The Picture Book Buzz - Interview with Danna Zeiger

Danna Zeiger is a neurodivergent scientist and author, who is passionate about making STEM accessible to all.

Formerly a biology professor and program director at Fisher College, Danna supported first-generation and underrepresented students. While homeschooling her three spirited kids, she created DrZatHome, a STEM accessibility and education resource. A published scientist, Danna's research has appeared in journals such as Science, Neuron, and PNAS, and she’s written for newspapers and blogs. Her expertise has been featured in the New York Times and on the Magical Mommy Monday podcast.

Her debut picture book, Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability, releases September 9^th.

Welcome Danna,

Thank you so much for having me, Maria!

Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write? How long have you been writing? What is your favorite book to write?)

I’ve always been a writer—as a kid, I kept an exploding tin of poems I wrote in various languages (I’m tri-lingual) and later, I served as poetry editor on my high school magazine. Growing up in an immigrant household from the USSR, we were only allowed to study math and science. I found my home and passion in neuroscience, and then molecular biology. I minored in math. However, I’ve always found ways to write creatively and express myself through grad school and professorship, and I’ve published pieces in Kveller, Chronicles of Higher Ed, other science blogs, etc. One dream I had for some abstract day in the future was to become a children’s book author, like many of my own favorite writers, who carried me through tough times as a kid.

When I resigned from my professorship and started homeschooling, I was reading dozens of books a week to my kids, and hundreds of books a month. I quickly learned that someone could max out their own, their husband’s, and all of their kids’ library cards simultaneously. While running an activity related to a Chris Van Dusen book (love him!) I had an idea and told my husband that “someone” should write it. He looked at me, and he said, “yes, you should.” And that is how I dove into a million classes, craft books, and online writing groups to make this dream a reality!

Ever since I dove into children’s book writing seriously, my writing time has evolved with my kids’ ages. I started when my youngest was a baby, so I had perpetually unpredictable time chunks (like nap time) and they were usually not too long. I was also reading picture books to all three of my kids, with only the occasional chapter book. My writing reflected this! I worked solely on picture books for a while. However, I wrote both fiction and nonfiction, always weaving in STEM or other themes into what I hoped was engaging storytelling. My hope is always for my reader to learn without realizing, and also, to introduce my reader to topics and ideas they may otherwise not be exposed to.

Eventually, as my kids got older, my time chunks grew more predictable and consistent (and longer!), and I was able to read longer novels myself, my writing repertoire grew, too. I write chapter books, middle grade, and a little young adult—all fiction and nonfiction. I have a few adult outlines, too, but I’ll need a lot more time for those 😊.

It is so wonderful to "meet" you, Danna! What do you like to do outdoors - either by yourself or with your family and friends?

I find the outdoors to be full of inspiration, and quite calming. I love to hike and forest bathe, both by myself and with my family. My husband is an amazing listener and I have untangled many storylines on hikes with him! However, my absolute happy place is truly the beach! I love to stare at the waves, reflect, process, and listen to the amazing sounds. Tide-pooling never gets old! It’s fun to bring our nature journals to all of these places, and my kids and I will draw, paint, or write about what we observe.

I don't think waves and tidepools could ever grow old. What was your inspiration or spark of interest for Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability?

My inspiration for this book was Kathleen herself!

As an undergraduate, I came to work in Dr. John Martin’s lab at Columbia’s Medical School researching the corticospinal system and its development, which I found fascinating. Dr. Martin assigned me to a postdoctoral fellow mentor in the lab, Dr. Kathleen Friel. Kathleen was kind, supportive, and wicked smart, as we say in New England. She was also the first academic, let alone scientist, I had met with cerebral palsy.

I grew up with a close family friend who was my age, who had CP. Unfortunately, unlike in Kathleen’s case, this friend’s cognition was impaired, so our experiences and play were quite different. Despite Kathleen’s sharp mind, I watched and heard about countless experiences of ableism and discrimination against Kathleen. All the while, Kathleen impacted my scientific career dramatically because she and Dr. Martin were both science mentors who were warm, personable, and felt like real cheerleaders for my journey. Kathleen was also an incredible role model for me and showed me that a woman in science could not only persevere, but that she could succeed in spades. Kathleen’s scientific accomplishments, discoveries, papers, and writing are wildly impressive, yet she remains humble while confident, and compassionate.

