Patricia J. Murphy

From A VISIT TO THE AIRPORT

THE AIRPORT
People use the airport every day. They take trips and go on vacations. Travelers stand in line at ticket counters. They show their tickets and check their bags.

Travelers go through security at the terminal. Security workers keep airplanes safe. Travelers wait for airplanes to take off and land.

AROUND THE AIRPORT
Airport workers get airplanes ready. They check, fix and clean airplanes. Flight control workers work in towers. They tell pilots where to go.

TAKING OFF
Airplanes take off and land on runaways. Workers direct airplanes on runways with lights. Flight attendants show passengers how to be safet on flights.

Pilots fly airplanes to many places around the world.


Copyright © 2005, Capstone Press.

To write about things you don't know, you must experience things first hand and interview experts that are in the trenches--or in the middle--of what you want to know about. That's why when I began researching A VISIT TO THE APPLE ORCHARD, I visited one of the few remaining apple orchards in Northern Illinois. I had the pleasure of interviewing its owner, Bob Quig, spoke to an expert with a noted APPLE Journal, saw first-hand how apple orchard workers picked apples, walked through rows and rows of apples, and ate a whole bunch (or was that a peck?) of apples.

When I wrote A VISIT TO THE DENTIST OFFICE, I opened my mouth and interviewed a number of dentists, sat in their fancy chairs, watched them at work, and I prayed that I didn't have any cavities. (Luckily, I didn't!)

While researching A VISIT TO THE AIRPORT, I interviewed a pilot who took me on a tour of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport--and every inch of the United Airlines terminal. I saw where the planes come and go, stood in the air control tower, watched how bags bopped from the registration counter to the airplane--and how workers prepped the plane for passengers, and actually sat in the cockpit! (Even as a grown up, this was quite a thrill:)

Last but not least, while researching A VISIT TO THE POLICE STATION, I interviewed many different police men and women and police department personnel in the Chicago, IL and Northbrook, IL police departments. I was also treated to a special tour of the Chicago Police headquarters and a visit with the then superintendent, Terry Hillard. While I was at the HQ, we stopped for a quiet moment in a very sacred place--where the department displays the badges of the fallen Chicago policemen. One of them belonged to my Great-Grandfather, Thomas Matthew Tighe. He was shot in the line of duty in 1911. I dedicated my police station book to his memory and sacrifice.

FOR THE VISIT TO SERIES:
"Take students to the airport, the apple orchard, and other community places with this series. Big photographs and easy-to-read text help students understand their connection to the world around them."
--Learning Magazine, October 2004

FOR A VISIT TO THE POLICE STATION:
"With simple text and photographs, readers meet the police dispatcher, have fingerprints taken, and glimpse the jail cell. Includes glossary, index, and web sites."
--Teacher Librarian, June 2005