WHEN MAMMOTHS WALKED THE EARTH: Meeting Wooly Mammoths in the Natural Science Museum, Bergamo, Italy

Wooly Mammoth models at the Natural Science Museum, Bergamo, Italy.

In 2002, my book WHEN MAMMOTHS WALKED THE EARTH was published by Clarion Books. It covered the worldwide occurrence of mammoths, from the wooly mammoths that wandered much of the northern hemisphere during the last Ice Age to the huge Columbian Mammoths, like those whose skeletons are displayed at the George C. Page Museum in Los Angeles, where I live. On my recent trip to Italy, I visited the Natural Science Museum in Bergamo, where I encountered models of a wooly mammoth mother and her calf. It was like meeting old friends. As I looked out into the foothills of the Alps behind Bergamo, I could image herds of mammoths just like these models that wandered Italian valleys as prehistoric people began to make their homes here.

The hardback edition of WHEN MAMMOTHS WALKED THE EARTH is out of print, but you can find it as an ebook on Amazon. Or you can look for the print book in your library!

Growing to weights of 10 tons and distinguished by enormous curling tusks, mammoths were the largest land animals of the Ice Age. In this meticulously researched, clear, and accessible book, award-winning nonfiction author Caroline Arnold describes the natural history of mammoths, highlighting their physical features and adaptation to the environment. Laurie Caple’s stunning, scientifically accurate watercolors complement the text and provide an intriguing look at these huge creatures.(Amazon)

 

THE WRITING PROCESS: Six Questions Exercise

When Mammoths Walked the Earth is available as an e-book on Amazon

I recently cleaned out my files and found various materials that I had used when teaching my class in writing for children in the UCLA Writer’s Program. Here is a writing exercise called “Six Questions.”

When I started researching my book When Mammoths Walked the Earth (Clarion, 2002) I ended up with a jumble of facts about these huge prehistoric animals that lived in the Ice Age. My job in writing the book was to line up the facts so they made sense. So I asked myself a few questions: Who were the mammoths? What did they look like? Where and when did they live? Why were they unique? How do we know about them?
Asking questions is a technique I use that helps me focus on what my book is about and this helps me figure out how to organize the information. The six basic questions are who, what, where, when, why and how. Try answering the following questions about your subject. Your answers will help you shape your story. (Although my focus is on writing nonfiction, this exercise works for fiction too.)

Who is your book about? Who or what is the main subject or character of your story?
What does your subject look like? What is unique or special about your subject’s appearance?
Where does the main character live? Or, where does the story take place? In other words, what is the setting of your story.
When does the story happen? That is, what is the time frame?
How does the main subject behave? How is it adapted to its particular way of life? Or, what is the main action of the story?
Why should we be interested in your subject? What makes it compelling?

Note: When Mammoths Walked the Earth is out of print but available as a Kindle book on Amazon.

DINOSAURS WITH FEATHERS and WHEN MAMMOTHS WALKED THE EARTH Now at StarWalk Kids

Two of my books, DINOSAURS WITH FEATHERS and WHEN MAMMOTHS WALKED THE EARTH are now available as e-books at StarWalk Kids. Both of these books are illustrated with beautiful art by Laurie Caple.  I am delighted to have these out-of-print books available again!

Dinosaurs With Feathers: The Ancestors of Modern Birds (Originally published by Clarion, 2001)

Recent fossil discoveries of dinosaurs with feathers add to a growing body of evidence that one branch of the dinosaur family tree developed into birds. Learn about the latest scientific discoveries and what they tell us about the ancestry of birds.

When Mammoths Walked the Earth (Originally published by Clarion,2002)

During the Ice Age, woolly mammoths roamed the frozen lands to the north, while the huge Colombian mammoths lived in warmer parts of North America. Find out how scientists are learning more about these extinct relatives of elephants from fossil remains found in places ranging from sinkholes and tar pits to frozen tundra and the bottom of the sea.