Hiscock, Bruce 1940-

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HISCOCK, Bruce 1940-

PERSONAL: Born December 4, 1940, in San Diego, CA; son of Roy Burnett (a doctor) and Clara L. (a homemaker; maiden name, Hauser) Hiscock; married Mary Rebecca Habel (divorced, 1972); married Nancy A. Duffy (divorced, 1988); children: (first marriage) Julia Anne, Frederick William. Education: University of Michigan, B.S., 1962; Cornell University, Ph.D., 1966.

ADDRESSES: Home—354 Ballou Rd., Porter Corners, NY 12859. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Children's book author and illustrator. Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI, research chemist, 1966-68; Utica College of Syracuse University, Utica, NY, assistant professor of chemistry, 1968-71; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, laboratory director and equine drug tester at Saratoga Harness Track, 1972-80; Saratoga Springs City Schools, Saratoga Springs, NY, substitute teacher, 1980-90.

MEMBER: Adirondack Mountain Club, Nature Conservancy, John Burroughs Association, Audubon Society.

WRITINGS:

SELF-ILLUSTRATED JUVENILES

Tundra: The Arctic Land, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1986.

The Big Rock, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1988.

The Big Tree, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991.

The Big Storm, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.

When Will It Snow?, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1995.

The Big Rivers: The Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1997.

The Big Tree, Boyds Mills, 1999.

Coyote and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2001.

The Big Caribou Herd: Life in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Boyds Mills Press (Honesdale, PA), 2003.

ILLUSTRATOR

Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne, Nature's Great Carbon Cycle, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1983.

Pat Hughey, Scavengers and Decomposers, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984.

James Jesperson and Jane Fitz-Randolph, Rams, Roms, and Robots, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1984.

James Jesperson and Jane Fitz-Randolph, From Quarks to Quasars: A Tour of the Universe, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1987.

Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne, Radioactivity, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.

James Jesperson and Jane Fitz-Randolph, Exploring the Invisible Universe, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1990.

Gail Haines, Sugar Is Sweet, and So Are Lots of Other Things, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1992.

James Jesperson and Jane Fitz-Randolph, Mummies, Dinosaurs, and Moon Rocks, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1995.

OTHER

Contributor to magazines, including American Artist and American Kennel Gazette.

SIDELIGHTS: Bruce Hiscock has written a number of books about nature and wild animals. As he explained at his Web site, "As a kid, I spent a lot of time outdoors, and a lot of time drawing, too. Now I write about animals, trees, rocks, storms, and all the other amazing things I see."

During his childhood, Hiscock lived for two years in the Aleutian Islands when his stepfather got a job there working on airplanes. He later studied chemistry in college and, after deciding that work as a chemist did not suit him, he turned to writing and illustrating books for children. His work takes him to isolated and dangerous parts of the world where wildlife can still be found in an unspoiled state.

In his book Coyote and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest, Hiscock traveled to New Mexico's Chaco Canyon for the story of a coyote and a badger who team up to hunt for food together. Based in part on a Native American folk story and partly on his own observations, Hiscock's story follows the badger, who digs in the earth for prey, and the coyote, who chases his prey on the surface, as they realize that by working together they will both be able to find food during a drought. Lauren Peterson of Booklist praised Hiscock's watercolor illustrations, particularly "some lovely desert scenes." Boepple Penny, writing in Childhood Education, thought that Hiscock's "luminous" illustrations capture "the desert's scorching days and starry nights." "The research and realism of this story," Mary Elam wrote in School Library Journal, "present a useful addition to animal studies."

Hiscock introduces readers to the Alaskan frontier of his youth in The Big Caribou Herd: Life in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in which he chronicles the annual migration of some 130,000 caribou as they cross the Brooks Mountain Range and outwit the many predators who hunt them. Carol Foreman in School Library Journal believed that "this book adds to the understanding of a seldom-written-about part of the world." "The inherent drama, the beauty of unspoiled nature, and an admiration for a great wilderness come together into a fine nonfiction picture book," according to Julie Cummins in Booklist.

Hiscock once told CA: "I was never the kind of kid who read stacks of books every week. I was a good reader, but much of my own reading focused on finding out about things, like how to build a boat, or what plants I could eat if I had to survive in the woods. Mostly I loved to be active and doing projects, drawing, building, investigating the outdoors, fishing with my grandfather, and playing sports. . . . As a chemistry major in college, I treasured the few literature courses I could squeeze in among the many science classes, but my writing was still pretty ordinary. When I began writing papers and a Ph.D. thesis based on my own research, writing really became exciting for me. Many years would pass before that excitement would take the form of a children's book.

"I began my career in children's books in my mid-thirties following a divorce. It took ten years of hard work and tons of reading to bring my skills up to a professional level. I didn't realize it at the time, but I had one of the most important qualities a writer can have: self-discipline. I love work, and when I begin a project, I can't wait to sit down at the computer or drawing board each morning. Late in the day I may go for a hike, or paddle my kayak, or work on the house, or see friends, but not until I have put in enough hours to be either satisfied or frustrated with my efforts.

"My writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, includes several interlocking parts. First there must be a story line, something real to engage the reader, even in a science book. Then there is information, usually at different levels. Weather is the primary theme of The Big Storm, geography the underlying theme. I try to throw in some humor, at least enough to bring on a smile. Then I strive to make illustrations that will reflect the writing: beautiful, clean, full of details, but not too fussy. I want kids to feel they can enter the pictures. I work hard to maintain the balance between all of these things. I am not easily satisfied. I spend about two years on a picture book. One of the lessons of the artistic life is accepting yourself and your good effort as enough right now, knowing that five years from now, with practice, your work will be better. On most days I am simply grateful to be able to do the work I love."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 1, 1992, Ellen Mandel, review of Sugar Is Sweet and So Are Lots of Other Things, p. 332; November 1, 1993, Kay Weisman, review of The Big Storm p. 517; December 1, 1995, Hazel Rochman, review of When Will It Snow?, p. 641; June 1, 1997, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Big Rivers: The Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio, p. 1690; April 15, 2001, Lauren Peterson, review of Coyote and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest, p. 1564; February 1, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of The Big Caribou Herd: Life in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, p. 992.

Childhood Education, winter, 2001, Boepple Penny, review of Coyote and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest, p. 110.

Reading Teacher, November, 1992, review of The Big Tree, p. 239.

School Library Journal, March, 1987, John Peters, review of From Quarks to Quasars: A Tour of the Universe, p. 172; May, 1989, Jonathan Betz-Zall, review of Understanding Radioactivity, p. 130; June, 1989, Joyce Gunn-Gradley, review of The Big Rock, p. 99; March, 1991, Marha Topol, review of The Big Tree, p. 188; September, 1992, Carolyn K. Jenks, review of Sugar Is Sweet and So Are Lots of Other Things, p. 266; September, 1993, Steven Engelfried, review of The Big Storm p. 224; December, 1995, Susan Chmurynsky, review of When Will It Snow?, p. 81; July, 1997, Linda Greengrass, review of The Big Rivers: The Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio, p. 84; August, 2001, Mary Elam, review of Coyote and Badger: Desert Hunters of the Southwest, p. 153; March, 2003, Carol Foreman, review of The Big Caribou Herd: Life in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, p. 218.

Scientific American, December, 1989, review of The Big Rock, p. 150.

Washington Post Book World, November 9, 1986.