E.S. Ivy

author of middle grade books for children

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Science in Strange Magic, the new animated movie from George Lucas and Walt Disney Pictures

27 January, 2015 by ES Ivy

Strange MagicHow did we miss this?!? There’s a new George Lucas animated movie! Strange Magic, from Walt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm Ltd. and released by Touchstone Pictures.

No one in this family had any idea this was coming. Granted, we don’t watch a ton of tv, but usually we know about every sci-fi and animated movie coming out. And anything by George Lucas would have definitely caught our notice, because, well – STAR WARS. We’re one of those families where not only dad, but mom as well, grew up as a Star Wars fan so the kids had no choice but to hear about it. Even if when we were talking about this movie my twelve-year-old did say, “Isn’t George Lucas dead?”…

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Filed Under: Disney, Science Education

Cleaner Fish and Fish Cleaning Stations – excerpt from Miri Attwater and All That Glitters

26 February, 2014 by ES Ivy

best books for girls : All That Glitters cover 188 x 250As I explained in my posts Fish Cleaning Station – Yes, fish cleaning stations from Miri Attwater and All That Glitters really exist and Cleaner Fish – More Information than You Thought You Wanted to Know, further research about cleaner fish led me to make a correction to one scene in Miri Attwater and All That Glitters. Here’s the corrected excerpt.

Miri Attwater and All That Glitters

Excerpt from Chapter 9, Better than a Bathtub

Miri followed Fisk to the very edge of Kai Kaona, out past the kelp fields. Next to the cavern wall there was a sea turtle doing the oddest thing. It was standing on its head. Not only that, yellow tangs and another type of fish that was black with an orange ring around its eye, a gold-ring surgeonfish, were swarming all over it.

“Don’t those fish annoy the turtle?” asked Miri.

“Naw, they’re cleaner fish. See all that green stuff on the turtle’s shell? That’s algae growing on it. The fish are eating it off.”

“Algae?”

“Yeah, you know, tiny single-celled plants. Actually, it’s more like seaweed, because seaweed is algae. It’s just multicellular algae, meaning it’s made up of multiple cells. Get it? Multiple cells, multicellular algae. Unlike the algae that’s growing on you. That’s colonial —”

“Wait!” Miri interrupted him. “You mean I’ve got algae growing on me?” Algae was that green scum that grew on ponds. “How disgusting!”

“It’s no big deal. Algae grows on everything around here. You have to clean it off every once in a while. This is the perfect way,” said Fisk.

Oh great. As if living at the bottom of the ocean where everything was damp and fishy wasn’t bad enough, now algae was growing on her. And she was supposed to let slimy fish nibble on her to get rid of it? Yuck!

She pulled back.

“Oh, come on,” said Fisk. “They won’t hurt you.”

Well, if it was the only way to get rid of the algae she’d have to give it a try. She made herself swim up slowly to get a better look when – below, on the edge of her vision – she spotted a gray, triangular, fin.

She felt a shock and jerked back, screaming loud enough to pop her talking gum bubble and twirled around to high tail it out of there.

Fisk grabbed her hand to stop her. “Ziggady! They’re just fish.”

Miri looked down nervously to make sure the shark wasn’t chasing her. It wasn’t, but it was still there. She could only point down silently.

“Oh, that?” said Fisk. “That’s just a nurse shark. Besides, it’s being groomed. It’s definitely not looking for a meal. Otherwise, the cleaner fish wouldn’t get near it.”

Her hand trembling in Fisk’s, she sneaked a peek at the shark again, as if scared that looking at it might make it attack her.

A fish was actually swimming into the shark’s mouth! Then it swam out. And in again! She couldn’t believe it. But there it was, right below her, a little fish going in and out, in and out, of the shark’s mouth around all its sharp teeth, while other fish darted around the rest of the shark’s body. The shark looked practically asleep. Still…

Fisk squeezed her hand and pulled her toward the turtle. “Come on. Really, it’s fine, I promise. There’s no reason to be so jittery.”

Miri let him pull her, but paused every half-stroke to look down and make sure the shark wasn’t moving. The buzzing and shaky feeling slowly subsided.

Up close, it looked like the cleaner fish were giving the turtle big smootches. Their little fish lips pooched out and stuck to the shell like tiny suction cups, then pulled away leaving a little clean patch behind.

“Go on, you gotta stand on your head. That’ll let the fish know you’re ready to be cleaned – and won’t eat them,” Fisk added with a grin.

Eat them! Miri couldn’t imagine anything more disgusting than eating a live fish. That would be even worse than eating raw oysters. Boys.

She looked over at Potato. Like Natasia said, groupers didn’t have to put up with little brothers. As if to show her how it was done, Potato slowly ambled up in front of Miri. She angled her head down, opened her gaping mouth wide, and waited. Hovering.

