That pig is on the move again. Christopher Hogwood has returned to the New York Times bestseller list. On February 22, look for The Good, Good Pig on the E-Book Nonfiction list at number 12, and on the Combined Nonfiction list at number 19.

On the radio. Sy answers a myriad of questions about animals – cats that comfort the dying, rent-a-pets, dogs left at home, a pit of 18,000 snakes, her Border Collie Sally, and her flock of hens. Listen to Boston Public Radio on WGBH at the 2:00:20 mark.

And more radio. On Something Wild, Sy recalls how she first heard the “call of the wild” as a toddler, (before age 2) at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany. “Somehow I got into the exhibit with the hippo,” she recalled. “Hippos bite you in half; they’re very dangerous animals.” Small as she was, especially next to the hippo, she didn’t get nervous. More importantly she didn’t start running around as little children can do when they panic. And she has a simple explanation for why she didn’t. “I’ve always just felt much more at home with animals than people.” Listen to this short NHPR show here.

Chasing Cheetahs is an ALA Notable Book for 2015. Each year the American Library Association selects the “best of the best in children’s books” and we are happy to say that this year that includes Chasing Cheetahs.

The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Children’s Nonfiction has chosen Chasing Cheetahs as a Recommended Book for 2015. “The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award was established in 1989 for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children. The name Orbis Pictus, commemorates the work of Johannes Amos Comenius, Orbis Pictus—The World in Pictures (1657), considered to be the first book actually planned for children.”

Sy is writing a new weekly column about animals for The Boston Globe. She shares the writing of Tamed/Untamed with her good friend Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs. They will alternate every week. On the last week of the month, they’ll try to answer your questions about animals. Contact them: syandlizletters@gmail.com Sy’s first column — Psychological effects of pets are profound – can be read here.

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Sy started off the year with a Skype visit with eleven 4th grade classes at PS 14 in Queens. The session was organized by teacher and journalist Markos Papadatos–who wore his tarantula tie in honor of the occasion.

A highlight of our virtual visit was a letter written by one student to the French Government pleading for protection for the tarantulas, who are frequently killed to be encased in Lucite as souvenirs. Tarantulas are important because their venom can yield important drugs. But also, noted the student, if these beautiful spiders are killed, “the rain forest will feel lonely and it will not be exciting.” Here is the letter:

Dear French Government,

Please stop killing tarantulas. You need to protect them from being killed. People should not kill them for souvenirs because they are so important to us.

One reason why you should protect tarantulas is they save our lives because their venom stop us from having heart attacks. This can help lots of people.

Also they make an important part of the rainforest. If they are killed the rain forest will feel lonely and it will not be exciting.

Another reason why you should not kill tarantulas is because people like to study them. If people study them they will continue to make amazing discoveries.

After reading the Tarantula Scientist, this is why you need to make laws to protect the tarantulas from being killed.

Sincerely,

Dayabara, Class 4-314

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An international honor for Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Temple Grandin has been selected for the IBBY Documentation Centre for Young People with Disabilities. The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland which represents a network of people from all over the world who are dedicated to bringing books and children together.

Chasing Cheetahs is a finalist for a 2014 Cybils Awards. The Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Awards “aims to recognize the children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and popular appeal.” The nomination for Cheetahs says: “This is a perfect blend of inspiration and science, encouraging kids to dig deeper and think about a popular topic. A great book for strong middle-grade readers to enjoy on their own or to read together as a family or class.”

Sy was on Here & Now to talk about sharks and our fear of them. About her first dive she says: “Although my heart was pounding when I went down in the cage — when I actually saw the sharks, instead of feeling at all frightened I was engulfed with this sense of tranquility.” Listen to the short interview here.

Sy has more to say about sharks and our fears in a story she wrote for the online journal Aeon: “Danger girl —What I learned about fear, sex, desire and dread from the peculiar pleasures of diving with great white sharks.” Read it here.

Dobra świnka, dobra’! That’s Good Good Pig in Polish. In 2015 The Good Good Pig will be published in Poland. Christopher Hogwood has already ventured overseas in Dutch, British, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese editions. He always enjoyed (unauthorized) tours around the neighborhood. Now that pig is an international traveler.

Cheetahs take Chicago. The Chicago Public Library has chosen Chasing Cheetahs as one of the Best Informational Books for Older Readers of 2014.

Chasing Cheetahs has been chosen by Smart Books for Smart Kids as one of the Best Science Books for Children in 2014:

“Chasing Cheetahs educates readers in a most fascinating way about the importance of the survival of cheetahs as a species; as predators they play an important role in the circle of life, controlling populations of antelope. The photographs in Chasing Cheetahs by Nic Bishop are outstanding, offering us a glorious glimpse into Namibia’s cheetah habitat; it’s the next best thing to being there.

“The lessons to be learned about the way cheetahs live and are being threatened are thought provoking. If this one species of wild animals is at risk at the hand of humans then we must ask what other animals do we adversely affect? What are the consequences? How can we change this? Reading about Dr. Laurie Marker and her journey to save cheetahs is priceless. What children will take away from this book is that one person with great passion (and a good education) can accomplish goals that – while at first may seem impossible – are not only attainable, but can make a huge and lasting difference in this world.” You can read more here.

Sy is immensely enjoying the big piles of letters and drawings from students at West Clay Elementary in Carmel, Indiana, with whom she recently visited, and Metawee Community School in West Pawlett, Vt., with whom she scyped last week. In our scype session, we focused on coral reef animals. This drawing, by the talented Harlow Rosemary Quail, depicts the walking or flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi), an Indo-Pacific relative of the octopus, displaying a threatening pattern of bright colors.

