When I was a kid, I loved project books - oh, the possibilities! Well, here's a project book for your budding scientist or for kids on a rainy day. It's called CANDY EXPERIMENTS, written by Loralee Leavitt (Andrews McMeel Publishing). Did you know that some candy is covered in a glaze of shellac, wax, vegetable oil, or starch? There's an experiment to make them shed their skins. Or did you know that you can make a marshmallow sink in water? Yup.
Most of the experiments are simple enough for kids to do on their own, while a few require adult supervision. Either way, I can't imagine a more interesting and fun way to play with your food!
Today I'm interviewing Loralee about her book...
Q. Loralee, congratulations on the release of CANDY EXPERIMENTS! What inspired this fun book?
A. Several years ago, my four-year-old daughter asked if she could put some Nerds in water. At first I was reluctant, because it sounded messy and wasteful, but I let her try it. A few days later, she wanted to do it again, and I realized: she was ready to dissolve all of her Halloween candy! We covered the table with bowls of water and went to town. The candy was completely gone within days, and we started noticing crazy things, like the way M&M m's float in water, or wet lollipop sticks unroll.
After that, we were on a roll. I drew on my own science background to create demonstrations, asked experts for other ideas, and watched what happened when the children just played around. We've gone through a lot of candy!
Q. CANDY EXPERIMENTS is a little outside my familiar genre of picture books. Who is the target market and what section will readers find it in their local bookstore?
A. I wrote CANDY EXPERIMENTS for a target audience of children ages 7-10. Kids of that age should be able to do the experiments (with parental help, of course) and also understand the science explanations. But it has a broader reach than that. Even toddlers love trying candy experiments, although they don't always understand the science, and older children love the fun tricks, like soaking gummi worms in water.
Parents also appreciate CANDY EXPERIMENTS. With so many concerns these days about sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, and obesity, parents love having an alternate way to use candy. I've heard from parents of diabetics and dye-free kids who were excited to finally enjoy Halloween, and families all over American do candy experiments after Halloween to go through the excess trick-or-treat candy.
Readers should be able to find CANDY EXPERIMENTS in the children's science section of their local bookstore.
Q. Did you and your family perform all of these candy experiments? Surely you have some stories to tell!?
A. We did perform all of these candy experiments, and many more. Many of our experiments came from accidental discoveries. When you put every kind of candy in water, or heat them, or smash them, you see crazy things.
A lot of these experiments come directly from the way my children played with candy. For instance, my five-year-old son and his friend started sticking candy together to see if they could make it sink, which led to my Marshmallow Submarine experiment. I started doing the Sour Bubble Acid Test by dissolving sour candy in water and adding baking soda to make bubbles, but it got even better when a six-year-old boy dumped Pixy Stix into a bowl of baking soda water, making bubbling trails of candy color.
Q. Have any of the experiments led to - *ahem* - a sugar rush?
A. When we do candy experiments, I tell my children the candy isn't for eating, it's for experiments. Usually they start thinking of it as a toy instead of a treat, and happily destroy it all. When we're done, I throw the candy away. Technically it's still edible, but it's usually melted, smashed, dissolved, or full of baking soda, and doesn't look very appetizing anymore.
Q. Is this your first book? What was your path to publication?
A. This is my first trade book, but I've been writing for several years. I started out by writing magazine articles, first for local parenting publications, and later for children's magazines. Since then, I've written about candy experiments, gold panning, children doing amazing charity work, travel, saving money, and other topics for magazines including Cricket, Highlights, Mothering, and Scouting.
Currently I'm working on an ebook about family car trips, because every time we take our kids on a long drive other parents ask us how we survive. I also have some novels on the back burner, and am collecting more candy science ideas.
Good luck Loralee and thanks for stopping by!
To learn more, visit the Candy Experiments website at www.candyexperiments.com.
GIVEAWAY:
One lucky commenter will win a signed/dedicated copy of CANDY EXPERIMENTS. Must live in the continental US to win. Review copy provided by the publisher, winning copy provided by the author.
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Michelle: I didn’t specifically have boys or girls in mind when I wrote this story, although I can see how Mike and his cool car (and the monster trucks!) might especially appeal to some boy readers. Most of the time when I write, and certainly when I’m working on a first draft, I’m thinking more about the story and the characters than the audience, and so I just end up writing about what I think is fun or funny or exciting or moving, and hope readers will be drawn to the same things that I like about the story myself.
Scott: Big Mean Mike is a great book to talk about bullies and bullying in a FUNNY way as well. Why funny? Well you've got this big tough guy Mike who gets all riled up at these teeny little silent bunnies who stand up to him because they either see he could be a good friend—or because they're mad as March hares. Its unexpected—and that makes for some very funny scenes. Teachers are skilled in using picture books in the classroom; I've heard that a number of them have used Mike in this way. This book is also an excellent story about sticking up for yourself—and for your friends. Oh no! Now I've got a fuzzy bunny turning on my TV watching Phineas and Ferb. Excuse me for a sec.
Q. Hi Will, We're thrilled you'll be speaking at our 2013 SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrators' Day! Your topic is "Embracing Technology and Change." Can you give us a quick glimpse into your background with this quickly changing industry?
Q. What is your illustration medium?
Q. Light plays such a strong role in your work. How do you approach light in your work?
Q. How did you first break into children's books? (I love sharing path to publication stories.)
A. Puss in Boots and Shoemaker were my first books and done in collage because that is how I thought children’s books were illustrated. I was just following my two hero’s Eric Carle and Lio Lionni. I try not to spend too much time on an illustration. I try not to “noodle” it too much—I do not like when illustrations are overworked. I always say “Do it, then turn the page” My latest books are drawn with pen and ink. Drawing is my passion. I draw everyday and carry a sketchbook everywhere. I mostly draw with fountain pens and wanted these books to be about line and marks. My most recent work “CITY DRAGON” out from Candlewick 2014 was sketched as small 2 inch by 4 inch thumbnails and then I went right to the finished ink drawings with out full size pencils. I drew directly with fountain pen for the finished art, with out penciling it first. These are large very complicated city scenes—I LOVED every minute of it!! This was very freeing and kept the artwork very fresh.
Q. My readers love hearing the break-in stories. How did you first get into creating children's books? What was your path to publication?
When I decided to pursue children's books, which was in 2003 or so, I was really starting over from scratch. I have an English degree but I hoped to illustrate as well as write, so one of the first things I did was sign up for some art classes to get a bit of technique under my belt. I really went about the whole thing in first gear: creeping along, drawing when I wanted to, working an unrelated part-time job and doing life stuff like renovating a house and starting a family. In 2006, I met Steve Malk, of Writers House. A former colleague of Steve's kept offering to introduce us and I kept putting him off, because I had only a smattering of personal work to show. Thank goodness my friend introduced us anyway, because Steve loved my work and gave me tons of valuable advice and encouragement. I wish I could say that lit a fire under me, but it only kicked me into second gear.
