I know from the emails and messages that I've received that many of you are parents, teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or friends of young people. Well, this episode is for all of you.

In this episode of the Backyard Ecology podcast, we talk with Heather L. Montgomery. Heather is an award-winning author, educator, and someone I'm honored to call a friend. Her books include: Bugs Don't Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids, How Rude! Real Bugs Who Won't Mind Their Manners, Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill, and Who Gives a Poop?: Surprising Science from One End to the Other. Her newest book, What's in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature's Treasures, will come out in September 2021.

As you'll quickly discover in this episode, Heather is an amazing storyteller who is passionate about engaging people, especially young people, in nature. Like me, she is also a big kid at heart. Our conversation covers a wide variety of topics including ways to engage young people in nature, but the theme that carries through all those topics is curiosity. Heather and I both believe that encouraging young people to be curious can help them throughout their lives, no matter what career path they end up taking. It's also just fun to be curious and see where a question takes us – no matter what our age is.

Links:

• Heather's website
• Heather's twitter handle
  • @HeatherLMont
• You can order copies of Heather's currently published books through the independent bookstore Parnassus.
  • List of Heather's books available through Parnassus
  • Request "Autographed" in the comments section during checkout to receive an autographed copy.
• If you prefer to order your books through Amazon, then you can do so through the individual links below
  • Bugs Don't Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids *
  • How Rude! Real Bugs Who Won't Mind Their Manners *
  • Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill *
  • Who Gives a Poop?: Surprising Science from One End to the Other *
• You can also pre-order What's in Your Pocket?: Collecting Nature's Treasures which is scheduled to come out in September 2021
  • Through Parnassus
  • Through Amazon *
• STEM Tuesdays
• Writing resources recommended by Heather
  • Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
  • Highlights Foundation
• Backyard Ecology's website
• My email: [email protected]

Episode image:

• Heather and the covers of some of her books
• Photo credit: Heather L. Montgomery, all rights reserved