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June 11, 2010
Teaching the story of water
Award-winning author visits Vancouver for an interactive reading.
OLGA LIVSHIN
In light of the recent oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and here, in the Burrard Inlet, Rochelle Strauss’ book One Well: The Story of Water on Earth is more relevant than ever. Although published in 2007, it is still on many a teacher’s and librarian’s “hot shelf.” Last month, the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library offered young students, most from Vancouver Talmud Torah, an opportunity to meet the author.
The interactive reading, enhanced by a PowerPoint presentation, was a success and, no surprise: Strauss is a seasoned presenter, compelling and fascinating. While engaging the children in serious conversation about water and its role on earth, she sprinkled her lecture with curious tidbits of information, intriguing statistics and gross factoids, so attractive to pre-teens. Often, her audacious, matter-of-fact statements (e.g. “water we drink today might have been a dinosaur’s pee millions of years ago”) elicited bursts of spontaneous laughter and exclamations of pretend disgust. Even their teachers’ presence couldn’t curb the children’s enthusiasm.
Strauss’ smart questions also proved that she knows her erudite audience very well, knows that they are capable of understanding such terms as aquifer, habitat or desalination. “My favorite age groups are grades 5 and 6,” she explained. “They are still young enough to have fun but old enough to talk about important issues.”
Strauss’ road to popular science writing for children started in her own childhood, when her favorite reading included books by French marine explorer Jacques Cousteau. After she received her master’s degree in environmental studies from York University in Toronto, she didn’t want to teach in a conventional way, employed by the school system. “I wanted to use creativity for my teaching,” she said, so she went to work for the Royal Ontario Museum, developing a gallery on biodiversity.
At the same time, a few ideas for children picture books sprouted in her mind. She talked to a publisher, who was not interested in her fictional ideas, but then the conversation turned to her work at the museum and her expertise in biodiversity, and the publisher was hooked. That conversation gave birth to her first book, followed three years later by One Well.
Both works combine the writer’s passion for nature and her drive to create children’s books. Both have become indispensable learning material for many Canadian schools, have been published in several countries and have received 19 awards between them.
“One Well took a lot of research,” Strauss confessed. “I must’ve pitched at least 10 ideas before I came up with the idea of ‘one well.’ I always try to weave a story, not just quote facts, and the water story could be told from so many different perspectives. But once I found the angle of ‘one well,’ I knew that was it.”
She asked several scientists to proofread her book and spent hours on the phone, talking to professionals of every variety. “I had to find out how much water a tanker can hold, or a swimming pool, so I called railway companies and pool manufacturers.” She wanted to describe the volumes of water in a way that gave her young readers a base for comparison. “A number of litres is an abstract quantity for the kids, but a hundred pop cans they can actually visualize.” So she measures volumes of water not only in litres but in railway tankers, bathtubs, buckets and pop cans.
Although Strauss’ adult work includes freelance writing and education consulting, she enjoys writing children’s books best. “I love presenting them to my readers,” she said. “[I] love watching the kids’ eyes light up, seeing them process ideas. In every class, I see two or three kids really inspired. I know they will do something, and it gives meaning to what I do.”
After one of her presentations, she received a letter from a Grade 8 student: “Dear Ms. Strauss. Thank you for coming to our school.... It was very exciting to learn how we can save water just by doing as little as collecting rainwater or cutting back on shower time. We have learned much and can’t wait to start our environmentally friendly lives.”
The Waldman library was able to bring Strauss to Vancouver from Toronto through a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. “It is so interesting for students to actually meet the authors. And so much fun!” said librarian Karen Corrin. For other events and readings, e-mail [email protected].
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She is available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].
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