Darcy Pattison

I live in the middle of the US in Arkansas. From here, I create children's books and send them out into the world. I love to add audiobook versions of my books, making sure the story comes alive through audio. It reaches kids in a different way, but still brings the story to them in a fun, exciting way.

Science and nature books are my favorite because I can bring to life true events. WISDOM is the story of the oldest wild bird in the world and how she survived the 2011 Japanese tsunami. I interviewed scientists on Midway Island and incorporated their story. BURN and CLANG! are about important scientists in the study of light and sound. Research on the lives of important scientists is fascinating and fun. Choosing the right details of a story can make it come to life for kids. For example, CLANG! is about sound waves. But the story is about the father of Acoustics, German scientist Ernst Chladni (Klod-nee), who went to Napoleon's court to ask for funding for his research. What fun! Chladni entertained an Emperor with sound experiments and in return, he received funding for his book on sound/acoustics.

And since I write about sound and acoustics, of course, the stories must be an audiobook, too!

Kids ages 5-10, will learn about science and nature in a fun, exciting way. The stories bring to life the life of a single animal, the struggles of a scientist, or other true stories. I hope kids will find the world of true stories fascinating. They may be inspired to research an animal or a person even more. Or, they may just be excited to share the true stories with friends and family.

Now, when I create a book, I'm thinking about who will narrate the audiobook. I like to imagine a kid listening to the story alone and loving it so much that they will later share it with their family.

I'm excited that Yoto brings stories--true and fictional--to kids through audio. Yoto adds a social element because the family can listen together. That leads to important discussions and a shared experience. My children often bring up books we listened to together--audiobooks are part of the life of our family.

I have written about 70 books and most of them have audiobooks, also. I hope to bring many of them to the Yoto family. There are nonfiction books about science, nature, and art. One series, Another Extraordinary Animal, includes stories of individual animals including a bird (WISDOM), a spider, a mammal, a marine mammal, a reptile, an amphibian, and a snail (gastropod). It will be fun to bring these stories to Yoto!