Kathleen was there for my senior thesis (even though I had worked at Merck prior, this felt like the scariest science presentation!!) and she helped me prepare. My favorite memory is that she caught my image of a spinal cord that was completely backwards 😊. She came to my wedding, as well, along with Dr. Martin and another scientist from the lab. They played important roles in my graduate school applications process, as well as my application to an NIH grant while in graduate school.

Despite moving further away after college, I kept in touch with Kathleen and watched and read about horrible scene after horrible scene she experienced. Crazy things I do not have to experience, like people trying to pretend they are Kathleen’s guardian on public transportation—and almost being kidnapped! Flight attendants unwilling to talk to Kathleen, only her friend.

When I dove into this children’s book author dream, I immediately knew I had to write about Kathleen. I was nervous but I reached out to her and asked if she would be okay with it, and she was! I’m so grateful that Kathleen trusted me with her story.

I am so glad Kathleen was put into your path and that she agreed to let you share her story. What is the hardest or most challenging thing about writing Rewriting the Rules? And what was the most fun?

Great question! The most challenging and most fun aspects of writing this book, for me, were one and the same: knowing Kathleen.

The hardest part about writing Rewriting the Rules was the fact that I know Kathleen and love her. It made the stakes very high for me. I was incredibly anxious about doing her story justice and getting her story right. It was personal.

The other challenge in knowing someone and writing about them is that there are so many facets to a person—how do you bottle that up, ignore fascinating and exciting threads that don’t have to do with your main thread, and prune it all down to one story? That was quite daunting.

However, knowing Kathleen (and loving her) made this also incredibly fun and gratifying. I had the immense privilege of inviting Kathleen and her parents over to my house for lunch and reading the book to them. Watching them clap, tear up, and laugh as I read was an experience I will never forget. As always in life, with greater challenge comes greater reward—and in this case, hopefully delivering on Kathleen’s amazing story feels indescribable.

It can be so tough to condense a life, topic, or event into a picture book and being a personal friend would make that so much harder. Maybe you have to write a MG novel about Kathleen, too. How many revisions did Rewriting the Rules take from first draft to publication?

Ha, I recently mapped this out and, in fact, wrote a whole post about this—stay tuned for Beth Anderon’s blog! From my very first draft and the beginning of research, through submission, through multiple editor revisions: the short answer is… (drumroll)…65! It really did take a lot of time, eyeballs, and attempts to get it right!

Thanks for sharing this. I will definitely keep an eye out for Beth's blog post. When you first saw Josée Bisaillon’s illustrations did anything surprise, amaze, or delight you? Which is your favorite spread?

Book back cover

So many things amazed me, delighted me, and surprised me in the very best way when I saw Josée’s illustrations! For example, I had written an illustration note suggestion for a dandelion motif. Josée ran with that idea in ways I had never imagined, and left easter egg dandelions everywhere! She also creatively integrated dandelions with neurons in the most beautiful way, embodying the very definition of STEAM. She put so much thought into so many, many little details of the illustrations—for example, the kids in Kathleen’s lab are the same kids whose grown-up pictures are hanging with their accomplishments. She’s amazing!

In thinking about illustrations, I articulated to the team that even though in kidlit, people’s faces are often illustrated more simply in a lovely and inviting way for kids, I wanted to make sure to capture Kathleen’s expressions and the physical manifestations of her CP. The team did an incredible job honoring Kathleen, and Josée really studied photos of Kathleen to bring her to life with authenticity and compassion. When Kathleen and her parents saw the book projected onto my TV as I read the text aloud, they exclaimed, “She captured Kathleen perfectly!” If that’s not #illustratorgoals then I don’t know what is!

What I also loved was how Josée captured the literal glow of a scientific mind. Through several spreads, she shows Kathleen either reading or studying results on a computer, and a glow of neurons, experimental subjects, or other pieces of science emanate from her in the most beautiful way. This is mirrored in the spread that similarly shows how Kathleen loved to play and imagine as a child—and how other children finally saw this. Josée’s illustrations bring to life all of these beautiful and important aspects of Kathleen’s story.

