reception in your honor to recognize the publication of your 100th book. What did that acknowledgement mean to you?
DHP: It was wonderful to have that kind of public celebration of my work. It’s difficult to toot your own horn, and most writers don’t feel comfortable with that. I know another writer who had her 100th book come out the year before mine and there was no party. She undoubtedly would have appreciated a celebration of something so wonderful.
PL: Most of your books were featured in a huge display at the library and people were incredulous to see so many volumes by one person. How did that make you feel?
DHP: I looked at that display and thought, “I did all that?”
PL: What are the challenges of living in Missoula rather than closer to publishers in New York?
DHP: Maybe if I’d lived in New York, I would have responded differently to the steadily decreasing sales of the types of books that I write. My response from here has been to write more. Perhaps if I’d lived in New York in a more business-oriented climate, I might have been on top of publishers about books that go out of print so rapidly. It certainly would be easier to speak at conferences and schools, and that helps make authors more visible and brings in some money. That might have been a difference.
The trade off is that if I didn’t live in Montana, I couldn’t write about the things I write about. These are the animals that are here—wolves, bison, and bears. Right now I’m working on books dealing with the Lewis and Clark expedition, and if I didn’t live here, I wouldn’t have had the same kinds of personal experiences. I need this kind of environment. Some part of my soul needs the wild.
PL: How is the market for children’s nonfiction these days, and how does that affect you?
DHP: The market really is flat. I went to New York last fall with three proposals, and my publisher didn’t want to do any of them. Fortunately they had a proposal for me about the spirit bear that lives on islands off the Canadian coast. The habitat of the spirit bear, a white version of the black bear, is threatened by potential logging. A bear is always a popular animal, and this book will have a conservation message. It will be written, designed, and marketed for younger children. That’s a tremendous trend now, partly because publishers can produce shorter books more cheaply. In some ways that’s good, but I like writing books for older kids because of the intellectual challenge.
PL: What are the differences between books you wrote twenty-five years ago and those you work on now?
DHP: Books now are more visually appealing. Everybody wants big color pictures and lots of white space. But that can result in less information content. I work with several publishers, but only one of them is willing to let me write what I want to write instead of limiting me to thirty-two or forty-eight pages to fit the proscribed format.
PL: Do you see the market for children’s nonfiction changing?
DHP: I’m going to be writing very few nature books in the future. I will continue to do books with Kendahl Jan Jubb [a Missoula artist] because that nonfiction picture-book format does work. Teachers, librarians, and kids love our book Flashy Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs (Walker, 1997), and now we have a follow up—Slinky, Scaly, Slithery Snakes (Walker, 2000).
PL: It sounds like you really have to market yourself. Do you find yourself speaking at a lot of conferences?
DHP: I would like to do more. It’s difficult because with national conferences like the American Library Association or the International Reading Association, somebody who is putting together a session has to know about you in order to include and invite you. An author, particularly a nonfiction author, has to have the contacts. Very few nonfiction authors receive the same sort of recognition that fiction authors do on the speaking circuit. It’s really tough—I’d like to speak at more state conferences, and I think I have a lot to offer, but they don’t often think of nonfiction writers.
PL: What other trends affect your writing?
DHP: When I first started writing in the ’70s, most of my books were very descriptive of phenomena in nature, not just animals but the symbiosis of bacteria, plants, insects, etcetera. However, as the years progressed there has been an increasing interest in conservation, which didn’t exist before. In almost every single book I write now (if it’s about a specific group of animals), some mention has to be made about the endangerment of that animal. Even with polar bears, which have been holding their own, there’s this terrible concern that their habitat is being destroyed because of global warming. These animals are so adaptive to winter that global warming can destroy their environment. Conservation topic books like Children Save the Rain Forest (Cobblehill/Dutton, 1996) and Biodiversity (Clarion, 1996) fit well into current concerns about declining biodiversity. So the emphasis changes over time and I adapt my writing to those changes.
PL: Is it hard to discipline yourself to write everyday? What’s the process?
DHP: When I first started writing, I had young children at home and a husband who worked outside the home. When the last person left the house, I went directly to my study. If I stopped to clean up the kitchen first, I’d be lost. These days I’ve been doing it so long, it has become a habit. And I don’t have other responsibilities—my husband, being a food writer, takes care of the dinners and cleans up after himself! Day to day I don’t have nearly the amount of household work that I did when my kids were at home.
