PAMELA S. TURNER

Last weekend I was in San Diego for the AAAS Annual Meeting. There were sessions on food security, ocean acidification, the concept of time, the ethics of dolphin research, and hundreds of other topics. I told everyone I felt like a cat in a fish market. On Saturday night AAAS/Subaru SB&F awarded the science writing prizes (THE FROG SCIENTIST was the middle grade winner). It was so nice to meet so many people who value science writing--I met Diana Lutz, who used to edit Muse magazine, and Terry Young, the Chair of the Committee that awarded FROG the prize. He's a biologist with advanced degrees in education and library services. I'm so glad to know people like that exist! I also met Molly Bang, the winner in the picture book category for LIVING SUNLIGHT, which was one of my favorite books of the year. And the young adult winner, Idan Ben-Barak, was adorable. I bought his book about microbes and can't wait to read it. Julian, husband of Maren, chair of the committee that chose Idan's book, took some great photos and posted them on his blog.

Andy Comins (the photographer) and I just won a middle-grade science writing prize from the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science. I'm so happy!