ASK Author: A Summer of Silk Moths by Margaret Willey

Award-winning author Margaret Willey has written a novel that begins with a high school lepidopterist named Paul McMichaels who keeps a journal about moth discovery, collection and display. Nearly twenty years later, Nora McMichaels—a runaway who never met her father, comes to a Michigan nature center called Riverside, where Paul’s memory still lives. Recently, A SUMMER OF SILK MOTHS was chosen for an Honor Award by the Green Earth Book Awards, an award that is given annually to books which inspire children and young adults to “grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for their natural environment.” Willey discusses the necessary preparation and research she undertook to create characters that are connected by their shared interest in the sciences. She will also touch on her use of a real Michigan nature center, Fernwood Botanical Gardens in Buchanan, Michigan, as a prototype for the setting of her novel. It is not necessary for students to have read A SUMMER OF SILK MOTHS. Willey will provide a synopsis, as well as relevant visual material. Students will be invited to ask questions about the writing life, as well as the author’s own interest in Lepidoptera and the natural sciences.

Grade Level: 9-12

This Program is Offered By:

TWICE (open to everyone)

Students Will Interview:

Author Margaret Willey

Resources:

This page is an archive of a 2010-2018 Wikispaces site that hosted information about the ASK (Author Specialist Knowledge) Process.