READ ABOUT SHARKS DURING SHARK WEEK and Beyond

IT'S SHARK WEEK!--the annual celebration of sharks on the Discovery Channel. What better time to read about sharks! You can find the e-books of my books WATCH OUT FOR SHARKS and GIANT SHARK on Amazon. You may also be able to find the hardback copies of the books in your library.

WATCH OUT FOR SHARKS: Based on a major international exhibit that traveled for five years in North America, this book depicts the fascinating world of sharks.

GIANT SHARK: MEGALODON, PREHISTORIC SUPER PREDATOR: For millions of years, a massive shark more than twice as huge as the modern-day great white shark cruised the depths of the ocean, attacking and devouring prey. Fossil remains reveal megalodon to have been more than fifty feet long, with razor-sharp teeth, each the size of a human hand, and jaws so large it could swallow prey larger than a common dolphin. Fluid, detailed watercolors accompany this clear and accessible account of one of the most incredible creatures to inhabit our world.

ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION: THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR Now Available as an E-Book

My book, ON THE BRING OF EXTINCTION: THE CALIFORNIACONDOR, illustrated with photographs by Michael Wallace, is now available as an e-book on Amazon. Originally published in 1993 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich as a hardback and paperback, it documents the work of the Los Angeles Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park to rescue the then nearly extinct condor and restore it in the wild.  

The paper editions of the book have long been out-of-print. I thank the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association Condor Fund for their cooperation in bringing the book back to life as an e-book. You can download it to your tablet, computer or phone to read it. The pages will appear exactly as they do in the print book. Note that it cannot be read on a Kindle e-reader. (It is a print replica file and does not have reflowable text.)

 

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL at ALA, Displayed in the Combined Book Exhibit

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL displayed at the ALA Combined Book Exhibit, June 2025

With many thanks to Colleen Paeff for stopping by the Combined Book Exhibit booth at the American Library Association annual conference in Philadelphia two weeks ago and taking a photo of my book SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was thrilled to see it so prominently displayed! I hope that some of the children's librarians attending the conference were able to see it and make the connection to my children's books. I know Colleen through two of my book discussion groups in LA and was glad she could be my eyes and ears at the conference. Colleen, a brilliant new nonfiction author, was at ALA signing her books The Big Stink and Firefly Song.

PTEROSAURS, Winged Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age: A Visit with Eudimorphodon in Bergamo, Italy

Caroline at the Eudimorphodon exhibit at the Natural History Museum, Bergamo, Italy.

In 2003, when I was researching my book PTEROSAURS: Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age, I visited the Natural History Museum in Bergamo, Italy, to learn more about Eudimorphodon, the pterosaur whose fossil skeleton had been found in the mountains nearby. (See my post of Feb 24, 2014 about that visit.) 

In early June this year I returned to Bergamo and the museum to get another look at Eudimorphodon and the rest of the exhibits.

The fossil skeleton of Eudomorphodon is remarkably complete.

What I especially like about the exhibit is the diorama depicting a model of Eudimorphodon in flight, demonstrating how it likely caught fish that were its main food. (Fossil scales and fish bones within the skeleton reveal Eudimorphodon’s diet.)

Going back to the museum was like meeting an old friend. PTEROSAURS: Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age was published in 2004 by Clarion Books. It is still available on Amazon as an e-book and as an audio book. Or, you can look for it in your library.

ESPRESSO MACHINE ETCHING FROM 1965: Memories from My Years at Grinnell College

Coffee House in the Forum, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa 1965.

In the spring of 1965 there was a new student center on the campus of Grinnell College--the Forum, a modern steel and glass structure designed by architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Among its features was a coffee shop built around a shiny Italian espresso machine—something that felt very modern and sophisticated in the middle of Iowa. On weekends, poetry readings and stand-up performances were held in the coffee house.

