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Of all the books we read, perhaps the most important are those we read and color in our early years. They remain in our hearts and minds forever. Susan Stockdale - an award-winning children's book writer and illustrator - has used her craft to introduce children to animals and the natural world. Our reporter visited the author in her studio in the Washington DC suburbs.
Ava Coggin is being homeschooled. She loves when her mother reads to her - especially Bring on the Birds It's an award winning picutre book about animals, written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale.
"What I love doing is showcasing animals in all their glory and all their diversity to kids and saying take a look at this, this is pretty incredible," said Susan Stockdale.
At her studio near Washington DC, Stockdale says she feels like an environmentalist, encouraging children to focus on the beauty of nature. She spends a lot of time on her books' drawings and its rhymes.
"Just the sound of the words: round fish, clown fish, fish that like to hide. Stripe fish, spite fish, fish that lip and glide. So that makes it fun," she said.
Stockdale says she's influenced by the lush vegetation and animal life in Florida, where she grew up. But it was one of her children who gave her the idea for her first book.
"This is my first book, Some Sleep Standing Up And this was inspired by a flamingo, which is in the book, that was standing on one leg when my children and I went to the zoo," she said.
Stockdale's work has earned a place on bookshelves at libraries and schools.
Kathy Isaacs chaired the American Library Association committee that honored Bring On The Birds last year.
"The text is rhyme but it is natural rhyme. It flows nicely and is rhythmic," said Isaacs. "It's notable because of its pictures, these acrylic paintings that she did which are quite accurate and specific but also shows the birds in their context."
Now, Stockdale's books also come as coloring books and puzzles. Ava's mother, Megan Coggin, has read most of them.
"Love the books," said Coggin. "I loved that the illustrations are accurate but very kid friendly."
Stockdale's next picture book will be called Stripes Of All Types. It's about animals around the world and their unique stripes.
"This is going to be the painting for scouting a reef," she said. "When I did the research for this, I had to make sure that all of these fishes would co-habit with one another."
With a careful approach to her work, Susan Stockdale continues to give children an exciting glimpse of the natural world that she clearly loves.
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