Background
Nicola Davies was born on May 3, 1958, in Birmingham, United Kingdom, into the family of William Howard Davies and Beryl Rona Morgan.
Nicola studied at the Kings College in Cambridge, where she earned honours degree in zoology.
(A noted zoologist teams up with a playful illustrator to ...)
A noted zoologist teams up with a playful illustrator to present a fun, fact-filled guide to the fascinating (if not fragrant) world of poop across species. Hippos navigate by it, sloths keep in touch through it, dung beetles eat it... and most grownups would rather not to mention it. Meanwhile, scientists who study animal feces find out all sorts of things, such as how many insects a bat eats or just what technique a T. rex used to devour a triceratops 70 million years ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763641286/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(This gorgeously illustrated volume of poetry — sprinkled ...)
This gorgeously illustrated volume of poetry — sprinkled with facts and fun things to do — sows an early love for nature in all its beauty and wonder. The buzz of bees in summertime. The tracks of a bird in the winter snow. This beautiful book captures all the sights and sounds of a child’s interactions with nature, from planting acorns or biting into crisp apples to studying tide pools or lying back and watching the birds overhead. No matter what’s outside their windows — city streets or country meadows — kids will be inspired to explore the world around them. Written by award-winning author Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld, a breathtaking new talent in children’s books, Outside Your Window is a stunning reminder that the natural world is on our doorstep waiting to be discovered.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076365549X/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(Swim with a baby dolphin as he learns to survive — and pl...)
Swim with a baby dolphin as he learns to survive — and play — in an engaging story splashed with facts and buoyed by bright illustrations. Pop! Tail first, head last, Dolphin is born into the blue. He’s brand new, but helped by his mother, he swims up, up, up to take his first breath. Readers are invited to join the baby calf as he follows his mom and discovers all there is to know about life under the sea, from catching his first fish to learning how to say his name with his very own whistle. Nicola Davies’s lyrical narrative and intriguing facts are accompanied by Brita Granström’s colorful illustrations, pulsing with the energy and movement of dolphins in their natural habitat.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763670480/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(A young girl shares her observations about the mallards n...)
A young girl shares her observations about the mallards near her house in an engaging, informative story sure to make a splash with duck lovers. Quack quack, Quack-quaack-quack. It’s the first sound I hear every morning. The young girl in this story may live in the city, but outside her window there’s a river full of mallard ducks! She hears them as soon as she wakes up, and on the way to school she sees them upside down bobbing for food.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763670510/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(Perfect is a story of anticipation, disappointment, accep...)
Perfect is a story of anticipation, disappointment, acceptance, and, ultimately, love. Suffused with natural imagery, Perfect is an ideal way to open up the subject of disability with children, as well as being a great story in its own right. This beautifully illustrated, truly remarkable book is guaranteed to bring a lump to the throat. Perfect is a story of anticipation, disappointment, acceptance, and, ultimately, love. Suffused with natural imagery, Perfect is an ideal way to open up the subject of disability with children, as well as being a great story in its own right. This beautifully illustrated, truly remarkable book is guaranteed to bring a lump to the throat.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1910862460/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(A touching picture book for children about a young boy an...)
A touching picture book for children about a young boy and his family overcoming the loss of his father. This colorful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, centering on a small pond in the garden, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world. A touching picture book for children about a young boy and his family overcoming the loss of his father. This colorful, emotional book is filled with natural imagery, centering on a small pond in the garden, and will teach children not only about death and loss, but the importance of the natural world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1912050706/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(An allegorical tale of hope takes on new life in this sti...)
An allegorical tale of hope takes on new life in this stirring, gorgeously illustrated story. On a mean street in a mean, broken city, a young girl tries to snatch an old woman’s bag. But the frail old woman, holding on with the strength of heroes, says the thief can’t have it without giving something in return: the promise. It is the beginning of a journey that will change the thieving girl’s life — and a chance to change the world, for good. Here is the story of a magical discovery that will touch the heart and imagination of every reader, young and old.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763693030/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(Variety of Life Our planet is full of life! Did you know ...)
Variety of Life Our planet is full of life! Did you know there are 400,000 species of beetle - but only eight species of bear? This stunning book explores the extraordinary diversity of the natural world and profiles some of its most surprising creatures.A glorious celebration of diversity within the Animal Kingdom by non-fiction specialist Nicola Davies, illustrated by rising star Lorna Scobie.There is something to delight on every page with fascinating facts about mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects. This exquisite book will encourage children to treasure the world's biodiversity and help to stop it slipping away.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1444931199/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(In this tale of a young boy, an old man, and a dauntless ...)
