About Dianna
Dianna Hutts Aston is the award-winning author of many timeless, internationally acclaimed books celebrating the awe and wonder of nature. Her science series, illustrated by Sylvia Long, includes AN EGG IS QUIET; A SEED IS SLEEPY; A BUTTERFLY IS PATIENT; A ROCK IS LIVELY; A NEST IS NOISY; A BEETLE IS SHY; and the final in the best-selling series (One million + copies sold!), A SHELL IS COZY (Spring, 2023). Written in a style reviewers call ‘lyrical science,’ Aston presents a wealth of information about animal and plant life cycles; adaptations; rocks and minerals; pollination and seed dispersal; habitats; and reproduction. Her hope is that the information in the series – published in Russian; Korean; Chinese; Japanese; German; Danish; French; Greek, and Romanian – will inspire children to be more than merely inhabitants of Earth.
They will be compelled to be stewards of the planet we call home.
Dianna is also the author of THE MOON OVER STAR, a Coretta Scott King Honor book illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, recipient of multiple Caldecott awards. Two weeks after President Barack Obama took office, he and First Lady Michelle Obama selected the book to read to school children in the nation’s capital.
THE MOON OVER STAR was also chosen by NASA astronaut Melvin Leland to read at a Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) event celebrating African American History month.
Dianna said she hadn’t realized she was writing poetry until the 2004 debut of her second book, WHEN YOU WERE BORN, illustrated by E.B. Lewis, when a reviewer called the work “free verse.”
E.B. Lewis-Illustrator
Astronaut Melvin Leland
Nor had she known she was writing science books until AN EGG IS QUIET, illustrated by Sylvia Long, received the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences/Subaru SB&F prize for excellence in science writing, 2007. A BEETLE IS SHY was a top four finalist for the same award in 2017. As someone who’s more comfortable behind the wheel than on foot, Dianna said it was pretty cool to present A BEETLE IS SHY to children at Wilson Family School in Camden, NJ alongside Tom Doll, president and CEO of Subaru America on Friday the 13th, 2017.
And not until she was a guest on National Public Radio/International Public Radio’s “Science Friday” (Dec. ’17) did she say to herself, “I guess all that ‘never give up’ stuff really works!”
“Being a children’s book writer wasn’t one of my dreams,” Dianna said. “But when my children were young, I rediscovered picture books and thought, 'I want to do this!'” Before she became a full-time children’s book writer, she was a stay-at-home mom, an award-winning journalist and editorial writer, activity director at a nursing home for people with intellectual challenges, and a candy jar painter.
