Welcome Catriona Hoy!
Today, Catriona is visiting my blog as part of The Little Dinosaur Blog Tour.
Thank you, Catriona. It's great to have you here. First of all can you please tell us a little about yourself.
Thank you, Robyn. It's great to be here. I'm a Melbourne based writer/teacher/story teller and mother. I write mainly for children, both books and magazine articles.
Catriona's latest release is The Little Dinosaur.
What is The Little Dinosaur about?
That’s a complex question! At its most basic, it’s a story
about fossil formation and how scientists recreate the past from a number of
different clues. This sounds pretty dry but it’s also the story of one
particular small dinosaur, a Leaellynasaur, which existed during the
Cretaceous. Back then, Australia was
joined to Antarctica and was much further south than it is today. Conditions
were quite different to our modern climate. We meet the little dinosaur, then see how
millions of years later her bones help us to piece together information about
the way she moved and behaved.
So…you kill your major character half way through. Is that a
problem?
That’s everyone’s first reaction, lol! I think I do it in a
tasteful and sensitive way. I had a couple of problems writing the book. I had
to make the reader care about the dinosaur but I had a lot of other ideas that
I needed to connect up. So sadly, the dinosaur passes and the world changes and
moves on. In a way, the little dinosaur does come back to life at the end and I
think it’s quite poignant.
How did you come up with the idea for The Little Dinosaur?
The story began as a series of articles which I was pitching
to Pearson’s Comet magazine, now sadly defunct. The theme of the issue was
‘Dinosaur Dig.’ I began by interviewing Lesley Kool from the Monash Science
Centre. She is a fossil "preparator’" and her job is to prepare fossil bones by
carefully examining and cleaning them. It’s a complex job and Lesley was so
enthusiastic I came away with an hour of recorded interview and reams of notes.
In the end, Comet took one of my other articles and not the one on Lesley. She
inspired me and taught me so much that I was determined to do
something to help inspire others. Lesley showed me a number of fossils and one
story in particular stuck in my mind. About a little dinosaur’s leg bone that
was deformed. This little dinosaur would have been crippled. However, she
survived and grew. This tells scientists that she had a herd, as a little
dinosaur on her own would have made a meal very quickly.
Is it important to you that this is an Australian dinosaur?
Yes, there is so much material out there on North American
and European dinosaurs. It appeals to me that our dinosaurs lived in quite
different climates and had different characteristics. While there are other
books on Australian dinosaurs, I wanted to make mine accessible to children, so I
decided on a fictional picture book. Also, I’m not an expert so I didn’t want to
attempt to write something I'm not qualified for.
What did you enjoy most about the writing process for this
book?
The fact that I was learning something new. The research
process was quite involved and I met and spoke to a number of interesting and
passionate professionals. I took my children down to the Dinosaur Dreaming site
at Inverloch and wearing two hats at once, that of teacher and writer, I took
my year 9 class there for an excursion. I’d have to also say that working with
Andrew Plant again was great.
Thanks, Catriona. I appreciate you answering my questions, and all the best with The Little Dinosaur.
Thank you, Robyn, for participating in my blog tour. It's great to visit your blog. Thanks for reading, everyone.
You can find out more about Catriona by visiting her website: http://www.catrionahoy.com.au/
The Little Dinosaur
Catriona Hoy & Andrew Plant
In a time before Australia existed, a little
dinosaur with big eyes roamed the Antarctic forests, nibbling on
cycads and ginkgoes. One day the little dinosaur fell and hurt her
leg. She struggled to keep up with her herd. Time passed and the world
changed, but the discovery of the little dinosaur's leg bone millions
of years later, meant her life would not be forgotten.
The Little Dinosaur combines dramatic narrative with scientific fact to tell a fascinating, poignant story.
By the team that created the 2011 CBCA Notable Book, Puggle.
ISBN 978 1921504 29 7
250 x 240 mm
HB 32 pp $24.95
Full colour
The Little Dinosaur Blog Tour Dates
Wednesday June 6, 2012
Monash Science
Centre
Sydney Saturday 30th June, 2012
SCBWI conference
Tasmania
Saturday 14th July, 2012
