Dr Charlotte Birkmanis is a marine biologist, shark scientist as well as an author! Exploring so much about the life of sharks and other marine animals, Charlotte has been the perfect person to work closely with co-author Josie Montano and illustrator Carla Hoffenberg to bring readers an inside look into their children's picture book Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping! It's the first of several planned books in the Little Shark Lulu Series, so keep your underwater camera poised for the next one!
Q:
What has been your favourite part of writing Little Shark
Lulu is Sleeping?
A:
I’ve really enjoyed working with such a great team. Josie and I have been
friends for a while, so I jumped at the chance to work with Josie and it was
fantastic to meet Carla. Together with David as book designer, it’s truly the ‘dream team’. Even
though the team was based on both sides of Australia, the Zoom chats were so
much fun. My favourite part would be when I shared some facts for the book
(such as the sperm whales sleeping vertically or the parrot fish sleeping in
mucous cocoons) and the others would say ‘wow, that is so cool’. That was
definitely a highlight.
Q: What
inspired you to create a children’s book?
A:
I was bitten by the writing bug early and I’ve been writing fiction and
non-fiction all my life; in fact, I won my first prize for writing in primary
school with a poem that ended up being published. I love sharing fun ‘fin’
facts about our oceans, and so it was a natural progression from presenting and
chatting about sharks and other marine critters to sharing what goes on at
night time in the ocean through a kids' book. I was inspired by the questions
that I would get from children (young and old) when chatting about marine
animals. Often the reply was ‘that can’t be real’. But sometimes, fact is
stranger than fiction!
I
love it when shark lovers join citizen science projects and share in the fun of
caring for our oceans. Get involved by sharing the fun facts behind Lulu’s
adventures with your friends and family. You can find more details about these
fascinating critters in the Teacher’s Notes that accompany Little Shark Lulu is
Sleeping on the website.
Q:
What is your favourite shark, and have you had the privilege of
swimming alongside them?
A:
I have swum with so many sharks in my career and no matter how many times I see
them, it still gives me a thrill. The first shark I tagged was a lemon shark,
so they hold a special place in my heart. I’ve done a lot of work on tiger
sharks as well, and they are stunning creatures – especially the baby sharks
with their stripes. I also love the open ocean sharks I study now, especially
mako sharks, or as I call them ‘the Ferrari of the ocean’. The last shark I
swam with was one of these open-ocean voyagers, a young silky shark.
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