Valley Journal
Valley Journal

This Week’s e-Edition

Current Events

Latest Headlines

What's New?

Send us your news items.

NOTE: All submissions are subject to our Submission Guidelines.

Announcement Forms

Use these forms to send us announcements.

Birth Announcement
Obituary

Missoula author talks about books, writing

Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local. You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.



Subscribe now to stay in the know!

Already a subscriber? Login now

POLSON — Linderman student Sean Calahan’s favorite book by Sneed B. Collard, III, is “Shep, Our Most Loyal Dog.”

“It’s about a dog; his owner got sick and died. He (Shep) waited every night for years for his master at the train station,” Calahan explained.

Linderman librarian Roxanne Hovenkotter has been reading a selection of Collard’s books to Linderman students so when Collard paid a visit to Linderman, the children would be familiar with some of his books. On Jan. 27 Collard talked to students about Shep and his other books as he described his path to becoming a writer. Cherry Valley students joined Linderman students to listen to Collard’s presentation.

Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Collard’s exposure to nature and animals as he grew up —both his parents were biology students — was early training to be a writer of science books for young people. The Collard family moved to California when Sneed was five months old so his parents could attend the University of California in Santa Barbara. They lived within blocks of the Pacific Ocean. Collard’s mom studied for her master’s degree and taught high school science while his dad worked towards his doctorate.

As a graduate student, Collard’s dad taught classes and often took young Sneed along with his students on field trips. One such field trip was to Morrow Bay mudflats to dig up giant clams.

When he was eight, Collard’s parents divorced. While it was a sad time, Collard said a good thing that came out of the divorce was that he began traveling. Traveling provided fodder for the books Collard would write later in life.

When Collard’s father got a job in Massachusetts, the two set off on a road trip across America “in my dad’s old Volkswagen squareback car.” Father and son visited wonders such as the Grand Canyon, the Indianapolis speedway and the Smithsonian Museum along the way.

When Collard’s mother later remarried it was to one of the world’s firefly experts. Collard accompanied them to Asia, the first time he traveled overseas.

“Hong Kong blew my mind,” Collard remembered, ”with all those people and signs in Chinese.”

He began keeping a diary to record all the amazing things he saw as the trip continued through Malaysia, where Collard first saw a tropical rain forest, Thailand, Bali and Singapore.

Back in the states, Collard’s dad got an assistant professorship in Pensacola, Florida, where Collard happily spent summers with him in his teens.

Going to the university with his dad, Collard became a lifelong reader as he whiled away hours on the top floor of the university library. He read the Hardy Boys series and books by Roald Dahl. By the time he was a fourth grader, Collard was reading “The Lord of the Rings.”

Collard encountered new animals, too. When it rained, turtles would venture up on the highway where Collard and his dad would rescue them. By the end of Collard’s second summer in Florida, he had more than 20 turtles penned up in the backyard where he cared for them and kept notes about their behavior.

In college Collard became a marine biologist, learned to scuba dive like his dad, and spent summers at Friday Harbor in Washington. He also got a degree in scientific instrumentation so he could support himself. He knew he wanted to write, but he wasn’t sure “what” to write so he tried writing science books for young people. At first Collard wrote for children’s magazines like “Highlights” and “Cricket.” After sending out queries, an editor asked him to write “Sea Snakes,” his first published book.

At present, Collard has written about 100 books with approximately 50 of them published. Thirty of his books are science books for young people. Collard also wrote a book about that Montana institution, the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale.

Lately, his career has been going to the dogs, Collard said, smiling. He recently got Mattie, a border collie from the Missoula Animal Shelter. He even used photos of a border collie in his book “Shep, Our Most Loyal Dog.”

All of Collard’s life experiences and research, including visiting a coral reef and diving to the bottom of the sea in a submarine, provide him with ideas for his books.

Collard’s newest project, a mystery novel for young readers, is the second in the Slate Stephens mysteries.

For more information about Collard and his books, check his website at www.sneedbcollardiii.com.

One of his young readers in Polson might follow his lead — travel, observing animals, a love of reading — and become an author also.

Sponsored by: