months later (and various
pencils and rubbers consumed)
the blueprints for the Big
History Wallbook were born!
My latest book, Humanimal,
explores the connections
between humans and other
animals. The whole concept of
What on Earth Books is to fi nd
new perspectives for looking
at the real world – far more
amazing than anything you
can make up!
Once I had fi nished
Absolutely Everything! I was
left with the question dangling
in my mind: how clever are
humans really? Are we so
much more advanced and
intelligent than other life
around us? Or is that just a
human arrogance fuelled by
ancient religions and modern
scientifi c traditions?
It seems to me that children
have an intuitive sense that
humans and animals are far
closer than many adults realise
and I thought it would be
good to create a book that’s
scientifi cally rigorous but
totally accessible to younger
people to explore this theme
further.
The title Humanimal shows
that my conclusions were that
the links are very strong indeed
- far more profound than the
diff erences, hence the need
for a new word. Describing
us all as humanimal is in many
ways far more accurate than
the artifi cial divisions we
wedge between species by
using traditional scientifi c
conventions. After all, human
DNA is approximately 84 per
cent similar to dogs’ and 98 per
cent the same as chimpanzees’.Writing process
I divided the book into three
themes that best characterise
what most people would say
it means to be human: Living
Together, Having Feelings and
Being Intelligent.
I then researched to see
what other animals have
behaviours that seem similar
and came up with a huge list.
It was then a matter of honing
them down to see which made
the best stories and could be
backed up by really reliable
scientifi c evidence.
For this book I also had
the help of a US researcher,
so we would spend many
hours on Skype going through
lists of animals and research
that we thought would be
helpful. I would then draft a
vignette, most often writing
in the mornings (I am twice as
effi cient at writing before noon
than later in the day).
The copy would then go
through a rigorous editing,
fact-checking process before
I received it back again
to make any fi nal stylistic
changes with the editor. It’s
surprising laborious, but
absolutely necessary in a book
like this. The process is quite
collaborative.
The page layout and use of
illustration are essential here.
In many ways the illustrations
have to lead the words – I think
this is crucial. Most of us arevisual in the way we make
our judgements – that is one
defi ning human characteristic
(shared with a lot of birds, as it
happens!).
So if the visual layout and
images don’t stop the child in
his or her tracks through the
pages, then the words won’t
either. Not in a book that isn’t
strictly a narrative from end
to end. So working with the
illustrator and designer is
really critical.
The words then support the
images, and hopefully really
make the experience holistic
and rich for the reader – ideally
helping them to fi nd out all
kinds of details and surprisingfacts that most adults don’t
generally know.Starting tips
If you want to write children’s
non-fi ction, think about what
will make the child go WOW!
when they turn the page.
There are plenty of triggers for
this rush of dopamine in our
natural reward system, such as
powerful visuals, fi nding out
stuff that’s surprising, giving
them diff erent routes through
the information.
I think non-fi ction had
traditionally been poorly
served, in terms of the priority
given to it by schools in reading
schemes, and honestly many
children fi nd learning about the
world we live in so fascinating.
I hope that more focus will be
given to non-fi ction at festivals,
in schools and generally in the
fi eld of writing for children. Discover more about Christopher
Lloyd and What on Earth Books at
http://www.whatonearthbooks.com and
on Twitter @chrislloydwoepCHILDREN’S BOOKS
PICTURE BOOKS STORY BOOKS EASY READERS CHAPTER BOOKS MIDDLE GRADE YOUNG ADULT
EASY READERS CHAPTER BOOKS MIDDLE GRADE YOUNG ADULT PICTURE BOOKS STORY BOOKS
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