Festive Fun with... Jordan Bell

Time for the next Festive Fun with... feature and it's my pleasure to welcome Jordan Bell back to the blog. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Jordan Bell, I live in Adelaide, Australia, with my husband and daughter. I work with university students as my day job, but writing about science for children is my vocation! I took up cross-stitching during the pandemic and it remains a really relaxing hobby for me. I’m currently wearing a moonboot to recover from a fractured 4th metatarsal in my left foot, which has slowed down my other main hobby, listening to podcasts while I go walking in the horse paddocks near my home, considerably!

What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?
Seeing some family members who I haven’t been able to catch up with for two years because of COVID restrictions. 

Do you have any favourite family Christmas traditions? 
We give my daughter a new pair of pyjamas on Christmas Eve and then we all watch a Christmas movie together. “Arthur Christmas” is one of our favorites. 

What is your best Christmas memory?
Singing Christmas carols with my mum’s extended family – we all love to sing and it’s a special time.

Author Interview: Jordan Bell

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Jordan Bell back to the blog to find out a little more about her children's book Aunt Jodie's Guide to Evolution.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 
I’m a nerdy mum from Australia. I love reading, science, and talking about ideas. My daughter Ruby will be 7 this year, so she’s just edging into the demographic for my books. I have a PhD in Psychology – my thesis was on educational resilience, so I know a lot about how children develop and learn. I live on Kaurna Country in Adelaide, South Australia – close to the beach and the hills. My dream Sunday would be time alone in a café, reading all morning with a pot of tea, and then catching up with friends or family in the afternoon. 

If you had to give an elevator pitch for Aunt Jodie's Guide to Evolution, what would it be? 
I love science and I wanted to find a way to introduce big ideas in a way that was right for little minds. Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution is the first book in a series, introducing real science to kids in a way that’s easy to understand. It’s a perfect book for anyone who wants to foster a child’s interest in science.

Your professional background is as a psychologist and educator, what inspired you to decide to write this book? 
One of my mottos is “If not you, who? If not now, when?” – so when I realised in 2011 that I didn’t know of any books that would help children grow up with a strong scientific worldview as their intellectual foundation, I decided to write one! Thankfully the rest of the world also seemed to agree that this was important – in the years since then, there has been an explosion of STEM-focussed books for kids. However, I think Aunt Jodie’s Guide to Evolution is still one of the only books out there that teaches the scientific basics of evolution in a fun story format. 

How much research did you need to undertake before you started the writing/editing process? 
The entire book was meticulously researched. Genetics was my minor at university before I did my PhD in Psychology, so I was very comfortable with a broad general understanding of the topic. But to make sure I got the details right, I delved into the scientific literature including analysis of the fossil record, the history of debates around evolution, and even the timing of pre-historic volcanic eruptions. I tell you, you haven’t lived until you’re up at 1am reading about underwater rock strata and what they tell us about volcanoes near Iceland! Finally, to make sure that no errors had slipped past me, I asked a Professor John Long (an Australian expert in palaeontology) to read my manuscript and check it for accuracy. When he gave me a thumbs up, I knew I had a book that was ready to release.

Festive Fun: My Fantasy Christmas Dinner Party by Jordan Bell

Tonight it's time for the next Fantasy Christmas Dinner Party which is hosted by author Jordan Bell which she has described as Dinner in Space... enjoy.

Staring at my bookcase as I sought inspiration for my dinner party, I couldn’t help but notice the long line of Iain M. Banks novels taking up the top shelf. I began to imagine dinner onboard a gigantic Culture General Systems Vehicle, perhaps The Anticipation of a New Lover’s Arrival, or Congenital Optimist. I’d ask the Ship Mind to generate a bubble of atmosphere on the outer hull and we’d dine al fresco beneath the stars, travelling through space at a ferocious clip. 

The guests: Jernau Gurgeh, the skilled player of games; Diziet Sma, Special Circumstances agent, and her companion Drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw; Lady Sharrow of Golter; and Banks himself, reincarnated after death for a visit to the universe he dreamed up over four decades.