Treat your students to a look behind the book and help them learn how authors research and write their books. Photos and fascinating tidbits help me teach students how to make nonfiction and realistic fiction fascinating! Click here to email me for information or to request a visit. Get the scoop by becoming a “Green Author Jennifer Keats Curtis” Facebook fan and following me on Twitter.

As a nature lover and an “animal person” with an insatiable curiosity, writing about environmental topics suits me perfectly. My passion reverberates clearly in my lovingly detailed books.  Teachers and students even call me “The Green Author.”

As a child, I regularly brought home creatures large and small and attempted to nurse them back to health, although not always to great success. Over the years, I’ve learned that in order to truly help animals, I not only need more information, but the best way to use it. Now I’m using this supportive spirit to teach children how they can help wild animals, one at a time.  

A presenter and author-in-residence in Maryland schools since 2006, I cannot wait to continue talking with students about writing, editing, research, and of course, the animals. My area of expertise is informational text. Please contact me about a school or organizational visit.

All of my books are available directly through the publishers, online bookstores, and in many retail stores. Of course, I'm always happy to sign books as feasible. Please email me for more information.

 My newest books include:

• SEAHORSES (Macmillan). Illustrator: Chad Wallace.
  In this creative nonfiction, evocative language and Chad Wallace’s shimmering illustrations tell the life story of this glorious sea creature. I interviewed several experts and worked with a Maryland middle schooler to develop this tale.  

  Maryland high schooler Nicole Moy’s passion for seahorses inspired this book. In her honor, a portion of the royalties are donated to Project Seahorse



• The first in the Animal Helpers nonfiction series,
  Animal Helpers: Wildlife Rehabilitators (Sylvan Dell).
  
  Go behind the scenes of zoos, sanctuaries, rescue centers, and wildlife rehabilitation clinics around the country to get a sneak peek into four clinics and learn more about how wildlife rehabilitators treat backyard creatures who have become ill, injured, or orphaned. Wildlife rehabilitators contributed their photos for this photographic journal.
  
  


• Squirrel Rescue (Schiffer Publishing,) Illustrator: Laura Jacques.  When a baby squirrel falls out of his nest during a football game, the players call a timeout to figure out the best way to help the furry mammal. Award-winning artist Laura Jacques’ (www.laurajacques.com) illustrations beautifully capture the details and helps accurately describe this animal adventure. (Photo: pic of Laura. Cutline: "I was fascinated to learn how the mother squirrel carries her babies…in her mouth!” said Laura Jacques, “The young squirrel instinctively knows to curl itself up like a ball, holding on by one tiny forearm wrapped around his mother's head. Mom is so fast and skilled at this act that the whole process is just a blur. Nature is amazing!")

 My other books include:

• Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award Finalist Turtles In My Sandbox (2006, Sylvan Dell) Illustrator: Emmanuel Schongut.
• Heartwarming Osprey Adventure (2008, Tidewater) Illustrator: Marcy Dunn Ramsey.
• Baby Owl’s Rescue (2009, Sylvan Dell) Illustrator: Laura Jacques. Winner, DaVinci Eye Award.
• Saving Squeak: A River Otter’s Tale (2010, Schiffer Publishing) Illustrator: Marcy Dunn Ramsey.

 Forthcoming:

• BIG Animal Helpers (Sylvan Dell, 2013).
• My first rhyming nonfiction, Trudy the Tree Frog (Schiffer Publishing, 2013) Illustrator: Laura Jacques

 Looking for school visit information? Please click here,
http://jenniferkeatscurtis.com/schoolvisits.html

Certified wildlife rehabilitators like Suzanne McBride work hard to ensure that otters and other wild animals can get back to the wild where they belong. However, in some cases, that simply isn’t possible.



Since Bubbles and Squeak were un-releasable, they now happily reside at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons Island, Maryland, where they are doted on by aquarists and fans! Jennifer worked with the staff at the museum, as well as Suzanne McBride, to write the realistic fiction, Saving Squeak: The Otter Tale.

River otter, Squeak, star of the book Saving Squeak checks out a young visitor at the Calvert Marine Museum. (Squeak’s “brother” Bubbles is swimming lazily beneath him).