By Emily Williams
From the office of Charles Ghigna’s “treehouse,” a 1927 English Tudor in Homewood, the poet and author has pumped out more than 100 children’s books, and on Oct. 1 he will celebrate the release of a book he calls his “biggest and baddest.”
Backed by Time Inc.’s Animal Planet and Discovery, Ghigna has written “Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool Animals,” a 128-page book that explores some of the world’s creepiest of crawlies. While most of his picture books have gotten a first print run of 5,000 to 10,000 copies, Animal Planet is planning to break Ghigna’s personal record and print 50,000 copies in the first run.
The book is a coffee table size collection of close-up photographs taken by some of the world’s top nature photographers. Ghigna was tasked with writing the text for each animal, profiling the creature in terms suitable for a child of 8 to 12 years old.
“It was a little daunting at first, but once I got started it was fun being pushed out of my comfort zone to see what I might create,” Ghigna said. “Laura Tucker and the other children’s librarians at the Homewood Public Library helped me get started by providing me with stacks of great reference books for my research.”
While Ghigna’s wife, Debra, was always on hand to offer support, suggestions and a pot of coffee, his granddaughter Charlotte provided a child’s perspective.
“She liked sitting at my desk looking at each new spread that came in to my computer from my editors in New York,” he said. “Once while Charlotte was looking at the photos and reading the text aloud, I heard her read the same word twice. She caught a typo, becoming perhaps the first 5-year-old proofreader in the world!”
Honoring her voluntary help, Ghigna gave Charlotte his very first advance copy of the book, which arrived days before her birthday.
“Her reaction to the book was priceless,” he said. “She immediately sat down at the kitchen table and began reading it aloud to me – as though I needed to know exactly what I wrote.”
Ghigna and Animal Planet’s mission for the book is to present kids with the fascinating side of animals that are normally seen as scary.
“I looked for the all the strange, unusual, gross and cool things I could about each animal and tried to give the reader a light-hearted, fun look at each one,” he said.
Many of the species are newly discovered, making their homes in distant parts of the world. As many of them are highly dangerous, Ghigna learned everything he could about each animal through the safety of a computer screen, books and photos.
If he could, he said, he would have loved to meet some of those more bizarre creatures like the blobfish. Known as the world’s ugliest fish thanks to its muscleless form and fleshy color, the fish resides at ocean depths of up to 4,000 feet off the coasts of Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania.
Living a little closer to home is Ghigna’s favorite “scary” creature, the Rosy Wolfsnail. Originally from Hawaii, the species has found a home in Alabama and, according to Ghigna, “is now proliferating like kudzu.” The creature is a cannibal and three times faster than any other snail.
Though the book is quite different from his normal children’s fiction in rhyme, Ghigna pays homage to his poetic nature by beginning each section with a poem.
“No matter what the subject, I always feel it is my job as a writer for children to present the material in an entertaining way,” he said. “For me, that usually results in using humor and rhyme in the most original way I can. I was grateful that my Animal Planet editors allowed me to sneak in a few bits of poetry and wit.”
On Oct. 1, Ghigna will host a celebratory event at the Homewood Public Library from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. In addition to introducing “Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool Animals,” he will present his new children’s book “A Parade of Puppies.” Ghigna will be joined by adoptable dogs from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, but he said he hasn’t offered an invitation to the Rosy Wolfsnail.
“Strange, Unusual, Gross and Cool Animals” is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be released Oct. 11.
For more information on Ghigna, visit charlesghigna.com.