 Text © Danna Zeiger, 2025. Image © Josée Bisaillon, 2025.

My favorite spread (this actually feels like I’m choosing between my children because I love them all!) is probably the spread where Kathleen is just getting into science, on pages 12-13. Josée has a full-page illustration of one of her (what I call) “emanations” where Kathleen is reading a book and Josée shows that she is imagining the neurons flying from the pages. I just love this illustration, as well as the adjacent one, with the colorful brain captivating Kathleen!

Josée's illustrations are stunning and inventive. Is there anything special you want your readers to know or discover about Rewriting the Rules or Dr. Kathleen Friel? Or maybe something you wished you’d been able to put in the book or back matter?

I wish I could share many more of Kathleen’s stories that just couldn’t make it into the book. I want people—and kids—to know two things:

1.     Everything that Kathleen accomplished, she achieved because of really, really, exhaustingly hard work and perseverance—and also because of how her parents believed in her. I do show some of this in the book, but 32 pages isn’t possibly enough to capture the full depth. Kathleen came home one time with a “A” grade in her writing, and Kathleen’s mom went to complain to her teachers. Her mom said that Kathleen’s handwriting was abysmal and she didn’t deserve an A. The teachers were shocked and said that Kathleen tried so hard, they wanted to reward her effort. Kathleen’s mom was adamant that Kathleen needed to work harder. It was often really hard for her mom to watch Kathleen struggle, but she wanted to teach her daughter to work for the earned reward, and that the real world would not reward solely based on effort.

2.     The discrimination Kathleen faces far exceeds what I could capture in this book. Kathleen was almost kidnapped, as an adult, because another adult sitting on the train next to her pretended to be her caretaker. And the train conductor wouldn’t believe Kathleen. Kathleen, being the brilliant advocate she is, rallied her social media and others to bring herself to safety. But she shouldn’t have had to. She has been ignored by flight attendants who would only speak to her friend at the gate—and worse.

I hope I captured enough. I hope it’s a start. But what Kathleen – and others – go through must change.

I totally agree with you! Hopefully your shinning a light on this brilliant scientist, her work, and her experiences will cause others to help make the effort to create this change. As noted in the note in the back matter "experience drives change in society. So we are the ones who drive change." What makes you passionate about being a children’s author?

Many aspects of this career make me passionate about being a children’s author, but probably what drives me most of all is my own experience as a kid, and the comfort and safe haven I found in books. I hope to bring new voices, uplift others, and help every kid see themselves or understand the world better through my books.

I think your debut picture book is doing just that. Are there any new projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

I’m working on a bunch of new projects! One will hopefully be announced in the near future—a lyrical nonfiction picture book. In addition, I’m having the most fun co-writing a fiction middle grade novel with a friend and experienced author I have oodles of respect for and am learning so much along the way! I’m bringing lots of STEM into that story, as well 😊. Co-writing can be an incredible experience, and I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity. I’m also working on another fiction middle grade novel, and a few other side projects. Time is definitely my limiting factor!

They both sound intriguing! We will have to keep our eyes open for them. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park (anywhere in the world)? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?

I’m excited to visit a bunch of National Parks this year—my middle child is entering 4^th grade, which gives us free entrance to National Parks! As a result, I’m eagerly awaiting our trip to Acadia National Park, which is not terribly far from us in Maine!

Thank you, Danna, for sharing with us a bit about yourself and your new book.

Be sure to come back on Friday for the Perfect Picture Book #PPBF review of Rewriting the Rules: How Dr. Kathleen Friel Created New Possibilities for Brain Research and Disability.

To find out more about Danna Zeiger, or to contact her:

Website: https://www.dannazeiger.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drzathome

Twitter (X): https://x.com/home_zat

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrZatHome/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/drzathome.bsky.social

If you are in the area, check out Danna's book reading:

Sunday Story Time with Danna Zeiger

Sunday, September 14, 2025

11:00 AM 12:00 PM

Hummingbird Books (55 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467)