100 Bugs!

I was speaking with my teaching colleague, Teresa Zuckerman. She said, "In order for kids to be successful in math, they have to know the combinations of ten." Immediately I thought of all the math picture books that I knew of. Not one of them covered the combinations of ten. I believed I could write one, and in so doing, would enrich the mathematics education of every child who read the book. By Kate Narita (author)

I've always loved dragonflies. Not only does 100 BUGS feature dragonflies, it also features damselflies. One of my favorite summertime activities is to watch dragonflies and damselflies zip and dart around my yard. Now, I can see them zip and dart in the wintertime, too. All I have to do is open the book. By Kate Narita (author)

The hardest part was writing the scientific backmatter for the ten insects and the ten plants in a month's time. When the acquiring editor spoke with me she said that she knew I had a family and that I worked a full time job, but that they wanted the scientific backmatter in a month. So, every day I researched for two-to-three hours before school and two-to-three hours after school. It was intense, but I learned so many riveting facts about every insect in the book. I never knew that in 1999 ladybugs traveled to space or that three female Chilean high school students had proposed that project to NASA. I also didn't know the three female fifth graders in Colorado had proposed that NASA take ladybugs back into space in 2015. Unfortunately, the 2015 experiment blew up and the ladybugs didn't make it. But who knows? Maybe someday you'll write a NASA proposal and ladybugs will once again become astronauts! By Kate Narita (author)

The whole process was magical. The text came to me word-for-word as I drove home from writing group. It was the same day that Teresa Zuckerman mentioned the importance of the combinations of ten. When I showed my husband the text he said, "This is the one." When I brought the first version of the manuscript to my critique group they said, "This is the one." When I attended Rutgers One-On-One-Plus-Conference and an editor said that she loved publishing books by teachers and librarians I said, "This is the one." It turns out we were all right! By Kate Narita (author)

I enjoyed every single part of the proces, but the part that brought me the most joy was collaborating with so many people to make 100 BUGS! the best book it could possibly be. Not only did the editor do an amazing job choosing Suzanne Kaufman to illustrate the book, the editor also had a vision that brought the story full circle. Suzanne and I spoke a couple of times to make sure that the species we chose best highlighted Suzanne's gorgeous art. My teaching colleagues helped me figure out the best layout for the array page of 100 bugs at the back of the book. Creating the trailer was also a collaborative process. My students and our book buddies agreed to act in the book trailer, my younger son helped me arrange the art for the book trailer and my older son played the viola music for the book trailer. You can view the trailer here http://www.katenarita.com/100-bugs.html Meanwhile, my husband stood by me every step of the way. By Kate Narita (author)