Nancy Rose
BIOGRAPHY
Nancy is the author/photographer of 4 picture books in the Secret Life of Squirrels series, and two board books featuring Oakley the Squirrel. She is a retired high school Family Studies teacher and Guidance Counsellor. In 2010 she started making squirrel size props (a barbecue, mailbox, washer and dryer, etc) and dioramas, and she captured photos of backyard squirrels when they explored her sets to find the hidden nuts. Her humorous photos of the squirrels appeared online and in newspapers and magazines world-wide. In 2014 her first children’s book, The Secret Life of Squirrels, was published in Canada, U.S., Japan and South Korea.
Nancy is the author/photographer of 4 picture books in the Secret Life of Squirrels series, and two board books featuring Oakley the Squirrel. She is a retired high school Family Studies teacher and Guidance Counsellor. In 2010 she started making squirrel size props (a barbecue, mailbox, washer and dryer, etc) and dioramas, and she captured photos of backyard squirrels when they explored her sets to find the hidden nuts. Her humorous photos of the squirrels appeared online and in newspapers and magazines world-wide. In 2014 her first children’s book, The Secret Life of Squirrels, was published in Canada, U.S., Japan and South Korea.
For classroom visits, Nancy brings along a big tote box filled with a variety of her homemade props and she talks about the challenges of writing a story that is illustrated with photos of her backyard squirrels as well as the fun of creating her props with found, recycled and dollar store materials. She invites students to think about what the next adventures of her squirrels could be if they were writing the next book and how they would make the props and get the squirrels to interact.
Nancy is available for live classroom presentations and also for Google Meet/ Zoom sessions, which went over very well in the 2020-2022, and with schools in other provinces.
PUBLICATIONS
The Secret Life of Squirrels (2014), Merry Christmas Squirrels (2015), The Secret Life of Squirrels: A Love Story (2016), The Secret Life of Squirrels: Back to School (2018) Oakley the Squirrel: The Search for Z (2021), Oakley the Squirrel: Camping 1,2,3 (2023) The Secret Life of Squirrels Wall Calendars (2021-2024)
AWARDSShort-listed for the Lillian Sheppard Award for Excellence in Illustration (2015), Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award (Washington Library Media Association, 2016), selected for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (2017 to 2019)