Chasing Cheetahs has been selected as one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2015. This list is a cooperative project of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children’s Book Council.

Five wonderful elementary schools in Carmel Indiana rolled out the red carpet for Sy last week, where she shared stories and images of her work, signed and personalized hundreds of books, and answered the kids’ thoughtful and perceptive questions. Thanks to the fantastic school librarians, the kids were extremely well-prepared; they had been reading Sy’s work, watching videos, learning about animals and creating artwork for weeks in advance of her arrival.

Thank you to Cherry Tree, College Wood, Mohawk Trails, Smoky Row and West Clay Elementary Schools!

Here’s some photos and artwork from that unforgettable visit:

Sy’s new friend, Lauren, started a wildlife journal like Sy’s after having lunch with her!

Sy’s forthcoming book for young people, The Octopus Scientists, photographed by Keith Ellenbogen, has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection. JLG is a collection development and review service that schools and libraries have relied upon for 85 years, suggesting upcoming books with particular promise. The Octopus Scientists is the true story of an expedition to study wild Pacific Day Octopuses in french Polynesia with a team of octopus experts–including an octopus psychologist! The book will be published in May by Houghton Mifflin.

The end of September finds Sy in a cage underwater with Great White Sharks. This summer she’s worked off Cape Cod from a boat with shark researcher Greg Skomal and his team. But to get really up close and personal, she’s getting in the water with these beautiful animals, traveling with photographer Keith Ellenbogen to the chrystal-clear waters off Guadeloupe, Mexico. She hopes to get views like these!

The Regret of Rats, the Grief of Wolves: Animals Do Have Emotions, But What Should We Call Them? Sy talks with her friend and fellow “animalist” Vicki Croke for The Wild Life which runs on WBUR’s Here and Now. Read the interview here. Or listen here.

Sy’s short essay, “Tarantula Heaven,” is part of the fifth installment in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading. The True Stories anthology features “ten stories that are 100% amazing, 100% adventurous, 100% unbelievable—and 100% true. A star-studded group of award-winning nonfiction authors and journalists provides something for every reader, all aligned with the Common Core State Standards.”

With her friends, Massachusetts shark biologist Greg Skomal and photographer Keith Ellenbogen, Sy will be on the Cape in early July chasing great white sharks for her next book, The Great White Shark Scientist. Sy’s planning to stay on the boat this time, but come September, she’ll be diving with them — in a cage — off Guadeloupe. (Photo from clker.com, public domain clip art.)

Congratulations to Pati Medici. For her long-running tapir conservation project, Pati has been chosen as one of 20 new TED Fellows for 2014. The Tapir Scientist is all about Pati’s work in Brazil protect the threatened lowland tapir – the largest terrestrial mammal in South America.

The Tapir Scientist has been selected by Bank Street College of Education as one of The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2014.

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot, has been nominated for a 2015 Grand Canyon Reader Award.

The Grand Canyon Reader Award is chosen by children. Approximately 45,000 Arizona students vote each year. Kakpo Rescue, along with nine other nonfiction books, will be read by teachers, librarians, and students all over Arizona and voted upon by April 1, 2015.

As “The Animalist”, former Boston Globe reporter Vicki Croke brings us news about the natural world. Vicki and Sy are kindred spirits, so it was a great pleasure to have Vicki visit.

Vicki asked Sy: Do you feel as though you’ve learned, not just about an animal’s natural history, but lessons about life for yourself?

Sy answered: How to be a good creature. How do you be compassionate?… I think that animals teach compassion better than anything else and compassion doesn’t necessarily just mean a little mouse with a sore foot and you try to fix it. It means getting yourself inside the mind and heart of someone else. Seeing someone’s soul, looking for their truth. Animals teach you all of that and that’s how you get compassion and heart.” Watch a video of the interview here.

Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cats has been chosen as A Junior Library Guild Selection for Spring 2014. The Junior Library Guild’s honor is unique because it is awarded in advance of the publication date. Chasing Cheetahs will be published this April.

Booklist has chosen The Tapir Scientist as one of its Top Ten Books on Sustainability for Youth: 2014.

How Thinking in Pictures Brought Temple Grandin Success. The fourth, fifth and sixth graders who are part of Wolcott Elementary School’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Club have been reading Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Many of the students wanted to know more about Temple Grandin’s work with animals. Others were interested in how Sy researched and wrote her books.

Sy answered their questions on Vermont Public Radio. You can listen or read a transcript of the short interview here.

Cheetahs are coming. Sy’s newest book in the acclaimed Scientists in the Field series will be published this April. Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cat features Nic Bishop’s award-winning photography. Read about the making of Chasing Cheetahs here.

Temple Grandin has won a 2014 Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Award Honor. The Sugarman Award is given biennially by the Cleveland Public Library to honor excellence in the field of biography for children. Endowed by the Joan G. Sugarman family, the Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Award was established in 1998.

Q. What came first, the fascination with and love of nature or the desire to write? When did the two intersect?

A. I loved animals and plants long before I could read or write. I am told that before I was two, I toddled inside the hippo pen at the Frankfurt zoo—and the massive hippos were apparently quite welcoming and did not (obviously) bite me in half, as they are prone to do to humans in similar circumstances in the wild.

From an interview with Sy in The Penmen Review, Southern New Hampshire University Online Journal for Creative Writers. Read more of the interview here.