Hickman, Pamela 1958–

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Hickman, Pamela 1958–

Personal

Born December 4, 1958, in Cooksville, Ontario, Canada; daughter of Melville (an Air Canada Express manager) and Marguerite (a homemaker) Hunter; married P. Douglas Hickman (an environmental consultant), June 27, 1981; children: Angela Lindsey, Connie Marie, Jennifer Lee. Education: University of Waterloo, B.S. (with honors; environmental studies/biology), 1980. Hobbies and other interests: Gardening, camping, collecting antiques, reading, travel.

Addresses

Office—Box 296, Canning, Nova Scotia B0P 1H0, Canada.

Career

Writer and naturalist. Alberta Environment, mosquito control technician, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1979, plant-sciences technician in Vegreville, Alberta, 1980-81; Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, education coordinator, 1982-90; freelance writer, beginning 1989. Apple Tree Landing Children's Centre, Canning, Nova Scotia, Canada, chairperson of board of directors, beginning 1994. Glooscap Home and School Association, member of executive committee, beginning 1992.

Member

World Wildlife Fund, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Federation of Ontario Naturalists.

Awards, Honors

Ann Connor Brimer Award shortlist, 1993, for Wetlands, and 1998, for Animal Senses; Lilla Sterling Memorial Award, Canadian Authors Association, 1995, for Habitats; Red Cedar Book Award shortlist, 1998, for Jumbo Book of Nature Science and Night Book; Hackmatack Children's Choice Award finalist, 2000, for At the Seashore.

Writings

Getting to Know Nature's Children: A Parent's Guide, Grolier (Danbury, CT), 1985.

Birdwise: Forty Fun Feats for Finding out about Our Feathered Friends, illustrated by Judie Shore, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1988.

Bugwise: Thirty Incredible Insect Investigations and Arachnid Activities, illustrated by Judie Shore, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1990.

Plantwise, illustrated by Judie Shore, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1991.

Habitats: Making Homes for Animals and Plants, illustrated by Sarah Jane English, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

Wetlands, illustrated by Judie Shore, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

The Night Book: Exploring Nature after Dark with Activities, Experiments, and Information, illustrated by Suzanne Mogensen, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

At the Seashore, Formac (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), 1996.

The Jumbo Book of Nature Science, illustrated by Judie Shore, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

The Kid's Canadian Plant Book, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

The Kid's Canadian Bird Book, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

The Kid's Canadian Bug Book, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

The Kid's Canadian Tree Book, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

A Seed Grows: My First Look at a Plant's Life Cycle, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Hungry Animals: My First Look at a Food Chain, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

A New Butterfly: My First Look at Metamorphosis, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Animal Senses: How Animals See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Feel, illustrated by Pat Stephens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1998, revised by David MacDonald as How Animals Use Their Senses, 2007.

In the Woods, illustrated by Twila Robar-DeCoste, Formac (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), 1998.

A New Frog: My First Look at the Life Cycle of an Amphibian, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1999.

A New Duck: My First Look at the Life Cycle of a Bird, illustrated by Heather Collins, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1999.

Animals in Motion: How Animals Swim, Jump, Slither, and Slide, illustrated by Pat Stevens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2000, revised by David MacDonald as How Animals Move, 2007.

Animals Eating: How Animals Chomp, Chew, Slurp, and Swallow, illustrated by Pat Stevens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001, revised by David MacDonald as How Animals Eat, 2007.

Animals and Their Young: How Animals Produce and Care for Their Babies, illustrated by Pat Stevens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Animals and Their Mates: How Animals Attract, Fight for, and Protect Each Other, illustrated by Pat Stephens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

Animals Hibernating: How Animals Survive Extreme Conditions, illustrated by Pat Stevens, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Turtle Rescue ("Changing the Future for Endangered Wildlife" series), Firefly Books (Buffalo, NY), 2005.

Birds of Prey Rescue ("Changing the Future for Endangered Wildlife" series), Firefly Books (Buffalo, NY), 2006.

It's Moving Day, illustrated by Geraldo Valério, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2008.

