Texas Two-Step: Jellyfish and Bats. Sy’s visit to the fabulous Texas Book Festival brought a reunion with Spineless author Juli Berwald – her book is about jellyfish – and gave Sy a chance to meet native bats at the Austin Bat Refuge with her new friends, the refuge’s founders, Dianne Odegard and Lee MacKenzie. (But no actual country/western dancing, doing the Texas Two-Step.)
Sy was at the Nature Literature Festival in Barcelona in October where she met three of these Iberian wild boars. (We don’t know if these boars are publishers, editors, or writers.) They were grunting happily and wagging their tails as they dug up grass with their flexible nose disks. “Must have been a blessing from Christopher Hogwood,” says Sy. Her Spanish publisher flew her to Spain to celebrate the new Spanish translation of Spell of the Tiger.
Bestseller. How to be a Good Creature debuts at #9 on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction list for October 14.
People magazine has listed How to Be A Good Creature as one of The Best New Books of the year.
Inky’s Amazing Escape is a Powell’s Books Holiday Pick for 2018. “It’s perfect for curious kids and budding naturalists,” says Powell’s, the renowned Portland, Oregon, bookstore.

Pulpos to the People! The Spanish edition of Soul of an Octopus has arrived, and flowers from Sy’s editor at Houghton Mifflin, the amazing Kate O’Sullivan.
How to be a Good Creature is #10 on New York Times Monthly Bestseller list for science books.