Lottie Loves Nature by Jane Clarke

Jane Clarke is the author of more than 130 children’s books, including the Lottie Loves Nature and Al’s Awesome Science chapter book series, which feature twins that love to explore and engage with the world around them through their fascination with science and nature. Here, Jane talks to us about her own lifelong love of the natural world and how she hopes her books will inspire children to develop interest and curiosity in these topics, too.

I’ve always enjoyed being close to nature. When I was small, this involved getting as close as possible, often with my dog. We lived in town, but at the weekend my mum and dad would head out into the countryside for a walk into the woods or along the bank of a crystal-clear stream where pike hovered in strands of emerald waterweed. The dog and I travelled back home wrapped in old sheets that Mum tied around our necks so we wouldn’t shed mud all over the car. I loved mud – and conkers, wild flowers (especially bluebells), pond life, shells and fossils. I didn’t own many books (we went to the library every week) but I treasured my Ladybird Book of Pond Life (1962 version), and my Collins Complete Guide to Fossils and Fossil Collecting, and tried to find and tick off as many things as I could. It’s a habit I’ve continued – wherever I go in the world, I get hold of a book about local wildlife and make as many check marks as possible. Right now, I’m using the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida.

A curiosity about nature has definitely inspired my writing for children – every book I’ve ever written has an animal in it somewhere, and many of my picture books have no human characters at all. Part of the joy of writing for me is researching fascinating creatures and I strive to be factual about them at some level, even if they talk.

As a child, I devoured the Gerald Durrell books, especially My Family and Other Animals. His books are a dazzling and hilarious blend of stories about his family and travels, plus facts about nature, and they inspired me to try adding fact to the fiction in the Lottie and Al books. My aim was for children to try things for themselves, as if they were part of the story. The fact pages give them a ‘how to’ approach, with simple ways to encourage them to be curious and explore the world of science and nature.

Both Lottie and Al keep journals and I hope that the notebook pages dotted throughout my books, by illustrator James Brown, will inspire readers to record their discoveries, too. I got a lot of pleasure as a child from making little books of words and sketches – and my sons and now my granddaughters do, too. The characters of Al and Lottie are a mixture of all of them, and me, and our interests.

Walks in nature when our sons were small weren’t always relaxing. Their rocks, cliff and trees philosophy was ‘if it’s there, climb it,’ but we did manage the odd moment of quiet observation. My oldest son’s first word was “ant” quickly followed by “ant, ant, ant, ant, ant” – he was pointing at a line of them! My younger son was bug and reptile obsessed from an early age, and later spent a couple of years working as an adventure tour guide in Venezuela, where he took me and his brother on an unforgettable anaconda hunt.

Nature and science are a lifelong fascination and I try to do lots of nature and science-related activities with my granddaughters. It makes me smile to see the four girls connecting with nature, and the eldest mirroring their respective dads’ tree climbing and reptile-loving traits.

As the seasons change, nature carries me through the year with it. This autumn, I’m loving the hedgerows, rosehips, blackberries, sloes, leaves turning colour – and conkers. Every week, I go out into the countryside for a long walk with friends, which is a joy. And yes, I still love getting covered in mud!

A lifetime of loving nature has made me passionate about to helping preserve the natural world for future generations, and I believe that there are lots of little things we can do to help. As Lottie knows, every little thing matters, and getting children engaged in the world around them is key. I hope my books play a small part in that.

Jane Clarke is the author of the Lottie Loves Nature and Al’s Awesome Science series, illustrated by James Brown and published by Five Quills. Find out more about the eight books in these series, plus free resources and activities to download, at www.fivequills.co.uk.

Many thanks to Jane for this inspiring post and thanks to Catherine Ward and Five Quills for their support of NNFN and the FCBG.