Sunday Special: Interview with Tish Burton
Bird News Items
It was after she read a biography of Dr. Seuss to one of her daughters that Letitia Burton decided to take off on a new path and write for children. She has now published three books – Soar: The incredible Journey of Hendrix and Ryder, which tells the story of twin osprey brothers who are abandoned by their parents and must find their way to South America on their own, Guthrie and Gretzky, about two geese who are best friends but must adapt to a new kind of friendship after tragedy strikes and Austin, about a baby robin who is kicked out of his nest.
Letitia’s books have received a number of awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Award for Soar in 2022. Her most recent book Austin was awarded the Silver Moonbeam Award, one of the most important awards in the children’s book industry.
How did you decide to write books about birds?
I never actually decided to write about birds. It’s hard to explain but the stories more come to me. I suddenly have birds talking to one another in my head and then I write down what they are saying. So I guess I’m one of the few people who can really own the nickname “Bird Brain.”
There must have been some tie to birds.
Oh, well there definitely was. I grew up in Maryland sailing on the Chesapeake. And when you sail, you spend a lot of time out on the water with the shore birds. We regularly saw ospreys, which I’ve loved since I was a young girl. They are such majestic birds. Every time we came in or out of the harbor, we passed by one of their huge nests and sometimes got closeups of them taking off or landing. I can still remember one osprey that took off right over my head. Now I sail in Connecticut and again pass an osprey nest every time I leave the harbor.
Once I decided that I wanted to write stories for children, I remembered an eco-trip that I had taken on the Chesapeake where I had learned that after young osprey learn how to fly and can therefore fish for themselves, their parents abandon them to migrate to South America. The young then get bigger and stronger and have to find their way to South America on their own. When I had first heard it, I couldn’t stop thinking about how the parents must feel leaving their young – and how the young must feel being abandoned. And then I kept thinking about how the young could possibly find their way to South America on their own. I kept wondering and wondering – and that’s what writing is.
And your sailing gave you a connection to birds as well?
Sailing is like flying sideways. Of course, my AP Physics teacher once told me I was illiterate so I imagine any physicists who just read that sentence are going to agree with her. But to me it’s always been the same because both flying and sailing are about the wind. So I’ve always felt a kind of connection with birds.
Now I live across from a beach and love to go over and watch the shore birds. When there is enough of a breeze for there to be white caps, I can tell the birds are playing in the wind. The seagulls line up on the downwind end of the beach and take off into the wind and love to just float in the breeze. Then they bank a quick turn and ride super-fast downwind.
Eagles play as well, which I learned on a trip to Kripalu Retreat. To hone their hunting skills, they fly high and drop a feather and all of the eagles race each other to try to catch it. We know that mammals play in order to learn so it’s not surprising that birds do as well. I incorporated that game with the feather into two of my books – both Soar and Guthrie and Gretzky.
Guthrie and Gretzky is about geese. How did you decide to write about geese?
I’ve always loved geese as well. They were all over the Maryland eastern shore, where my grandparents lived. My grandfather was a hunter and head of Ducks Unlimited in Maryland and was very interested in preserving the environment. It might sound counterintuitive, but Ducks Unlimited was actually one of the early environmental organizations. So I grew up caring about ducks and geese and the environment. I was drawn in particular to geese since they were so loyal and such team players. They mate for life, which was a tad complicated for me to reconcile with the whole hunting thing! They fly in a V formation, which they do so some can draft and rest while others take the lead. I loved that they took care of each other in that way.
In Connecticut, our yard is regularly filled with geese. In fact, every year we celebrate Gosling Day, right around May 18, when the goslings first hop up onto our property from the Creek where they are hatched. When my kids were little, they would race around the house yelling “the goslings are here!”
And I have always loved to watch the geese. One goose keeps an eye out for predators while the others forage. It’s so sweet. Then one day, I saw one with a broken wing. All of the other geese left it every morning and didn’t return until the evening and it made me so sad that he was alone all day. So I made up a story about him and gave it a happy ending where the other geese figured out how to play with him even with a broken wing.
And you take these books into schools and nature centers.
There’s nothing I love more than sitting on the floor with the kids and telling them about how amazing these birds are. They are rivetted. One school in Baltimore – Bryn Mawr School – has a fantastic librarian who built a curriculum about geography and navigation and conservation around Soar. She read Soar over several weeks in library to the girls and then invited in representatives from the Maryland Conservation Corps to talk to the students about the challenges the birds face. They measured their own arm length against the wingspan of an osprey - and fell very short. I think the wingspan is about 6 feet. Then they played a migration game with them. That kind of learning that pulls together literature with sciences can have a real impact on kids because they care so much about the characters in the story.
And what is really nice about teaching about ospreys is that they have been a huge success story. Their numbers had dwindled in the 70s. But now, thanks to legislation and efforts by environmentalists, their numbers have come roaring back. Kids are scared about the health of the planet these days. And I love being able to go into a school and tell the kids a story of hope and show them that nature bounces back when we take care of it. It’s important that they hear a message of hope and believe that they can make a difference.
Next year, once my youngest is off to college, I hope to get around the country to more schools and share this message.
You published these books yourself.
Yes, I created my own publishing company – Southport Press. Initially my dream was to work with one of the New York City publishers. But I quickly discovered that editors don’t like chapter books with talking animals. I was stunned. But they think personification is not sophisticated. I remember one editor telling me that she could never be interested in a book with talking birds. But children love talking animals! Charlotte’s Web is at the top of almost every child’s list of favorite books.
I think children understand better than most adults that animals do communicate with one another and do have feelings. Now AI is about to show them that they are right!
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