Jessica Stremer is an award-winning children’s author who combines her love of science and writing to create books that inspire kids to explore and think critically about the world around them. Her titles include Great Carrier Reef (a NY Public Library Best Book of the Year and JLG Gold Standard selection), Lights Out: A Movement to Help Migrating Birds, Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires (a JLG Gold Standard selection), Plight of the Pelican: How Science Saved a Species, Trapped in the Tar Pit, and Wonderfully Wild. Jessica obtained a B.S. in Biology, with an emphasis in Ecology, from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She was a recipient of the 2023 Stephen Fraser Encouragement Award, a 2023 finalist for the Russel Freedman award, and received honorable mention for the 2021 Ann Whitford Paul award. Visit Jessica's website to learn more about her and her books.
1. Was Fire Escape always the title for your new project?
The original title I had come up with was Exploding Pinecones, but I realized that although that title may have been catchy to some people, I needed something that captured what the book was about. I brainstormed with a few of my critique partners and sent a list to my editor. She chose Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfire
2. What’s a particularly striking or memorable reaction someone has had to this book?
My sister-in-law called one night to talk about the book. She’s been reading it with my nephew who struggles with advanced vocabulary. She said he was doing a great job of understanding this book because of how I used the words in the text, in combination with bolding the words and having a glossary for him to refer to in the back matter. It was a really touching call knowing how my book was helping boost his reading confidence.
3. How was the editorial process? Did you do any revisions?
I was really afraid of receiving my edits because I’ve heard so many stories of massive edit letters and daunting changes, but it wasn’t too bad once I got to the other end of it. There were a lot of comments throughout the manuscript. Some of them were simple changes that I should have caught, or moving things around to make the information flow better. Some sections required more revising, research and more revising after that. I took it chapter by chapter and reminded myself throughout the process to be open to the suggestions. I also kept an eye on facts to make sure that I wasn’t revising anything to then make it untrue.
4. Do you ever struggle to come up with your next project? Or do you have lots of ideas and find it a challenge to narrow down your ideas?
The list of topics I'd like to write about is never ending! But life is busy and there is only so much time in a day. I feel like the longer I'm in this industry, the better I'm getting about evaluating ideas before I start researching and writing, focusing more on those that have legs while still allowing myself to write just for me whenever needed.
5. How do you know your idea will make a good book?
I don't think anyone knows which books will become major hits, but things I look for when choosing what to write next are:
What excites me about this idea? Will that also excite kids? Do other people get excited when I share the idea?
What are the hooks and what angles of storytelling can I play with?
Does this idea/topic bring something new or fresh to the market? Has this been done before and, if yes, why is my version needed?
6. When you're not writing, what are your favorite things to do?
Both of my girls are on competitive soccer teams. I love watching them play. It’s fun to support them in this stage of life. I also love spending time outdoors, hiking, camping, fishing. And I love to travel. My “to-visit” list is even longer than my “to-write" list
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