Write by Night

    Don and Becky Wojahn are school library media specialists. Their natural habitat is the temperate forests of northwestern Wisconsin, where they share their den with two animal-loving sons and two big, black dogs. This description of these local children’s book authors ends each volume of their co-written Follow That Food Chain series.

    In these educational and interactive “who-eats-what” books, kids can page-turn their way to animal habitats around the globe, from the “dry, red expanse” of the Australian outback to the “hot, wet, air wrapping around you” in the rain forest. The choose-your-own-adventure format helps young readers weave their own unique food webs, from carnivore, to herbivore, to decomposer, and back again. Each animal’s dependence on their meal illustrates the importance of animal preservation, and Becky hopes it helps readers understand that a loss ripples throughout the whole food chain.

    Don also shares Becky’s ecological concerns. A running inside joke between the two is that they would buy a parcel of land if they ever won the lottery, just so no one could interfere with any wildlife. I thought conservation was the natural impetus for FTFC, but the main motivation for writing the first book came closer to home.

     “Our boys asked us, ‘What do bears eat?’ I didn’t know, so we’d look that up, and they’d say, ‘What does that eat?’ ” said Becky. “Or, what would win in a battle, a hawk or an eagle?” added Don. “You know, the kind of questions boys ask,” said Becky, laughing.

    As school librarians, answering endless questions is all in a day’s work. Don, a former teacher, says working kids and encouraging them to read is a great perk, while Becky thrives on learning something new each day. Apparently, she’s learned the art of persuasion.

    “I encouraged Don to become a librarian. It’s the best job in the school,” said Becky. “It took me awhile to figure it out,” Don added, deadpan.