Alison Pearce Stevens

I was on NPR on Friday

Alison — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:47:34 +0000

I got to chat with Genevieve Randall about all things BEAVERS, how people and the environment can coexist, and how I transitioned from biologist to children’s author.

Check it out here (my section begins at 37:54).

Also: check out Jewel Roger’s poem at 23:33!

Detective Dogs is a Blueberry Honor Book!

Alison — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:37:50 +0000

Thrilled to have Evanston Public Library include Detective Dogs in this year’s list of Blueberry Honor Books!

This award recognizes books that foster a love of nature and the environment (the name is a blue-planet play on the Newbery Medal).

You can check out my acceptance video below.

SustainRT honorable mention!

Alison — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:02:43 +0000

Honored that the American Library Association’s Sustainability Roundtable (SustainRT) selected Detective Dogs as one of the best sustainability-themed children’s books published in 2025, honorable mention!

Every year, SustainRT curates a list of notable children’s books about nature, conservation, and communities which reflects the roundtable’s mission “To exchange ideas and opportunities regarding sustainability in order to move toward a more equitable, healthy, and economically viable society.”

Companion Animal Psychology blog

Alison — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:11:39 +0000

I had a lovely chat with Zazie Todd on her Companion Animal Psychology blog. We talked about conservation dogs, how the nose knows, and why invasive species are a problem we need to address. If you have a few minutes, check it out!

And if you have dogs or cats and want to know more about how to keep them calm and happy, Zazie can help you do that too.

K-9 Conservationists podcast

Alison — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 19:23:23 +0000

Thanks to Kayla Fratt for hosting me on the K-9 Conservationists podcast to talk about conservation dogs, Detective Dogs, and what makes these incredible canines such valuable team members in global conservation efforts.

Want to listen? (It’s short, just 28 minutes.) You can find it here.

Gruesome discovery details how bats hunt birds

Alison — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:25:41 +0000

This Halloween, a new bat is showing off its unique hunting skills. Scientists put trackers on greater noctule bats (which, despite their name, are just a few inches long) to learn how they hunt migrating songbirds. Turns out, they are master predators, taking down—and eating—small birds for the ultimate mid-flight meal.

I wrote about it for Science News Explores: Analyze This: Some bats feast on songbirds in midflight.

This mist-netted bat was caught with the remains of its high-flying meal stuck to its chin.
Photo by Jorge Sereno (permission via the study authors)

Did you know? There are 17 species of bats that eat vertebrates (animals with backbones), but only three eat birds. (according to Ilias Foskolos, who I interviewed for the article)

Want to know more? Check out my Science News article about these mic’d bats here.

Nebraska Book Award!

Alison — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 22:42:54 +0000

Huge thanks to the Nebraska Center for the Book for awarding Animal Climate Heroes a Nebraska Book Award for best cover/illustrations. All credit goes to illustrator extraordinaire Jason Ford and designer Jen Keenan for putting together a show-stopper of a book.

Bank Street Best Book!

Alison — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 19:07:42 +0000

Bank Street College of Education included Animal Climate Heroes in their list of the Best Children’s Books of the Year! The 2025 edition includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2024.

From Bank Street: In choosing books for the annual list, committee members consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes.

Blueberry Honor!

Alison — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:52:49 +0000

I am delighted to have Animal Climate Heroes selected as a Blueberry Honor book! Created by Evanston Public Library to recognize children’s books that foster a love of nature and the environment, the Blueberry (a blue-planet play on the Newbery Medal) is a huge honor, and I’m grateful for the recognition.

If you want to know more, you can check out Betsy Bird’s overview of the award ceremony here, see the full list of Blueberry Honor books here (be sure to click Show next 15 items at the bottom!), or check out some of the thank-you videos on YouTube.

Purple exists only in your brain

Alison — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 23:36:56 +0000

I learned this today, and it kind of blew my mind. We know a rainbow has seven colors, from red to violet (ROY G BIV). Violet is a true color. But purple isn’t! Purple is a mix between blue and red. When it comes to what our eyes see as different colors, it’s all about the wavelength of light. Red has a long wavelength. Blue is short. And purple combines the two. It’s the ONLY color that combines two completely different wavelengths of light. In terms of true colors (based on wavelength), purple doesn’t exist anywhere–except in your brain.

Although this leaf looks purple, it’s actually a combination of blue and red–your brain doesn’t know what to do with that, so it creates a new, blended, color: purple.

Did you know? Some scientists think the purple pigment found in some plants’ leaves acts as a sunscreen to protect them from too much light. source

Want to know more? Check out this deep dive into the color purple here.