I try to decide the night before what I’m going to do the next morning and have my resources ready. I’m not very well organized, so I try to have reference books available so I can get right to work and not spend my time searching for things. Now, though, it’s easy to get distracted by e-mail. I try to focus on my current work, but I’m frequently working on concurrent projects. Right now I’m working on three Lewis and Clark books and several magazine articles.
PL: Tell us about the Lewis and Clark books you’re writing.
DHP: This seems like a natural topic for me to work on here in Missoula. The idea actually came from my frequent collaborator and photographer, Bill Muñoz. He is a historian by training and frequently travels the Lewis and Clark trail. We’ve had a lot of fun. The first book for Clarion is about the animals that Lewis and Clark encountered and described, and it is pretty much finished. Of course the Native Americans knew these animals inside out and so did the French Canadian trappers, but others didn’t; so Lewis and Clark were charged with describing the natural history of what they found. This book should be coming out in a year.
Right now I’m revising our “On the Trail Then and Now” book for Dutton—comparing the historic Lewis and Clark trail to the way it appears now. The third book (also for Clarion) is about the plants that the explorers encountered and described, and I’ll begin work on that soon.
PL: Do you have any future projects planned?
DHP: Lately I have really enjoyed writing other types of nonfiction, like the “Frozen in Time” series. These have been archeological in nature and that got me interested in historical fiction. I had so much fun doing the research and imagining what it would be like to live in those times. At this point I only have one novel out (Return of the Wolf, Clarion, 1995), but I’m interested in writing some historical fiction. I’ve worked on and off on a book that takes place when I was twelve years old, and I want to finish it to develop my sense of writing a novel. My critique group is very helpful to me with this process. There are also several time periods I’m interested in writing about. A lot of that depends on what happens in my life in the next few years.
PL: What pleases you the least about your profession?
DHP: That would have something to do with publishers and their lack of attention to the things that can really help sell books, like keeping a book in print, reprinting a book often enough to keep it in stock. Nobody seems to pay attention to that except for Holiday House publisher John Briggs. A lot of this has to do with the mergers and consolidations among the large publishing houses. Many times it is very frustrating to work with these large groups because there are frequent personnel changes and it’s nearly impossible to find out anything. The larger they get, it seems to me, the less efficient they are in getting books published and marketed. So much is decided by committee, and it takes forever to get things done. I’m so fortunate to be working with Clarion and Holiday House, because they have more control over their projects.
PL: What do you like most about your job?
DHP: Being my own boss. Being able to decide when and where I’m going to do whatever. Having the freedom to travel. I can decide if I want to work really, really hard for a few weeks and then take some time off. And I love being able to only do the work I enjoy, working with people I enjoy working with.
PL: I’ve always bragged that part of the satisfaction and joy of being a librarian is feeling that the work I do makes a difference. You must feel that way too.
DHP: Oh yes! That’s one great thing about doing conferences and school visits. Authors can be so isolated with the only feedback coming from reviews of your books. Just recently I was in Alabama for a week doing school visits, and these kids were really ready for me. There were all these schools doing a rain forest theme with incredible decorations in hallways and classrooms. It’s wonderful that these kids know who I am and can connect the writing of books with an actual human being. One teacher told me about a student who was enthusiastically reading Flashy Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs, a book beyond his reading level, because he was excited about meeting the author. I see something like that and feel like I do make a difference. Who knows—some kids may become biologists as a result of my books! I’ll never know that specifically, but it’s probably true.
PL: You not only influence readers but your work can also affect the world. If enough kids are inspired about preserving the rain forest, they can make a real difference forever. That has to make you feel great.
DHP: Right after my presentation, a teacher had her students write letters to me. One of the girls said she had thought about raising money for the rain forest and now decided to really do it. At the end of every talk I do, I show a beautiful rain forest picture and say that I hope that listeners will come to love the rain forest and grow up to make decisions to save it so that it will be around forever. I think that has to make an impact on many kids. That’s important to me. I can’t imagine doing the kind of job in which you’re not creating anything of value.
The book count for Dorothy Hinshaw Patent these days is 112 titles and growing, much to the delight of librarians, teachers, and children who love to learn. In the twenty years that I’ve been a librarian, I’ve given countless Patent titles to grateful library patrons, and I continue to be gratified and amazed that I know such a talented individual. In 1984 a book reviewer for the Missoulian, Missoula’s daily newspaper, wrote something that is still true today: “To read a book by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent is to become immersed in the miraculous world of nature.” For more information about Patent, take a look at her Web site at www.dorothyhinshawpatent.com.