Mallory, Kenneth 1945–

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Mallory, Kenneth 1945–

Personal

Born March 22, 1945, in Boston, MA; son of George Kenneth (a pathologist) and Carol (a homemaker) Mallory; married Margaret Thompson (a middle-school teacher), September, 19, 1978. Education: Harvard College, B.A. (English literature), 1967. Politics: "Independent."

Addresses

Home—Newton Highlands, MA. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, sales representative, 1971-74; Earthwatch, Belmont, MA, marketing director, 1975; New England Aquarium, Boston, MA, editor-in-chief of publishing programs, 1979-2004; freelance writer, editor, and photographer, 2004—.

Member

Authors Guild, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, New England Science Writers, Society for Environmental Journalists.

Awards, Honors

The Last Extinction selected among Library Journal's One Hundred Most Important Books of 1986; Outstanding Nature Book for Children selection, John Burroughs Association, Outstanding Science Trade Book designation, Children's Book Council/National Science Teachers Association (CBC/NSTA), both 1989, and Choice designation, International Reading Association, 1991, all for Rescue of the Stranded Whales; American Bookseller Pick-of-the-Lists designation, 1995, for Families of the Deep Blue Sea; Notable Children's Books selec-

tion, 1998, Smithsonian, for Home by the Sea; Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students designation, CBC/NSTA, 2007, for Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano.

Writings

(Editor with Les Kaufman) The Last Extinction, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1986.

(With Andrea Conley) Rescue of the Stranded Whales, Crown (New York, NY), 1989.

Water Hole: Life in a Rescued Tropical Forest, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1991.

The Red Sea, Franklin Watts (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Scott Kraus) The Search for the Right Whale: How Scientists Rediscovered the Most Endangered Whale in the Sea, Crown (New York, NY), 1993.

Families of the Deep Blue Sea, illustrated by Marshall Peck III, Charlesbridge (Watertown, MA), 1995.

A Home by the Sea: Protecting Coastal Wildlife, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 1998.

(With Mark Chandler) Lake Victoria: Africa's Inland Sea, New England Aquarium and Lowell Institute (Boston, MA), 2000.

(With Pamela Chanko and Susan Canzares) Aquarium, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor) Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, Down East Books (Camden, MA), 2003.

(With Scott Kraus) Disappearing Giants: The North Atlantic Right Whale, Bunker Hill Publishing (Charlestown, MA), 2003.

Also served as editor of Aquasphere magazine; editor for special issues of Sea Frontiers magazine.

"SCIENTISTS IN THE FIELD" SERIES

Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

Sidelights

Kenneth Mallory is a writer, editor, and photographer who specializes in science journalism. Mallory, a former editor-in-chief of publishing programs at Boston's New England Aquarium, is the author of such critically acclaimed books as Rescue of the Stranded Whales, coauthored with Andrea Conley, as well as Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks and Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano.

Mallory's educational background in literature and biology led him to begin writing as a freelance journalist for magazines. He once commented that his interest in the natural ecology of Maine, where he grew up, inspired his interest in natural history, and that his experiences writing exhibit copy for the New England Aquarium helped develop a prose style that is suitable for children's books. He combined this writing ability with a developing interest in photography to produce nonfiction photo books that parallel themes highlighted by the aquarium, such as marine conservation and investigations and research into aquatic and natural life. Mallory noted that his position with the New England Aquarium also afforded him opportunities to travel to such destinations as New Zealand, the North Atlantic, and Costa Rica, resulting in books on the ecology and natural wildlife of these areas.

One of the first books Mallory issued, The Red Sea, focuses on the vast variety of species that inhabit this body of water. The work includes several maps, a glossary, a list of further readings and index. A critic in Kirkus Reviews praised this book for its "vivid underwater photos" and "intriguing text." Similarly, Frances E. Millhouser praised Mallory's "fine full-color photographs" in a review for School Library Journal, and recommended the book as one that provides a good overview of the wildlife inhabiting the Red Sea.

Mallory's position with the New England Aquarium gave him the opportunity to be at close quarters when a herd of forty pilot whales beached themselves off the coast of Cape Cod in 1986. Due to exposure and the shock the whales were subjected to, scientists were able to only save three baby whales from the group. Mallory's book, Rescue of the Stranded Whales, tracks these efforts on behalf of the three babies, Baby, Notch, and Tag, from the initial encounter at the beach to their final release into the wild a few months later. A critic writing in Kirkus Reviews called the work an "appealing story of scientists and conservationists in action," and Phillis Wilson wrote in Booklist that Rescue of the Stranded Whales is "a prime example of an informative science narrative that works as a compelling story." Mallory and Conley were also lauded in School Library Journal by Millhouser, who called their text both informative and "fascinating," as well as "beautifully illustrated." Although New York Times Book Review contributor Faith McNulty contended that the narrative fails to bring the creatures fully to life, she added that the strengths of the work outweigh its weaknesses; "it is enough for now that such enlightened, and enlightening, things are being done. We can only be grateful that the good news is being conveyed to a new generation."