Pretty soon, several little fish with black stripes down the length of their bodies, a type of wrasse, swam up to her. They started darting nervously in and out of her mouth, pausing to pick things out of her gills.

Miri still wasn’t too excited about letting little fish nibble on her. But she did want to get the algae off. And at least they wouldn’t be swimming into her mouth. She moved up to the cleaning station, turned upside down and tried to hold very, very still.

A yellow tang appeared and hovered at the edge of Miri’s view. It darted in a couple of times, testing things out. But when the fish got brave enough to barely touch her with its lips, Miri couldn’t help flinching. The yellow fish vanished in a blink.

After a couple of seconds, it came back. But it stayed just out of range, waiting, its fins idly fluttering. Miri forced herself to hold still. Finally, it ventured closer. It took a tentative peck, darted away, and then when Miri didn’t move, swam back. Another fish joined in, nibbling on the inside of her elbow. Miri couldn’t help it. She giggled.

The fish disappeared in a flash. But she stayed upside down and one fish returned. Its bravery soon prompted others to join in.

It wasn’t so bad to get kissed by fish. It tickled more than anything.

Miri and Fisk were both on their heads, trying not to giggle, when Fisk’s sister swam up.

“There you are!” said Natasia. “I’ve been looking all over! What in the ocean are you two doing?” she asked as she got closer.

“Miri was having a bit of an algae problem so I’m showing her how to take care of it.”

“Boys,” said Natasia to Miri. “They’ll do anything to avoid taking a bath.”

“A bath?” said Miri swishing right-side up. The yellow tangs scattered like fall leaves kicked out of a pile and caught on the wind.

“Yeah. A bath, you know, where you get in a tub with soap and scrub all over,” said Fisk. “Boring.”

“Of course I know what a bath is,” said Miri. She had wondered why there was a bathtub next to the sink in her room. It hadn’t made any sense to her since mermaids spent half their time in the water anyway. Mermaids take baths. Who knew?

Natasia wasn’t paying any attention to them. She was studying Miri thoughtfully. “You probably just need a scratchier sponge. Come on. We can stop by the bath shop on our way home.”

best books for girls : All That Glitters cover 188 x 250 If you’d like to read more about Miri’s mermaid adventures, you can read a free sample and get your own copy of Miri Attwater and All that Glitters at Amazon!

 

Filed Under: All That Glitters, Miri Attwater, Science Education

Cleaner Fish – More Information than You Thought You Wanted to Know

19 February, 2014 by ES Ivy

As I mention in last weeks post about fish cleaning stations, I didn’t intend to do any research for the Miri Attwater series. So when I did start doing some research, I wasn’t doing it like I would if I had been writing a non-fiction book about marine biology. I wasn’t taking a lot of detailed notes with page numbers and cross-referencing. I wasn’t double checking to see if information I got in one source could be confirmed by other sources. I wasn’t looking at a lot of original sources – meaning I wasn’t reading scientific research articles in marine biology journals. Because I know from my text book writing and editing work that there is lots of misinformation in science books and text books, and it gets copied when writers don’t go back to original sources. Writing a really well researched science book takes time – a lot of it. And it helps if you’re an expert in the field.

Really, my first goal for my research was to look at pretty pictures so I could make the underwater scenes in the book more real to the reader.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the more I saw, the more amazed I became by the diversity of marine life. …

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Filed Under: All That Glitters, Behind the Books, Marine Biology, Miri Attwater, Science Education

Fish Cleaning Station – Yes, fish cleaning stations like in Miri Attwater and All That Glitters really exist

12 February, 2014 by ES Ivy

fish cleaning station

A dragon wrasse being cleaned by Rainbow cleaner wrasses on a reef in Hawaii. By Brocken Inaglory (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons;

When I started writing the Miri Attwater books, I wasn’t planning on doing any research. They were fantasy, after all. I could make up anything I wanted. But when I started writing the underwater scenes, they felt flat and dim. They didn’t have the vividness I remembered from my snorkeling trips. It seemed like a great excuse to do some research! So I started watching movies about ocean life….

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Filed Under: All That Glitters, Behind the Books, Marine Biology, Miri Attwater, Science Education

At the blog of Newbery book author Kirby Larson: my first guest post!

31 January, 2014 by ES Ivy

Newberry book Hattie Big Sky

I was so honored to do my first ever guest post at the blog of Kirby Larson. Kirby is the author of the beautiful Newbery book, Hattie Big Sky, that won a well deserved Newbery Honor Award in 2007. It’s a story of a pioneer girl in the early 1900s in the style of my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book. I’ve given it many times as a gift and highly recommend it as a great read!

 

If you’re curious about a peek into some of how the Miri Attwater series came about, and how a fantasy book came to involve science, you can read my guest blog post at Kirby’s Lane.

 

Filed Under: Behind the Books, Marine Biology, Miri Attwater

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