Meeting Canadian Writers and Illustrators of Children’s Books
What inspires the writers of the books your students read? How does an illustrator decide what to draw? Is it true that most authors and illustrators don’t know each other? This column features a different Canadian children’s book creator in each issue and shows you the story beyond the covers.
Isabelle Groc is an award-winning photojournalist, book author, documentary filmmaker, and speaker focusing on wildlife science and conservation, marine ecosystems, and the relationships between people and the natural world. I first met her when she was a guest speaker on a cruise ship. I had read many of her books and I wanted to know more about this multi-talented Canadian writer, photographer, and speaker, so I asked her some questions.
Margriet: Your books deal with animals and are often survival stories. What came first, your love for wildlife or your love for writing?
Isabelle: As a child I loved nature, writing, and photography. I grew up in the south of France with family roots in Spain. My father loved spending time in nature and along the Mediterranean Sea. My earliest memories are from summers spent in Spain on the shore with my father, observing crabs and other small sea creatures. My father took me on bike rides in the French countryside, and encouraged me to pay attention to bird sounds, the trees around us, and all the smells from nature through the seasons. Nature became an existential part of me early on. At the same time, I loved reading and writing. I wrote my first novel when I was eight and decided to become a journalist when I was nine. I was given my first camera then. My sister was a photographer and taught me how to use it. I took every opportunity to gain journalism experience. I started working for a local newspaper at 14 and was editor of a local magazine I created for teenagers in my hometown.
Margriet: How do you decide which topic will make a good book?
Isabelle: I am trained as a journalist. During my first week as a student at Columbia Journalism School in New York, we were sent out into the streets in Harlem, randomly looking for story ideas using only observation, curiosity, and conversations with people. It was nerve-racking but excellent training. Since then, looking for good stories has become second nature for me. Deciding whether a story will make a good book depends on how much time I can spend on a particular topic and on the potential for obtaining good visuals. I like multidimensional stories that integrate facets of the relationship between people and the natural world, and convey a sense of hope and resilience.
My book Conservation Canines: How Dogs Work for the Environment is a good example of the type of long-term projects I work on. To tell the diverse stories of our amazing dog partners in conservation, from canines that detect endangered species to livestock guardian dogs that help reduce human-wildlife conflict, I travelled all over the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Africa, and worked with conservation groups for several years.
Margriet: You are bilingual, in French and English. Do you write books in French as well? Is it more difficult to write in English?
Isabelle: I give a lot of public talks, and I am equally comfortable speaking and writing in French and English. In fact, I love working in both languages. I have written many articles in French, but all my books are in English so far! I would love to write a book in French in the future.
Margriet: The photos in your work are amazing and tell their own stories. How did you become such a skilled wildlife photographer? Isabelle: With my background in photojournalism, I am always “seeing” stories unfold when I am writing. Conversely, when I take photographs, I am thinking about how these images will help build a narrative. Visual storytelling is an integral part of my creative process. Photographing a specific wildlife species for a book can take several years to fully tell the story. It takes perseverance, patience, time, commitment, and humility.
Margriet: Were you interested in the environment as a child, or did that come later?
Isabelle: My interest in the environment began when I was a child. I specifically remember learning about a massive oil spill that contaminated Brittany’s shoreline, including rocky shores, salt marshes, and estuaries, causing severe damage to marine life and the local ecosystem. I saw footage of suffering seabirds covered in oil and was devastated. Volunteers were needed to help clean up the beaches and seabirds, and I immediately wanted to go and help. My parents did not allow me, as I was too young, but it was a turning point for me. This is when I decided that I would be an environmental photojournalist, documenting the plight of vulnerable wildlife around the world. I kept that promise.
Margriet: You must be very patient to take such incredible photos of animals. Can you share an interesting anecdote about close encounters?
Isabelle: I have indeed traveled to some of the world’s most remote and uncharted destinations to raise the profile of diverse species and habitats, from following seabirds in isolated atolls in the South Pacific to documenting the elusive narwhal in the Arctic, swimming with humpback whales, photographing endangered caribou on British Columbia’s mountain tops, tracking coastal wolves in the Pacific Northwest, and filming tiny shorebirds on their extreme migration along the Pacific and the Atlantic Flyways to the Arctic.
I had a close encounter with a coastal wolf in British Columbia while camping on a small island. I was tracking a pack of coastal wolves through the forest in the early morning hours, but was not successful and headed back to camp. I cut through the forest, went to the beach, and when I turned around, a wolf was right behind me, watching me at very close range. It was a very peaceful encounter. The wolf was just curious and turned around and disappeared into the forest. I came to realize that this wolf had been silently following me all along, tracking me, and I was not even aware of it. It was incredible!
Margriet: What do you do during school visits as an author?
Isabelle: For school visuals, I combine visuals, video, and storytelling with fun science facts and personal stories. I particularly like to get children to experience a meaningful connection with wildlife. Children have a real sense of wonder and excitement when you tell them about animals. I love to inspire their curiosity about the complexities and beauty of the natural world. I also discuss what they can do as individuals to help protect wildlife and the planet, and hope as action is always a central message.
Whether the lectures inspire them to become marine biologists, environmental activists, or journalists, my hope is that they are encouraged to explore various forms of artistic expression from environmental photography to photojournalism techniques, journaling, writing, and filmmaking.
Margriet: Where in the world will you go next, and is there a new book in the making?
Isabelle: My latest book showcases how Anna’s hummingbirds have adapted to live alongside people in the urban environment, choosing unusual spots to nest. Published by Orca Book Publishers, A Hummingbird on My Balcony tells the true story of how one individual Anna’s hummingbird built a nest and raised her chicks on a family’s balcony on the 22nd floor of a high-rise building in the Vancouver area. It is a book for young children, illustrated with my own photographs. The story is told from the perspective of a young child, Noah, who observes the mother hummingbird building her nest, caring for the young, and preparing them to leave the nest. The book, awarded a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, discusses the threats hummingbirds face from pollution, pesticides, urban predators, and a warming climate. Readers learn that we can all help hummingbirds survive and thrive in urban areas with a few simple actions.
Isabelle Groc is the author of several books, including Gone is Gone: Wildlife under Threat; Sea Otters: A Survival Story; Conservation Canines: How Dogs Work for the Environment; and A Hummingbird on My Balcony, and all are illustrated with Isabelle’s photographs and have received several honours, including two American Society of Journalists and Authors Book Awards. Her award-winning documentary, Part of the Pack, explores the complex interactions between people and wolves, is currently streaming on the Knowledge Network. Isabelle’s most recent documentary, Sandpipers’ Last Supper, explores shorebirds’ epic migration from South America to Alaska and is available on CBC’s Nature of Things YouTube Channel and CBC Gem.
Check out her website here: https://www.isabellegroc.com/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margriet Ruurs
Margriet Ruurs is the author of over 40 books for children and conducts (ZOOM) school presentations: margrietruurs.com
Enjoy her travel-and-books blog here: globetrottingbooklovers.com
This article is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Spring 2025 issue.
