Watch a video interview with Nic Bishop.  

Nic Bishop is the talented photographer-illustrator of over twenty books, including the critically acclaimed titles Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Chameleon, Chameleon, and Backyard Detective: Critters Up Close.  His book Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea received the Orbus Pictus Award and was named a Robert F. Sibert Award Honor book.  His titles The Tarantula Scientist, and most recently Nic Bishop Spiders, have also been named Sibert Award Honor books.

Nic started taking photographs when he was nine-years-old, when he borrowed his sister's box brownie camera.  "We lived in Khartoum in the Sudan at that time, and it was an exciting place for a boy," he says.  When he was fourteen-years-old, his family moved to the Highlands of New Guinea.  "I went ‘walkabout' at weekends to local villages," Nic explains, "persuading their elders to take me on hunting trips into the mountains for birds of paradise. They were intent on shooting them with their bows and arrows, while I was hopeful of photographing them with an old camera." 

Nic received a graduate degree in biology in London.  He then traveled from London to Bangladesh, and ultimately ended up in New Zealand, where he lived for 17 years.  "I took a variety of jobs and then started a PhD," says Nic, "but spent almost every spare moment hiking and exploring alpine wilderness of New Zealand's Southern Alps. It was one long wonderful adventure, filled with awesome landscapes and occasional anxious moments with flooded rivers, ice avalanches and high winds."

Nic took a succession of cameras on these trips.  "After few years I had enough good photos to do my first book, Untouched Horizons, which was about the wilderness landscapes of the South Island. This was followed by several other books for adults about New Zealand's Natural History, which I both wrote and illustrated."

Although I had never considered doing children's books," says Nic. "It became evident that young readers liked some of my photographs, especially those of animals like frogs, insects and spiders. My biological training, and my upbringing by biologist parents, had helped spark an interest in the smaller animal that others sometime overlook.  So perhaps it was not surprising that I had a call from a children's educational publisher wishing to produce nonfiction books. They explained how some children do not respond well to fictional books and their interest in reading can languish as a result. I realized, on looking back to my early school years, that I was one of those children who didn't take to fiction. Reading never held my interest until much later when I discovered books that were about the real world of science, nature and adventure."

"Switching from adult to children's books was quite easy, for me," explains Nic. "As a writer one has to work with a reduced palette in terms of vocabulary and sentence construction. But as a photographer, very little change is needed. Even the youngest of children can interpret sophisticated images of nature. So I invest all the same skills and efforts in photographing for children that I do for adults. The work is every bit as rewarding, and I'm happy to say, a lot more fun."

Nic Bishop currently lives with his wife in Michigan, where he raised the insects, arachnids, and animals he photographs.   For more information, please visit www.nicbishop.com

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  The Teacher Store

  Nic Bishop Marsupials by Nic Bishop Most people know about lions, zebras, monkeys, and bears, but what about bettongs and bilbies? Or quolls and quokkas? And potoroos and pademelons? These animals live on the continent of Australia, along with kangaroos, koalas, and many other marsupials. With breathtaking full-page images, including a double-gatefold spread, Sibert-Honor photographer Nic Bishop introduces the beauty and diversity of these amazing animals. The simple, engaging text presents both basic information and fun, quirky $17.99 Hardcover Book | Grades Pre-K-3

  
  Nic Bishop Marsupials
  Grades Pre-K-3 $17.99
  
• Scholastic Store
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  The Scholastic Store

  Nic Bishop Marsupials by Nic Bishop Most people know about lions, zebras, monkeys, and bears, but what about bettongs and bilbies? Or quolls and quokkas? And potoroos and pademelons? These animals live on the continent of Australia, along with kangaroos, koalas, and many other marsupials. With breathtaking full-page images, including a double-gatefold spread, Sibert-Honor photographer Nic Bishop introduces the beauty and diversity of these amazing animals. The simple, engaging text presents both basic information and fun, quirky facts about marsupials' appearance, habits, and life cycle. An index and glossary are included. The amazing Nic Bishop has done it again! His latest book, Marsupials, will receive the attached starred review in the Oct 15th issue of Booklist. $17.99 books;hardcovers | Ages 4-8

  
  Nic Bishop Marsupials
  Ages 4-8 $17.99