Espresso Machine, etching by Caroline Scheaffer Arnold, 1965

I was an art student at Grinnell and made an etching of the coffee shop for one of my classes. My friends Dottie and Dick Metzler have had a copy of that print ever since we were fellow students at Grinnell. None of us can remember whether they bought the print at the annual student art sale or if I gave it to them as a wedding present. In any case, they have recently donated it to the college as both a piece of art and a record of college history. When they first proposed to donate the print several years ago, they contacted me. Here’s what I wrote back:

Your picture of my print of the espresso machine in the old Forum coffee house brought back memories. I would be pleased to have you offer the print to Grinnell. The print is an etching that I made in a prints class taught by Richard Cervene. I do have a confession to make. The name of the espresso machine is not Campanelli. I made the sketch for the print in the coffee house (the setting and various objects are correct) but I didn't put the name of the machine in my sketch. Back in the art building later, when I was transferring my drawing to the etching plate I added the name but misremembered it. (I should have gone back to check.) So, as far as historical interest is concerned, everything is accurate except the name of the machine!

The plan is for my espresso machine etching to be hung in the new Alumni House in a room honoring Dottie Metzler, who passed away in 2020.

The espresso machine in one of its later locations.

Note: The coffee shop in the Forum is long gone and the building is no longer a student center. (It is used for offices.)  But the espresso machine lived on for many more years at other campus locations. And it will be remembered forever in photos and in my etching. 

ALA COMBINED BOOK EXHIBIT: Look for SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL!

This year the annual American Library Association convention is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, as usual, the exhibit hall will be filled with publishers' booths promoting all their latest books. You can find my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at Northeast Neighborhood House in the Combined Book Exhibit, Booth #1838, which features independently published books. Although my book is for adults, I think it will be of interest to teachers and librarians who know me as a children's book writer. The roots of my career can be found in my childhood.

Click HERE for a map of the exhibit floor and Booth #1838. You can find both the paperback and ebook of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in the Combined Book Exhibit booth. For an ebook preview of the first chapter of the book click on the link on the Combined Book Exhibit webpage for the book.

Book Description

A chronicle of children's book author Caroline Arnold's childhood living at a settlement house--from nursery school and after school clubs to summers at camp. A window into life at mid-century and Caroline's future as a writer and illustrator.

Book Review 

"The narrative presents a wealth of historical information as well as an insider's view of an uncommon subject matter." BookLife Prize review

TOOTLE—Learning to STAY ON THE TRACKS, NO MATTER WHAT! Memories of Childhood

TOOTLE was a favorite Golden Book of my childhood. Tootle is a baby train, who along with other young train engines goes to train school to learn skills such as pulling the dining car without spilling the soup, and, most importantly, to STAY ON THE TRACKS NO MATTER WHAT—even when playing in the meadow is more fun.

A week ago, I was at a street fair in Pennsylvania that featured vintage wares, and one of the booths had a box of old children’s books. And what should I see at the front of the pile—a copy of TOOTLE! Of course, I bought it.

Listening to TOOTLE being read by Fran Guzie at NENH, 1950.

TOOTLE brings back memories of my life at North East Neighborhood House in Minneapolis where I lived with my family until I was ten years old. From the windows of our apartment on the third floor we saw freight trains huffing and puffing along the tracks across the street on the other side of Bottineau Park. In my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950sat North East Neighborhood House I write about my brother Steve’s fascination with trains and our exciting train trip across the river to St. Paul.

Steve’s favorite book was TOOTLE. In the photo at the beginning of my chapter about the train trip you can see Steve and a neighbor child listening raptly to Fran Guzie (one of the NENH residents) reading TOOTLE. (I appear to be engrossed in another book and only half listening. Perhaps, I had heard the story of Tootle too many times before.)

In any case, I was delighted to find TOOTLE once again and its reminder of the importance of STAYING ON THE TRACKS NO MATTER WHAT.

TOOTLE is written by Gertrude Crampton and illustrated by Tibor Gergely. It was first published in 1946 by Western Publishing Company. The copy I found at the street fair was the 24^th printing in 1969. The book is still available on Amazon.