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The write to read

BY RONNIE BLAIR

THE TAMPA TRIBUNE

Published: May 6, 2009

Carol Crane developed good writing habits at an early age when her grandmother provided a brown piece of paper and told her to write down one good thing that happened each day.

"I am still writing every single day in a journal," said Crane, author of 14 children's books, including "S is for Sunshine: A Florida Alphabet."

Crane visited with students at Gulfside Elementary School last week and shared writing tips and stories of her adventures researching her books. She urged the children to always carry a notebook and a pencil to jot down things they see and want to write about.

She suggested they also carry a disposable camera because they can study a photograph for details they might have missed in person.

She also told them they absolutely must pick up books and read them.

"If you want to be a writer," Crane said, "you have to be a reader."

Crane grew up as the kind of little girl who didn't mind getting dirty, perhaps to her mother's chagrin.

Her mother wanted a prim and proper daughter. Crane showed the children a photograph of herself as a little girl, dressed daintily with a bow in her hair and holding a doll, a pose that matched her mother's expectations.

Crane and dainty didn't mix well. She dreamed of becoming a cowgirl, though she never got to own the horse of her childhood dreams.

Crane still likes adventure mixed in with her writing life. While researching "S is for Sunshine," she stayed with a Seminole family in the Everglades.

She rode an airboat, taking care to keep her mouth closed so bugs didn't fly in as the boat scooted swiftly over the water.

In the Florida Keys, she went snorkeling to experience a nose-to-nose meeting with a queen angelfish, which represented the letter Q in "S is for Sunshine."

She and her son ventured into the Gulf of the Mexico where they banged the side of their boat to attract dolphins, which leapt about them, inspiring Crane to write these words: "D is for Dolphin, dancing around my boat. Diving, jumping just for me, dolphin play is fun to see."

For Crane, getting out and experiencing the world plays a key role in writing.

"If you see things, you can write about them much better," she told the children.

Crane spoke three times April 28 at Gulfside Elementary, with the children divided into age groups for each session. Later she would lunch with some of the students.

"We have a full day for her," Assistant Principal Claudia Steinacker said.

Crane originally hailed from Michigan, but she and her husband moved to Bradenton to escape the harsh winters. She now claims Holly Springs, N.C., as her home, and "T is for Tar Heel" is another of her books. A list of all her books is on her Web site, www.carolcrane.org>.

Crane's route to the life of a children's book writer came about almost by happenstance. She became interested in children's literature when she ran a bookstore in Flint, Mich.

She decided to study the topic and eventually became an education consultant.

In 1998, Crane was speaking at the University of Michigan when the moment came that launched her career writing children's books. In the audience was an editor from Sleeping Bear Press, who told her of a new series of state alphabet books the publishing company planned and asked her to help write them.

The goal was to use the alphabet to teach the children about all 50 states.

Crane thought it was a great idea. She still does.

"For all our mobility today, we still have kids who don't leave their own states," she said.

She has 14 published books to her credit. Three more are in the process of being published, and she is under contract for another three. Sleeping Bear Press finished alphabet books for every state and is working on state-themed number books, including Crane's "Sunny Numbers: A Florida Counting Book."

In addition to Florida, Crane has written alphabet books or number books tied to Texas, Alaska, North Carolina, Alabama, Delaware, Georgia and South Carolina.

Alaska is a favorite. She lived with an Inuit family while researching her book on that state and paddled a kayak to get a closer look at a glacier.

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