A Trip for Wolfsnail

Wolfsnail eating

Today I leave for Ocean City, Maryland, to participate in the Maryland Library Association‘s annual conference. On Thursday, I will accept the Maryland Blue Crab Young Readers Award for Beginning Nonfiction for Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator. In honor of the award, I dug up some old photographs of wolfsnails. They are ones that didn’t make it into the book, but were part of its development. The above photo is a good shot of the Wolfsnail’s radula, the toothy tongue.

One of the best things about Wolfsnail has been that parents, librarians, and teachers are using it in the exactly the way I hoped.

In her recent blog post recommending Wolfsnail for new readers, Jennifer Wharton, a librarian at Jean Little Library wrote: “The simple text tells in riveting detail the progress of a wolfsnail as it stalks its prey. The reader learns many details about these giant snails and how they feed. The vocabulary level is simple enough for most intermediate readers to read on their own. Beginning readers will need some help with the longer words. I encourage adults to listen to the child’s reading – and help with the longer vocabulary words, then spend some time reading aloud the extended information about wolfsnails at the back of the book, or visit the Campbells’ website and talk about their amazing photography! The simple text also makes an excellent read-aloud for elementary students.”

A well-camouflaged wolfsnail

I often say Wolfsnail is the book I wish I’d found in the library when Nathan found the wolfsnails. But, really, I am so glad that book wasn’t there.