The Rare Dual Cover Reveal: Mary Kay Carson Discusses Before It Was a Wildfire AND Before It Was a Hurricane!

Today we’ve a dual delight for your enjoyment. Two nonfiction picture books are slated to be released this year by author Mary Kay Carson and illustrator Jieting Chen. These books’ topics are also uniquely suited for the day and age in which we live. On April 7th we’ll see the release of Before It Was a Hurricane and Before It Was a Wildfire is out August 25th. Best of all, I am being allowed to premiere the covers for both books on this site today AND interview Mary Kay in the course of things.

Before we get to any of that, I do need to give you a sense of these books in some way. What makes them remarkable (and unique) is that they tell their stories by going backwards in time. Or, as the description of Before It Was a Hurricane put it:

Before It Was a Hurricane starts at the peak of the action-the chaos and power of a hurricane at full strength-before stepping backward through time. Follow its four-thousand-mile journey from a hot desert breeze to the most destructive storm on Earth.

Imagine a Pinter play as an informational picture book and you’ll have a sense of what this means. Of course, Mary Kay can explain this a heckuva lot better than I can:

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Betsy Bird: Mary Kay! Thank you so much for talking to me today, and congrats on your 2026 releases of BEFORE IT WAS A HURRICANE and BEFORE IT WAS A WILDFIRE! I’m always particularly interested in informational books for kids that use original methods of storytelling. The concept of beginning with the dramatic storm or wildfire and then backing it up to a place of safety is simultaneously counterintuitive and effective. Many authors would think the logical method would be to go the other way, but I can see distinct advantages to your format. Where did you get the idea to present these concepts this way?

Mary Kay Carson: I’m always on the lookout for inventive and unique book structures! Especially ones that put a new twist on topics that kids love. The idea of using reverse chronology to illuminate scientific phenomena and processes struck me while discussing Lesa Cline-Ransome’s Harriet Tubman biography, Before She Was Harriet, with my critique group. I instantly thought of hurricanes and how they progress through distinct stages, just like a human life. Why not start with what’s most exciting and familiar—the full-blown storm or raging wildfire? Kids love natural disasters for the drama, so better to present that first, harness their engagement, and then use it to sustain their attention into the how-we-got-here part. 

BB: Complex scientific concepts and picture books can work together in tandem but it requires a lot of thought and creativity on the part of the writer. Not only do these books have to explain the science in their backmatter, but for the stories themselves to make any sense at all you have to have science worked into the texts as well. What methods do you prefer when it comes to simplifying without dumbing down? And are there elements to these books that were just too complex or peripheral to include at all? 

Mary Kay: My science-writing skills grew out of my time (30+ years ago!) working on Scholastic’s elementary magazine, SuperScience. Under the tutelage of talented editors, I learned to write to a child’s experience and interests on their level. Breaking down the science into fundamental bits and then reassembling them using understandable language in a kid-friendly way is like a puzzle—frustrating, fun, and ultimately oh-so gratifying. Conveying every element of a scientific concept isn’t ideal for kids (or adults, often) as there’s always a deeper dive. It’s a matter of choosing what’s essential and then engaging kids through precise writing. My science writing toolbox? Sensory details, references/analogies that speak to young people’s own lived experiences, limited new terms defined primarily in context, using comparisons instead of incomprehensible large numbers, varying sentence lengths, etc. When I get stuck on how to convey something complicated, I study explanations by watching videos, reading books and articles aimed at everyone from toddlers to experts, and talking to whomever will tolerate my questions. After a while the essential elements reveal themselves, find a voice, become text—and are then rewritten, honed, and edited.

BB: I saw that you thanked the scientists of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in your dedication. Did you work with any of them on this book at all for research purposes? And what kind of research and sources did you yourself use?

Mary Kay: The National Hurricane Center, which collects and disseminates data and information about tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). And I used their sources to create the book’s fictitious hurricane Bret (not a coincidence that Brett Duquette is the editor!). I dedicated Before It Was a Hurricane to NOAA because they deserve a shout out of appreciation during the anti-science, anti-federal workers, anti-climate mitigation times we’re currently slogging through. It breaks my heart and darkens my soul to think of all the scientific progress lost and suffering experienced by career scientists serving the public good. I often think of the meteorologists, climate scientists, wildlife biologists, planetary scientists, and other researchers I’ve known and interviewed over the decades and worry for them. It’s a monumental and crushing loss of experience and knowledge that will adversely affect the future of those I write for.

BB: Your book’s text was paired alongside the art of Jieting Chen. Where you aware of Jieting’s work prior to this book? And what do you think about the final product? 

Mary Kay: I’d only seen Jieting Chen’s work in Ice Cycle before they became the series’ illustrator. But I can’t imagine the books without their artistic input at this point! The books have a stunning fold-out double-spread gatefold of the disaster’s climax full of Easter-egg-like objects that make appearances back through time. (Whose crumpled bike was that? When did the gray car burn up?) Each book features a parallel story, told solely through Jieting’s illustrations, of a family dealing with the disaster. Those entire narratives—who people are and how they’re related, what jobs they’re doing, how they’re preparing and rising to challenges during and before the emergency—are all masterfully conveyed through their illustrations. Jieting’s art not only illustrates, it adds layers of interaction and meaning to the book. The illustrations cleverly add information by depicting radar images on computer screens, pertinent road signs, alerts on phones, and background news broadcasts. I feel like these illustration clues accurately depict how modern humans gather information and make decisions in potentially dangerous situations. It’s brilliant! 

BB: Hurricanes and wildfires are logical ways of going with this series, but do you have future books in mind as well? And can you tell us their topics? 

Mary Kay: I’m working on Before It Was a Tornado right now! It has a 2027 release date. And I’ve tons of other books in mind for the series. Not just other natural disasters (volcanoes, earthquakes) but life science (metamorphosis, forest succession) and earth science (rocks, fossils, black holes, solar systems) topics. Even stars are born, live, fade, and die. As they say, change is the only constant. To my mind, a reverse chronology structure gives a fresh perspective. By hooking readers right away, a reverse chronology structure fuels reader interest in discovering the steps that created the result. That can encourage critical thinking, stimulate creativity, and promote new ways of understanding familiar topics. Instead of wondering what’s next, readers will want to know what happened before! 

BB: Excellent! And finally, what else are you working on? What’s next?

Mary Kay: Over the past two decades I’ve nearly always been working on a Scientists in the Field book. (My photographer husband Tom Uhlman and I collaborated on seven titles in the middle-grade series.) But as I understand, HarperCollins/Clarion is no longer actively acquiring new titles for the series. And while I so loved researching and writing those books, tastes change. Young people have many more choices when looking for information these days. Books aren’t the only way to learn. For me, the big question of the moment in informational books is: Why is this a book? What does a book uniquely bring to a topic or provide a reader with compared to other types of informational media? These are the types of books I’m interested in writing. Figuring out the particulars is what’s next for me. Fingers crossed!

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I’ve nothing but thanks to offer to Mary Kay for so carefully answering my questions here today. So now, as promised, here are the covers of her upcoming books!

Brilliant notions for brilliant books. Huge thanks to Mary Kay for answering all my questions today. Thanks too to Amy Goppert and the team at Little Bee Books for helping to put all of this together! Before It Was a Hurricane is out April 7th and Before It Was a Wildfire is out August 25th.

Filed under: Cover Reveal, Interviews