Janice vancleave biography

Q and A about Janice VanCleave 1. Where were you born and where did you increase up? I was born in Houston, Texas and grew up there. Our home was about 10 miles from downtown and at the time was very unpopulated. There were dirt roads and lots of trees.

I lived in a forest and there were many animals, including turtles.

Janice VanCleave is everybody’s favorite science teacher! With sales of more than 2 million copies, her books show just how fun and exciting science can be. They’re brimming with cool projects and experiments that use inexpensive household materials—and assist turn ordinary young people into enthusiastic junior scientists.

Once I collected turtles and kept them in a large tub. The turtles made their great run away the day I decided they needed exercise. Knowing that turtles move very slowly, I placed the turtles in the grass and expected them to only wander a short distance.

But, when I returned the turtles were no where to be found. Since I had written names on their backs with red fingernail polish, I periodically saw the turtles, but decided they were happier in the wild.

I have been organizing my document files—deleting duplicate material, etc. I keep finding stuff that I wrote and never used, like the following. I write science experiment books for kids, At present I possess 52 published book for kids in Kinder through high college. My books are translated into 15 different languages and own more than 2 million own been sold.

Since turtles own a very small average velocity, it wasn’t the rate of motion that allowed them to escape. Instead, it was that I got interested in something else and lost track of time. With enough elapse age the displacement of even sluggish moving turtles was great enough for them to escape.

2. How did your parents motivate you? Neither of my parents nor any close adult family member finished high school and most had not been educated past junior high. But all were very supportive when I decided to attend college. Actually, I disliked school and asked my dad if I could quit high school and be a cosmetologist like my mom.

My sweet dad was not very strict with me. His answer, which was in a tone that made me remain up and pay attention, was “You may choose any profession that you wish, but YOU WILL FIRST finish high institution if I have to move to class with you every day!” Yikes!

That was noisy, clear, and shocking. I did graduate from high school, but in less time than most. Since I was not deeply interested in much of anything at school it wasn’t fun to be there. So I attended summer classes in order to graduate early.

I was 15 when I entered my senior year and was 16 the following year when I entered college. I loved college. I enjoyed going to one to three classes a day, then having free time. I felt so grown up and was very attentive to my studies.

I’d been a volunteer worker at a local hospital and had plans to be a medical lab technician. Soon after entering college I married and changed my major to training. It was a good preference, and I taught science for 27 years. As a science teacher, I was never satisfied with just doing the lessons in the textbook.

I was always researching in an strive to make my lessons entertaining with maybe even a stroke of magic. Bizarre was also ok as long as it led to kids understanding the science behind it. Teaching turned out to be research for my present day writing career.

While my parents loved to read, neither was particularly interested in science. My dad's principal occupation was truck driving, but he was also an entrepreneur. Some of his business adventures included selling cars or any bargain items he happened across.

As a teen, I establish it fun to sell cars but was not very cheerful about sitting on the corner selling the truckload of peaches he got a great deal on. Neither my dad nor I recognized this as basic hands-on salesmanship training. We certainly did not relate it to physics, but many daily activities are physic related.

While we may not have recognized it as a fundamental concept of one-dimensional motion, placing the bushels of peaches as close as possible to the display table was an act of reducing our displacement while transporting the peaches.

Selling cars was much more fun because I got to drive them. Acceleration was definitely a term that I understood, but more in a practical way than mathematical. My mother was a cosmetologist, so as a teen and adolescent adult, my hair color frequently changed.

Or in a more scientific description, my physical properties were very dynamic. 2. What schooling did you receive in order to become a science writer? I attended no particular writing classes and did not pursue a writing career. Mine is a Cinderella story in that a publisher asked me to write a book.

This was the result of entity a high school physic/chemistry instructor in Arkansas and directing an after school elementary science enrichment program for a local society college. I designed the program and called it "The Magic of Science." A New York publisher saw a write up about the program and sent a letter asking if I was interested in writing a science book for young kids.

I was leery—was this a scam? But, I called and asked if the letter had come from the “real” Prentice-Hall Publishing Co. It had and yes I was interested. It didn't take long to see that while I had skills in writing experiments for my class, I didn't had a clue about how to document a book.

Thankfully the publisher really wanted the book, so I was given a wonderful deal of personal instructions as well as a book titled, "How to write a book." The book was helpful, but as usual, I was breaking new ground. In the belated 80s there were very scant hands-on science experiment books for kids.

So, I learned by trial and error.

ABOUT ME: Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50 best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years. MORE.. Promoting the fun of science through easy hands-on investigations.

In fact, even after writing 50+ books, I am still learning how to better document a book. Did everything just click into place after that first book? No! In proof, my editor left the firm and as a new scribe that could have been the kiss of death for my career.

But God had other plans. The same editor introduced me to another publishing residence and I was back to writing. The company went bankrupt before my book was published. Writing just didn’t seem to be the direction for my life.

But again, the equal editor managed to get my book picked up by another publishing house—John Wiley and Sons. It has been a fine match. 3. What about science writing made it more appealing than other fields? How was the transition from teacher to writer?

I loved teaching science because I learned so much and I had fun writing experiments for the topics covered. Often times, schools did not have the needed equipment to perform experiments, so I constructed experiments. For example, an  acceleration experiment that was a favorite with my physics classes committed tying a rope to a box filled with rocks.

