Today I’m sharing another phenomenal nonfiction picture book about the ocean that utilizes a creative structure that you won’t want to miss.

SHARI BECKER has been writing and creating content for children and teens for over twenty-five years. Shari’s books include Sprouting Wings, which she co-authored with Louisa Jaggar, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, The Stellow Project and Maxwell’s Mountain. Her books have been named Junior Library Guild Selections as well as Bank Street Best Books. Shari is the founder of Whale Rock Literary Workshops, a master-level writing education company for kidlit authors. Shari lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her family. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, or BlueSky.

TAKING TURNS WITH TURTLES is a picture book all about the plight of cold-stunned sea turtles. Never heard of that? Well, I had but only in the vaguest of ways. This book explores the community involved in helping these sea-turtles along the east coast of North America. And I do mean community! The story starts with the first helper (a child, naturally), and goes to the next, then the next. Each one is vital for the rescuing of these sea turtles, but the writing is almost prayer-like in its homage to the volunteers who help give back to the turtles who do so much for our world that is taken for granted. It’s a beautiful exploration of givers, rescue, and hope that is perfect for our troubling times.

Welcome Shari!

Me: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey. When did you start writing picture books? How has that brought you to writing this picture book?

Shari: I’ve been writing my whole life. I wrote my first picture book in elementary school, drew illustrations, and sent it to a publisher for consideration. They wrote me back a very sweet note saying “No thank you, but keep writing.”

Determined to work in children’s television, I pursued a master’s degree at NYU, and after I graduated, I landed my first job at Nickelodeon, helping produce content for their website. I liked it, but it wasn’t as creative as I’d imagined. I convinced my supervisor to let me try my hand at writing branded content, and he said yes. The work made my heart sing. I started experimenting with writing for children on the side. I went to a conference hosted by the Highlights Foundation, now Boyd’s Mills, and I was hooked. There, I met an editor who liked my work. She invited me to submit to her anytime, and she ultimately bought my first book, Maxwell’s Mountain.

My writing career has had starts and stops depending on my parenting and work constraints. I began writing picture books inspired by Kevin Henkes, whose word counts would never fly today. I experimented with novel writing, and then I had an opportunity to co-author a nonfiction biography. I was literally handed a binder full of research. I didn’t have to do any of the discovery work myself. As we wrote our project, I realized that I enjoyed working with a story that already had a plot.

When I first read about the cold-stunned turtle initiative, I knew it was a great story, but I worried I didn’t have the chops for nonfiction on my own. I tentatively dove in, and here we are.

Me: I’ve never seen anyone write a picture book about rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles before. What gave you the idea for this story?

Shari: The idea came about in fall/winter 2020. I lived in Brookline, MA at the time, and there was a multi-week period when my newsfeed was flooded with cold-stunned rescue stories. One article in the Christian Science Monitor had this gorgeous photo of two people pulling a sled on the sand in Cape Cod. I think in that same article there was a story about a volunteer pilot dentist who cancelled a day of patient appointments because a turtle needed to be transported. In my head, I pictured a dentist in his white coat, running out the door, calling back to his receptionist, “Cancel all my patients. A turtle needs me!”

I just loved the idea that people across the USA were collaborating to rescue sea turtles: a community of diverse people (politically, racially, etc.) coming together with a shared goal.

Me: The way you’ve written this book is brilliant. It feels like it follows a pattern, but it’s unlike any picture book format I’ve ever seen. It highlights each volunteer and their part of the journey, but it always brings it back to the turtle. Amazing! How did you land on this approach? Was it a format you invented? Was there a mentor text?

Shari: This is a great question, and I wish I had a straight answer for you. There was no mentor text. This manuscript was 100% a trial-and-error process.

What had grabbed my attention initially were the human helpers. I knew I wanted the story to present as a passing of the baton, a turtle lovingly traveling from helper to helper. But I couldn’t figure out how to get the turtle details into the story.