In this tale of a young boy, an old man, and a dauntless pigeon, a lyrical text and extraordinary illustrations offer a gorgeous meditation on loneliness, belonging, and home. A young Italian boy has moved to the Welsh hills with his family. He feels isolated and unhappy, a stranger in a strange land. It is only when he makes an unlikely friend, an old man who lets him fly one of his pigeons in a race, that he learns how he can belong. Nicola Davies’s beautiful story — an immigrant’s tale with powerful resonance in our troubled times — is illustrated by an artist who makes the world anew with every picture.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763695688/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(After magnifying the beauty of unseen organisms in Tiny C...)
After magnifying the beauty of unseen organisms in Tiny Creatures, Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton turn their talents to the vast variety of life on Earth. The more we study the world around us, the more living things we discover every day. The planet is full of millions of species of plants, birds, animals, and microbes, and every single one — including us — is part of a big, beautiful, complicated pattern.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763694835/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(Renowned picture book creators Nicola Davies and Petr Hor...)
Renowned picture book creators Nicola Davies and Petr Horácek team up for a captivating first look at animals around the world. Polar bears playing on the ice, tigers hunting in the jungle, and nightingales singing in the heart of the woods — animals are everywhere. In a remarkable collection of poems, children’s author Nicola Davies shares keen observations on wildlife around the world. Sometimes lyrical and sometimes humorous, the poems reveal fascinating facts about animals of every color, shape, size, and origin, from giant blue whales to bats as tiny as bumblebees. Lively, colorful illustrations by Petr Horácek reveal the vast beauty and variety of the animal world in this essential introduction, perfect for even the youngest amateur zoologists.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763691607/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(In a remarkable collaboration, Nicola Davies and Emily Su...)
In a remarkable collaboration, Nicola Davies and Emily Sutton celebrate the sea in all its changing moods — and the place it holds in our hearts and minds. Ours is a blue planet. The oceans cover more than two-thirds of its surface and constantly calls to us to play, explore, and dream. Our fascination with the sea is as endless as our means of enjoying it — whether building sand castles, navigating by the stars, or observing strange and beautiful marine creatures.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763698822/?tag=2022091-20
2018
Nicola Davies was born on May 3, 1958, in Birmingham, United Kingdom, into the family of William Howard Davies and Beryl Rona Morgan.
Nicola studied at the Kings College in Cambridge, where she earned honours degree in zoology.
Trained as a zoologist and working for several years as a television host for England's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Nicola Davies is known for her ability to introduce the natural world and its fascinating creatures to picture-book audiences. Her works, which include "One Tiny Turtle", "Wild about Dolphins", "Bat Loves the Night", and "Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth", as well as the humorous "Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable", pair an engaging text with interesting facts, sparking young readers' interests in topics ranging from zoology and oceanography to ecology.
Davies' many interests are evident in "Big Blue Whale", part of the "Read and Wonder" series and a look at one of Earth's most majestic animals. In the book, Davies presents facts and anecdotes ranging from the texture of the blue whale's skin to its diet. "Conversational text and soft, crosshatched pen-and-ink illustrations ebb and flow in a fluid look at the largest mammal ever to inhabit the earth," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic, the reviewer adding that Davies' "unassuming book is teeming with new discoveries upon each rereading." Ellen Fader, writing in Horn Book, maintained that "Big Blue Whale" "offers young readers exactly what they want to know about this magnificent animal."
Other books Davies has contributed to the "Read and Wonder" series include "Bat Loves the Night", "One Tiny Turtle", and "Surprising Sharks." Featuring illustrations by Sarah Fox-Davies, "Bat Loves the Night" follows a pipistrelle bat as she embarks for an evening of hunting insects and darting through the landscape, using her internal sonar as a guide. Through her simple story, Davies helps young children understand that a seemingly frightening creature such as a bat is in fact a dedicated parent and an exciting participant in the after-dark world, as well as a helpful consumer of mosquitoes.
In "One Tiny Turtle", the life cycle of an elusive loggerhead turtle unfolds through text and drawings, from the turtle's hatching and first dangerous toddle across the beach to the ocean, to her months hiding in a clump of driftwood, to her triumphant return, thirty years later, to the beach where she first hatched. Davies shows how loggerheads are able to travel thousands of miles through ocean currents and, by some unerring instinct, return to the location of their births. In Booklist Gillian Engberg called "Bat Loves the Night" "an enticing picture book," and School Library Journal critic Cynde Marcengill cited Davies for her "excellent writing."
