Jennifer Ward on Teaching and Writing

From Teaching to Writing

On Teaching and Writing

by Jennifer Ward

I loved books as a child. I loved the solitary immersion with them and the feeling of transcending time and space with each story or illustration. With a book, it felt as if the whole world stopped and all that existed was that moment with that book. Having four sisters, I took claim on my favorites – writing my name repeatedly on covers, on the inside of covers, and even posing as my parents and inscribing them to myself: “To Jenny, for being such a nice girl. Love, Mommy and Daddy”. I would even play “library” and check my personal books out to myself.

Even with all my book love, I’m not sure any of my teachers in grade school envisioned that I would become an author one day. Some kids are born readers and writers and pick up the needed skills quickly. I wasn’t one of those students. My first-grade report card, which I still have, reads, ‘Needs help with alphabet ID and letter sounds/Needs extra help at home’.  My second-grade report card is marked, “Needs Improvement”. I definitely was below the reading and writing skill level of my classmates in grade school – to my credit, I never attended Kindergarten and was a year younger than most of my classmates… I may not have been a standout reader or writer, but I did have books of my own that I could read and enjoy, even if all I could read were the illustrations. Because of picture books, I was inspired to practice writing and illustrating my own stories when I was young. Books sparked my creativity, and with that, I started getting a lot of writing practice. My books were far from perfect, but my parents loved them and saved them all – even the one that served as a coffee coaster for someone!

As a teacher, I wanted my students to have as many experiences with books as they could. A section of my classroom always housed a cozy, inviting space where students could enjoy them. With every lesson plan, I integrated picture books that shared the concepts and skills we were exploring. Picture books served as a springboard for discovery, providing a foundation for inquiry about the world around us.  They made us curious and helped students form questions. Today, as an author, I am always forming questions about my topic. It’s part of my writing process. Books may also serve as mentor texts to guide with writing. They pack a lot of power!
 
As a teacher, I met my very first author when Byrd Baylor agreed to visit our school. I was so excited!  Byrd’s visit made me see the real possibility of creating children’s books someday.  Not long after, a mentor text gave me an idea for a story. I wrote my first manuscript, researched how to get a children’s book published, submitted my story to a publisher and was offered my first book contract. Talk about beginner’s luck! That was in 1996 and that book is still in print today.

Today, as a fulltime author, I still channel my inner teacher when writing.  I am surrounded by children’s books, and just as teachers create word walls in their classrooms for students to use for reference when writing, I create a word bank about a topic when I write a book. Then, I piece together my word choices to introduce scientific concepts in a fun way, while also making the concepts relatable and wondrous. That’s my end goal, anyway! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t!
 
In my latest book, Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals Snooze, illustrated by Robin Page (Simon & Schuster/ Beach Lane Books, 2024), readers discover that something as basic as sleep is an amazing phenomenon in the wild. How does a whale, for example, both sleep and swim so it may reach the water’s surface when it needs to breathe?  As a child, this is the exact type of book I would have read, even if I couldn’t read the text, thanks to Robin’s remarkable and detailed illustrations. I can’t believe this is my 29^th published book!  I’ve come a long way since the coffee coaster book – back where it all started – all because of a book.