Turtles are a keystone species, i.e. turtles are critical for maintaining the environment around them. So in a way, turtles help their community, too. I made a list of all the things that turtles do for their ecosystem, and I started to see parallels with how the humans support the turtles. For example, turtles transport suckerfish and barnacles on their shells, and the pilot transports the turtle to another aquarium. Once that parallel idea clicked, I knew I had my structure.

Me: And it’s SO good! This is such a deceptively simple manuscript with an incredibly tight design. How many drafts did it take to get to this final state? Were there a lot of revisions or was this a gift from the Muse?

Shari: There were many, many drafts of this book, and I almost gave up a few times.

I think of picture books a lot like music. For me, great prose has rhythm and poetry, so I was trying to find the music all while covering science and the passage of time and different people and places. It was so challenging to get the prose to hold together in a way that a young reader could follow.

My agent is also a non-fiction picture book author, and she had some great suggestions for keeping the concepts kid-oriented.

One of the biggest hurdles was capturing the passage of time. One of my mentors suggested adding seasons, and that was a game-changer. It was such a simple fix, and it infused the manuscript with this lovely repetitive rhythm. 

Me: Can you tell us a bit about your research process for this book? How long did it take you to research all the different facts and tidbits that went into this story? Any favorite discoveries or research methods?

Shari: Because I tend to work on multiple projects at once, it’s hard for me to narrow in on exactly how long it took. From reading that first article to submission, probably 12-18 months.

I ordered a ton of books from the library (many were outdated), I browsed official websites from various marine organizations and nonprofits, I read as many articles as possible, I interviewed people at the Audubon Society, at Turtles Fly, Too (volunteer pilots), and at the New England Aquarium. I watched YouTube videos from Turtles Fly, Too and the NEAQ. My favorite parts were doing the interviews and watching videos of the various rescue stages, especially the release videos where all these people are cheering on the turtles as they head back into the sea.

Once I felt like the manuscript was close, I asked one of my expert interviewees to look it over. I was shocked to learn that there were multiple errors in the facts I’d found in newspaper articles and even much older books. The biggest surprise for me: when working in nonfiction, make sure your sources are up to date and triple-check every fact unless it comes from a primary source.

Me: Good point! Brittany Lane’s illustrations in this book are so soft and sweet. I love her color palette choices. They really make it feel cold in the beginning (and warm at the end). Did you have any illustration surprises? Any favorites?

Shari: Brittany did an incredible job. The illustrations are tender and loving, like a warm and cozy blanket. The art is soft and thoughtful. I love how the animals are illustrated but still feel real, and how she captured the diversity of the community of volunteers.

I have two favorite spreads, for very different reasons. My family and I moved back to Canada from Massachusetts in the summer of 2021. That opening spread of a wintry New England night makes me sigh every time I see it. It’s part of my old home. From a storytelling perspective, my favorite spread is the one with the turtle on one side and the airplane on the other. That spread encompasses my entire vision for the story and represents the concept so well.

Me: I love that. You have several picture books and novels published at this point in your career. What advice would you give to aspiring picture book writers?

Shari: First, I’d say READ! As much as possible. The classics are incredible, but make sure you’re reading new, contemporary books, too.

Write as many picture book drafts as you can. I once chatted with a prolific picture book author who shared that he sells two to three picture book manuscripts for every 13 to 14 ideas/drafts he writes.

I think many of us are unaware of our own writing blind spots. I often think a story is ready to go when it’s not. It’s been critical for me to find professional mentors and to have a handful of trusted readers who are knowledgeable enough to offer helpful, useful insight. Find critique partners who can point out what’s not working, but don’t tell you how to fix it. Join a picture book community online and/or join SCBWI or CANSCAIP to learn about local opportunities. Take classes with respected picture book authors and editors. The more you learn, the more you grow, the better you get.

That is great advice. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Shari.

Dear readers, this book publishes today. The rhythm of this book almost feels cumulative, but it’s entirely unique. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it AND you’ll want to study it. It’s a beautiful book.