On an outdoor surface, a stopwatch was used to measure the elapsed time for a specific displacement. This information was used to mathematically determine the average acceleration. Of course there were races between different groups.

In other words, we played and had fun while learning about the concepts of motion. One positive difference in writing about science and teaching science is that I have more quality time to write. A downside is that I have less time with kids.

But this has been solved by my own children who have children who have children. At show I have three children, six grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. 4. What is the world of your work? What are your duties? What sort of Equipment do you use?

Unlike most writers, I do not write a manuscript and look for a publisher. Instead, I record for the same publisher and have a multi-book contract. The contract indicates the number of books to be written by a specific date, but does not describe the content of the books.

Each book topic is decided on by a team of people, including me, my editor, and representatives from marketing and publicity. Research is done to decide what topic is most marketable. Once the topic is selected, then my editor and I decide on a suitable format and finally it is up to me to research science content and write the book.

My personal library consists of no less than 1, science books. I use online sources to discover current printed research. But most important are science consultants in each specific field, such as NASA astronomers, research chemists, and as many teachers from elementary through college level as I can find.

The tools of my trade include a desktop, laser printer, a fax machine, telephone, mechanical pencils, around the house stuff for experiments and acres of wooded and grass land, ponds, and clear Texas skies to investigate the wonders of God’s creation.

As a writer I prepare a manuscript by a predetermined date. Writing the book is much easier than work required for movie. My review schedule includes two preproduction reviews in which my editor makes suggestions about needed changes. I make the changes or convince my editor that no change is needed.

American, b. Career: Writer, Leader of science workshops for teachers and students; Bible study instructor. Cite this article Pick a approach below, and copy the chat for your bibliography.

Then I prepare the first revised duplicate of the manuscript. We reiterate this process and the second revised copy is off to a copy editor. For the three remaining reviews, I build my comments on the pages sent to me. At last the work goes to the printer. 5.

What is your favorite thing about your job? What would you most favor to change about it? The best part of my career is learning more about science and creating new ways to make science concepts more understandable.

As a science writer, I have had the opportunity to visit places that most possess never seen, such as the facilities at the Geographic South Pole as well as the most northern city in Alaska, Barrow. Barrow is on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. What I like the least is all the copy adjusting reviews, but this is necessary and cannot be changed.

6. Are you currently writing a book? Instead of a publication, I am working on creating a science website. It gives me the opportunity to display educators and kids to my science books. But even more beneficial is introducing parents to ideas for “home study.” This started out as a way to help parents who opt to home school their children.

But, it is evolving into ways that parents can compete and find out about science with their kids. Working parents are very appreciative of straightforward, fun activities that don’t demand expensive materials. All educators—teachers, parents, librarians, grandparents, etc.—are pleased to find explanations that make instinct to them.

I am researching a new business idea. Since my brain is full of ideas for science presentation, I could train science presenters. I wonder…Could this be done via my website? So far my experimental research on this thought has been very positive. But one person testing my material has decided to continue her education and teach.

I may have lost one of my presenters, but children will obtain a very science savvy instructor. 7. What advice would you give to somebody who is considering a writing career?

Follow to get new release updates, special offers including promotional bids and improved recommendations. Q and A about Janice VanCleave 1. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born in Houston, Texas and grew up there.

First of all READ!! READ!! READ!! Learn as much as you can about everything. While your interest may be in science, you have to include the skills to express your ideas.

Janice Armine Vancleave, 74 - San Antonio, TX - Has Court or ...: ABOUT ME: Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50 best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high college. I taught science for 27 years. MORE.

Grammar and punctuation is very important. You want math for living. History is the story of life. Accept advantage of each and every subject offered in school. Exploit what you learn in university to write stories. Keep these in journals that are easily stored for later use.

I cannot say that I actually take off from writing for vacations, because no matter where I go I am collecting ideas for science projects. I am never a tourist; instead I am a researcher away from home. For example, while standing on a glacier in Alaska, others in the team were questioning how deep a hole in the ice was.

For fun, I dropped a stone into the hole and counted until the stone smash the water below. Using gravitational acceleration (a)of m/sec2 and the displacement equation of distance = 1/2 at2, I calculated that the hole was about 21 meters (70 ft) deep.

We were all interested in knowing how deep the hole was, and I was able to tell them. This was just one of many times that my knowledge of physics has been useful in a practical way. I also observed that leaves had sunk down in the ice on the glacier.

Now what caused that? The leaves absorbed more light than the ice causing them to get hot, thus melting the ice below them. This observation led to a science impartial project in one of my books. My point is that a writer of any genre should always be on the alert for interesting information.

Maintain notes and file them for later use. BE OBSERVANT!

LibraryThing members improve authors by combining author names and works, separating out homonymous authors into separate identities, and more. Become a LibraryThing Author. Home Groups Discuss More Zeitgeist. Author Page.

Writing a book may be the least problem. Getting it published can be a big obstacle. It has to be something that a publisher can trade. Some people are great writers but not very good salesmen. So they hire an intermediary to represent them. What about rejections?

If critical comments are given, evaluate them and settle if you need to convert your work. But remember that one publisher’s trash could be another publisher’s treasure. It often depends on what the publisher needs at the time. Never give up. Try publishing in magazines.

When writing for magazines, ALWAYS keep the s to your work. You may later decide to publish it in book form. The same is true for online publishing. Maintain the right to publish your work in other forms.

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