In "Surprising Sharks" Davies works with illustrator James Croft to help dispel the shark's fearsome reputation as a predator of human beings. In what Horn Book contributor Danielle J. Ford described as "informative yet humorous writing," the author joins with the illustrator to show that shark species come in many different sizes and shapes. In her text, Davies also assures young readers that only three of the 500-odd species of sharks have actually been known to attack people.
A childhood fascination with dolphins led Davies to pursue a career in zoology, and as a young adult, she worked with dolphin study teams in Newfoundland and the Indian Ocean. Her book "Wild about Dolphins" recounts her experiences during those expeditions while also introducing readers to dolphin anatomy, behavior, and ecology. Patricia Manning, reviewing the book for School Library Journal, suggested that youngsters "will find themselves entranced by the eager enthusiasm that pours from the pages." In Booklist, Ilene Cooper deemed Wild about Dolphins "energetic" and concluded that children interested in the marine mammals "will page through this with glee."
In "White Owl, Barn Owl" Davies weaves interesting facts about owl pellets, territorial avian behavior, and a long list of barn-owl facts within her story about a young child who helps Grandfather puts a nest-box high in an oak tree hear the family home. Checking the box one spring evening, the two are greeted by a pair of large owl eyes peering out into the dusk. Davies' "poetic, sensory" text will inspire readers' "interest in these intriguing animals," according to Booklist contributor Gillian Engberg.
In what Rochman described as a "chatty, funny text", "Extreme Animals" introduces readers to a variety of creatures, all of which are capable of surviving in conditions that would kill most humans. Davies takes readers from harsh deserts and the dark depths of the sea to the sulfurous surface of volcanoes and the frigid polar regions, locations where cold-blooded frogs, water-toting camels, sulfur-eating microorganisms, and other creatures make quite comfortable homes. In her text, Davies compares these hardy critters with the weakling homo sapiens, adding an element of humor to a work that Rochman predicted would make biology "exciting" for young students.
Another picture book that combines fact and fiction, "Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear" takes a closer look at one of these hardy creatures through the fictional narrative of an Inuit. Praising illustrator Gary Blythe for contributing "impressionistic oil paintings of stunning polar settings," Booklist reviewer Jennifer Mattson deemed "Ice Bear" an "inviting" work and Amelia Jenkins praised Davies' "quiet, thoughtful book" for treating polar bears as animals rather than anthropomorphized creatures.
In "Poop", a subject of perennial fascination to many children is discussed openly. Grounding her description of the whys, wheres, and hows of animal defecation in scientific terms, Davies posits poop as the ultimate in recycling. She also includes an intriguing list of "Poop Facts", and further engages readers with humorous chapter headings that School Library Journal contributor Blair Christolon predicted would "bring a smile to many faces." In Kirkus Reviews a contributor deemed "Poop" a "breezy introduction" to the many facts — including uses — for the surprisingly useful substance, and Betty Carter noted in "Horn Book" that "Poop" takes its subject "out of the sewers and into the scientific community where it belongs."
Although Davies has also produced several novels for adults under the pseudonym Stevie Morgan, she does most of her writing for young readers. She also teaches creative writing at the college level.
(Variety of Life Our planet is full of life! Did you know ...)
2017(In this tale of a young boy, an old man, and a dauntless ...)
2017(A noted zoologist teams up with a playful illustrator to ...)
2011(In a remarkable collaboration, Nicola Davies and Emily Su...)
2018(After magnifying the beauty of unseen organisms in Tiny C...)
2017(This gorgeously illustrated volume of poetry — sprinkled ...)
2012(A young girl shares her observations about the mallards n...)
2014(Swim with a baby dolphin as he learns to survive — and pl...)
2014(Renowned picture book creators Nicola Davies and Petr Hor...)
2017(A touching picture book for children about a young boy an...)
2017(An allegorical tale of hope takes on new life in this sti...)
2017(Perfect is a story of anticipation, disappointment, accep...)
2016
Quotations:
“I am interested in communication — communication about zoology, about science, and about how we as humans experience and interpret our existence. I’m convinced that art and science are all part of the same picture and can contribute enormously to each other. It’s the crossovers and combinations of fields of interest that motivate me in life and work.”
"I've seen all sorts of animals, all over the world: chamaeleons in Madagascar, turtles in the Seychelles, walruses in the Arctic, bat eared foxes in Kenya, salt water crocodiles in Australia. But I still love the animals that are within reach of my home in Wales: the ravens and red kites, the grey seals and the choughs, the roe deer and foxes, even the blackbirds that nest in my tiny garden."
Nicola married Mark Harrison on July 21, 1984 ( but the couple divorced on December 19, 1997. They have two common children: Joseph and Gabriel.