James Arnosky Brings Love of Nature to Crim

He writes books about wild animals and wild places because he likes wild animals and they live in wild places—and for years, author James Arnosky has been bringing those special loves to the masses.

But Thursday, he brought those loves to Crim Primary School.

Arnosky was the guest at the school’s annual Author Day program, and he spoke to the students during assemblies throughout the day.

“I do age appropriate presentations based on the subject matter, and I simplify the language for younger kids,” he said. “It is simplified for the older kids too, but I tell them more.”

When he was a young boy, Arnosky said, he wanted to be a cartoonist, and then an illustrator. But when he was older, he started keeping a journal about the animals he saw, and he eventually decided he wanted to share what he had written.

“I became an author by wanting to share what I wrote,” he said.

“I wanted to do books to just feature animals,” he added. “I wanted to write them as myself, so I started traveling to see all kinds of animals.”

And Arnosky’s focus was always on animals, and he takes videos and pictures of them all over the country, working with his wife to get images and more that he can draw for his books, most of which are nonfiction.

For his book, “Thunderbirds,” Arnosky started with a picture his wife, Deanna, had taken of an osprey as it stretched one of its wings out to avoid falling from a tree.

“I was determined to paint every feather of the bird, and it took seven days,” he said. “Then I realized I had to do that for all the birds in the book.”

Arnosky talked to the students about his many trips to photograph animals, including buffalo, snakes and fish, which he has transformed into books like “Creep and Flutter” about spiders, “You Wanna Iguana?” and more.

“I saw a whole herd of buffalo,” he said to gasps from the students. “I videotaped them as they came walking up a hill. As they walked by, they went into the tall grass of the prairie and I could barely see them anymore.”

Arnosky focused on a trip he and his wife took to Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, and explained that the lake there is enormous with thousands of islands that float because they are not attached to the bottom of the lake.

While they were there, Arnosky said, he learned that raccoons, normally night creatures, will be out during the day there to escape the alligators who hunt them at night.

And one day, Arnosky said, he and his wife had the chance to watch a raccoon deal with the elements on its own.

While driving through the Okefenokee Swamp Park, they saw a raccoon run across the road and into a ditch.

“His tail was just above the water, and he was looking for something to eat,” Arnosky said as he drew the raccoon for the students. “They don’t look at what they’re doing, they look around, and it looked like it was having fun.”

But while Arnosky videotaped the raccoon in its natural habitat, his wife noticed an alligator approaching.

“We had promised we would never interfere with animals when we are filming,” he said.

But in the end, Arnosky said, the raccoon sensed the danger and escaped.

“I found out, I had written three books on alligators, but this raccoon knew more about them than I did,” he said.

Aside from his nonfiction books, Arnosky also created Crinkleroot, an old man who knows a lot about everything. He has just released his 15th children’s book about the man.

“When I was 22, I created the character, “ he said, as he drew the figure for the students. “I knew about animals, but didn’t think people would believe me because I was young. I invented an old man who knew everything.”

Arnosky concluded his presentation with a guitar performance of a song he had written about animals eating animals, called “Gobble it Up,” which got students clapping and swaying along.

“My publisher said they were not doing a book about animals eating others,” he said. “So I sang the song in schools and 10 years later the Scholastic president called me up and asked if I ever thought of doing a book [based on it].”

“Gobble it Up” was released as a book after that.

Pat Gray, library and media specialist at Crim Primary, organizes the Author Day program, and said she actually first heard of Arnosky’s books when she was a child librarian at the Bernardsville Library.

“Ever since I saw his books, I thought I would love to have him come to a school,” she said.

In previous years, Gray said, they have brought in fiction writers, but she thought this would be a nice change of pace.

“He’s very entertaining, and the stuff in his books has a timeless appeal,” she said. “Having quality non fiction being used in schools can be used as a teaching tool.”