Writer for "Kids Canadian Nature Series," Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1995-96.

Sidelights

Active in environmental issues that draw on her lifelong interest in the biological sciences, Pamela Hickman specializes in introducing young readers to the world of plants and animals. Born and raised in On- tario, Canada, and now a resident of Nova Scotia, she began writing for children while working as education coordinator for the Federation of Ontario Naturalists. Beginning her new career as a children's book author in the late 1980s, Hickman shares her love of nature with beginning readers in books such as Birds of Prey Rescue, Animals and Their Young: How Animals Produce and Care for Their Babies, and It's Moving Day, the last a picture book pairing Hickman's simple text with colorful art by Geraldo Valério. Praising Birds of Prey Rescue in Resource Links, Angela Thompson cited Hickman's contribution to the nonfiction nature books available to young readers, noting that her writing "reflects a wealth of research and personal knowledge."

Many of Hickman's books focus specifically on the ecosystems native to Canada. In The Kid's Canadian Tree Book, which features illustrations by Heather Collins, Hickman combines hands-on activities, interesting facts, and useful observations to help readers learn to distinguish tree species near their homes. Other volumes, such as Animal Senses: How Animals See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Feel, Hungry Animals: My First Look at a Food Chain, and A New Duck: My First Look at the Life Cycle of a Bird, focus on the habitat, life cycle, and other characteristics of the many creatures that inhabit North America. Reviewing Animal Senses in Booklist, Carolyn Phelan wrote that the book matches "pick-me-up visual appeal with solid facts about animal senses." Discussing a companion volume, Animals and Their Young, Karen McKinnon praised the "lovely illustrations" by Pat Stephens in her Resource Links review and described the work as "a great little book for students" in search of "not too well-known information about some common and some not so common animals."

Hickman gets much of the inspiration for her nature books from living in Nova Scotia. "Our property … includes a wooded ravine, marsh and meadow," she commented on the Kids Can Press Web site. "I can watch birds, hear cicadas and smell the wildflowers as I work. Nature offers unlimited scope for new discoveries, and I know it will continue to challenge and intrigue me throughout my life." As she once told SATA, the most rewarding part of her career as a nonfiction author "is that I learn so much as I do my research. I also love the fact that I can go out bird-watching or down to the seashore, walk in the woods, or stroll through a meadow and still be working! Everything I see, smell, touch, taste, and hear can become part of a book. I find it much easier to write about something I have experienced firsthand. My main motivation for writing is to share my love and enthusiasm for nature with my readers, and I hope to kindle a similar lifelong joy in them."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1998, Carolyn Phelan, review of Animal Senses: How Animals See, Hear, Taste, Smell, and Feel, p. 1623; May 1, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Animals in Motion: How Animals Swim, Jump, Slither, and Glide, p. 1664; March 1, 2003, Diane Foote, review of Animals and Their Young: How Animals Produce and Care for Their Babies, p. 1194; October 15, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Animals and Their Mates: How Animals Attract, Fight for, and Protect Each Other, p. 401; November 1, 2005, John Peters, review of Animals Hibernating: How Animals Survive Extreme Conditions, p. 43.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2003, review of Animals and Their Young, p. 231; September 1, 2004, review of Animals and Their Mates, p. 866; August 15, 2005, review of Animals Hibernating, p. 915; February 15, 2007, review of How Animals Eat.

Resource Links, June, 2000, review of Animals in Motion, pp. 11-12; June, 2006, Angela Thompson, review of Birds of Prey Rescue, p. 34; February, 2007, Karen McKinnon, review of How Animals Use Their Senses, p. 4.

School Library Journal, May, 2001, Cynthia M. Sturgis, review of Animals Eating: How Animals Chomp, Chew, Slurp, and Swallow, p. 142; June, 2003, Nancy Call, review of Animals and Their Young, p. 128; October, 2005, Sandra Welzenbach, review of Animals Hibernating, p. 140; June, 2006, Gail E. Wellman, review of Turtle Rescue, p. 178.