Whales are once again the focus of Mallory's The Search for the Right Whale: How Scientists Rediscovered the Most Endangered Whale in the Sea. Coauthored with Scott Kraus, the book contains a first-person narrative following the search for this species of whales. In her review of the work for School Library Journal, Valerie Lennox noted that the approach taken by Mallory and Kraus provides a good introduction to the events during a research expedition, and called The Search for the Right Whale a "top-notch resource for endangerment projects." Kay Weisman, writing in Booklist, praised the photographs and the descriptions of whale sightings in particular, labeling the work "an appealing and useful addition to the animal shelf."

Mallory went to Costa Rica on assignment from the New England Aquarium in the late 1980s, and this trip resulted in a book about the reclaimed tropical forest in the Guanacaste National Park area. Characteristically, he accompanies his text with colorful illustrations to produce Water Hole: Life in a Rescued Tropical Forest. Incorporating a glossary and a suggested list of other titles, and focusing primarily on a small band of tropical raccoon-like animals called coatis, Mallory tracks these and other creatures in the forest over a course of one year. Other geographical and aquatic regions are covered by Mallory in books such as Families of the Deep Blue Sea, which focuses on fourteen different species of ocean dwellers, and A Home by the Sea, which focuses on efforts to protect coastal and marine animal life off the coast of New Zealand. Both these books have been praised for their clear text and photographs, as well as their focus on the scientists who work on these projects.

Scientist and marine biologist Pete Klimley and his IMAX film crew are the focus of Mallory's Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, a work that tracks the film team as much as it does the sharks they are attempting to capture on camera. To research the book, Mallory traveled to the Cocos Island, some 330 miles off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where he met Klimley and filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall. According to Horn Book critic Danielle J. Ford, "Mallory's descriptions of the hammerheads he sees are filled with references to Klimley's work, emphasizing the importance of informed observation." Roger Leslie, writing in Booklist, praised Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks as an "engrossing, visually captivating" work, adding that "the text shares plenty that is worth knowing and remembering." Mallory's combined record of investigation and biology was also lauded by Patricia Manning in School Library Journal as an "exceptional" work that will prove to be a "useful tool for young report writers."

In Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, Mallory profiles Rich Lutz, a marine biologist who studies hydrothermal vents and their ecosystems. Using a submersible vessel, Lutz travels thousands of feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean to document the rebirth of a biological community that had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. "Mallory adeptly conveys the thrill of discovery and excitement in this field," Ford noted of the book, and Michael Santangelo, writing in School Library Journal, described Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano as "a balanced mixture of biography and science that gives children a well-rounded exposure to intellectual pursuit."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 1989, Phillis Watson, review of Rescue of the Stranded Whales, p. 1905; May, 1993, Janice Del

Negro, review of Water Hole: Life in a Rescued Tropical Forest, p. 1585; July, 1993, Kay Weisman, review of The Search for the Right Whale: How Scientists Rediscovered the Most Endangered Whale in the Sea, p. 1961; September 1, 1998, Chris Sherman, review of A Home by the Sea: Protecting Coastal Wildlife, p. 116; April 1, 2001, Roger Leslie, review of Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, p. 1462; December 1, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, p. 57.

Horn Book, July, 2001, Danielle J. Ford, review of Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, p. 472; January-February, 2007, Danielle J. Ford, review of Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, p. 82.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1989, review of Rescue of the Stranded Whales, p. 839; March 15, 1991, review of The Red Sea, p. 397; July 15, 1998, review of A Home by the Sea, p. 1038; September 15, 2006, review of Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, p. 961.

New York Times Book Review, May 21, 1989, Faith McNulty, review of Rescue of the Stranded Whales.

School Library Journal, June, 1989, Frances E. Millhouser, review of Rescue of the Stranded Whales, p. 119; August, 1991, Frances E. Millhouser, review of The Red Sea, p. 193; April, 1993, Eva Elisabeth Von Ancken, review of Water Hole, p. 137; August, 1993, Valerie Lenox, review of The Search for the Right Whale, p. 176; February, 1996, Lisa Wu Stowe, review of Families of the Deep Blue Sea, p. 96; September, 1998, Patricia Manning, review of A Home by the Sea, p. 222; July, 2001, Patricia Manning, review of Swimming with Hammerhead Sharks, p. 128; February, 2007, Michael Santangelo, review of Diving to a Deep-Sea Volcano, p. 143.