Books like P Is for Pterodactyl — picked by fans

I’m a Boomer. I was expected to read books about well-behaved children (Fun with Dick and Jane, 1940) or happy animals (The Poky Little Puppy, 1942), or going to bed quietly (Goodnight Moon, 1947). Why do you think my cohort has so much love for Dr. Seuss? The Cat in the Hat (1957) was a brat, and kids love a brat. The rhymes were smart, and kids need smart. Today, I get to read books to my grandkids that have edge, and books that don’t talk down to them. They deserve it, they won’t settle for less, and it’s a hell of a lot more fun for me.

I’m a Boomer. I was expected to read books about well-behaved children (Fun with Dick and Jane, 1940) or happy animals (The Poky Little Puppy, 1942), or going to bed quietly (Goodnight Moon, 1947). Why do you think my cohort has so much love for Dr. Seuss? The Cat in the Hat (1957) was a brat, and kids love a brat. The rhymes were smart, and kids need smart. Today, I get to read books to my grandkids that have edge, and books that don’t talk down to them. They deserve it, they won’t settle for less, and it’s a hell of a lot more fun for me.

I always felt like books were mysterious and elusive works of art. When creating them occurred to me, I started to think, “What is a book, really, and what does it mean to publish one?” This over-analysis of books makes me appreciate authors who are able to step back and see books for what they really are–pages and ink. Distilling it down to that makes writing and publishing a book feel more accessible to me.

I’m a Boomer. I was expected to read books about well-behaved children (Fun with Dick and Jane, 1940) or happy animals (The Poky Little Puppy, 1942), or going to bed quietly (Goodnight Moon, 1947). Why do you think my cohort has so much love for Dr. Seuss? The Cat in the Hat (1957) was a brat, and kids love a brat. The rhymes were smart, and kids need smart. Today, I get to read books to my grandkids that have edge, and books that don’t talk down to them. They deserve it, they won’t settle for less, and it’s a hell of a lot more fun for me.

I’ve loved words ever since I discovered at age five that the word “pup” was a palindrome. My first published poem, “Kitten,” was written in third grade and was included in Valley View Elementary School’s annual creative writing booklet.

Since then, I’ve written loads of limericks, a heap of haiku, quarts of quatrains, two octos, and enough rhyming couplets to make Shakespeare plead “forsooth, enough already”. To the relief of the general public, I’ve only published one book of poetry. For now.

I’ve been fascinated with financial literacy for a long time. I have an MBA and have worked in banking and the mortgage industry for more than 15 years. I am passionate about helping people understand concepts and terms that, at times, are obfuscated. Now that I have a son of my own, I am constantly looking for books that expose him to a variety of topics, not just financial. I am always checking out library books for him that will educate him about the world around him. My list of books is curated to some of my favorite educational books that he and I both love!

I'm passionate about nature, our impact on it and the people who best know how to be its companion – Indigenous peoples. I grew up on B.C.'s west coast, swimming with seals and otters. That inspires me to protect the land and to write and draw about it. As the author/illustrator of over 70 books I've been lucky to be able to present my thoughts on many topics. I learned early on to do my research and work with rigorous editors. With P'eska, I relied on members of the community I wrote about. I know I'm speaking to young kids so honesty is paramount.

I am passionate about this topic because I have known far too many dedicated scholars who struggle to write and publish their work. When I ran into trouble writing my dissertation, I didn’t have any help. I was ashamed and embarrassed and found only a handful of books to guide me. That began a lifetime of exploring how and why academic writing can be so challenging for me and for so many others. Today there is much more advice available to struggling academics, in books and online, including individual (and usually too expensive!) writing coaching. But the challenge of actually getting writing done in a demanding and often unsupportive academic environment continues.

I am a graduate of Williams College and Princeton University and now a professor and former dean of arts and letters at the University of Notre Dame. As dean, I learned that too many of Notre Dame’s students were majoring in business. Invariably, when I asked them about their rationale, they would confess that their favorite courses were in the arts and sciences. They might have followed their passions, I thought, if they and their parents had a deeper sense of the value of a liberal arts education, so I wrote this book to answer their questions and give them justified confidence in the value of liberal arts courses.  

When I began teaching in higher education and mentoring teacher candidates whose ambitions were to teach in culturally diverse urban schools, I was shocked to find out that my course was one of the first in which many students were asked to explicitly address issues of educational equity and systemic racism. Cultural diversity in teacher education programs is often a one-shot, watered-down class about “celebrating diversity.” This approach doesn't support candidates in becoming teachers who can challenge how low-income students of color are stereotyped and labeled “at-risk,” with curricula sadly focusing more on compliance and discipline than learning, inquiry, and agency.