For this interview, we visit with Pamela S. Turner, children’s book author with two new books out in 2016, Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune and Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird:
Which celebrity, living or not, do you wish would invite you to a coffee shop?
Sir Richard Francis Burton, the Victorian anthropologist, translator, linguist, and African explorer. I've had a huge crush on him ever since I read The White Nile.
Most cherished childhood memory?
Getting my first library card at age four. Mom said I couldn't get one until I could write my own name, so I learned in a flash.
Tea? Coffee? Milk? Soda? What’s your favorite go-to drink?
Why isn't "margarita" one of the options here?
Your favorite candy as a kid …
Abba-Zabba … or maybe Bit O' Honey … or maybe Big Hunk … no, wait! Cotton candy. I still love cotton candy. I have the taste buds of a three-year-old.
Is Pluto a planet?
No. But Pluto being demoted from planethood is a wonderful lesson in how science works. In science data matter, not tradition.
Best tip for living a contented life?
I think Buddhists have the best motto of all: "compassion for all sentient creatures."
Your hope for the world?
That we will find a way to live within our ecological means and not muck everything up for ourselves and for all other sentient creatures.
I should print your Buddhist motto out so I can have it hanging over my computer as a constant and gentle reminder, Pamela. What a great way to live one’s life. Maybe it will also help me have more compassion for those intelligent, but very loud, crows that seem to be always outside my studio and bedroom windows!
I wonder what the crows think of OUR voices?! Thanks so much for your comment!