Children’s author Jerry Pallotta speaks to children at Copper Island Academy Tuesday morning. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — Over a 40-year career writing children’s books, Jerry Pallotta has found one thing to brag about: He’s spoken at 4,000 schools across all 50 states. 

The Boston native made his latest appearance over multiple sessions at the Copper Island Academy Tuesday, telling students about his background, his writing and who would win in a fight between a jaguar and a skunk. 

“I’m a lucky guy,” he said after the last of the 100 children in one session had filed out. “I think I found a job that fits my personality. I’ve enjoyed talking to kids.”

The school had asked Pallotta to come earlier, but the visit was delayed during the pandemic, he said. He’s also visited other Upper Peninsula schools in Baraga and Marquette. 

In most cases, he’s visiting schools where his books have long preceded him. One teacher recently told him she’s been using his books for the past 30 years, he said.

His writing career grew out of his practice of reading to his children. His wife had insisted on it, he said. 

“I always joke around that if there was a blizzard, she would say, ‘Don’t shovel. Go read to the kids,'” he said. “The house is on fire? She’d say ‘Put it out later, read to the kids.’ She’s really strict about me reading to the kids all the time.”

He dutifully read books, but grew bored with the predictable nature of the A-B-C books geared toward teaching phonics — as he put it, “A for apple, B for ball, C for cat.”

That last one came the closest to charting his career path. He started teaching about different animals, using the alphabet as a base. 

“I just thought in my head one day, why don’t I write A through Z of fish? Why don’t I write A through Z of birds?'” he said. “So that’s what happened.”

His first book, “The Ocean Alphabet Book,” came out in 1985; about 100 more have followed since. He showed the children photos of his family and his past jobs, which included retrieving seaweed — which binds the cocoa and the milk together in chocolate milk, he told the kids. 

His love of the sea has brought him to rarities such as a yellow lobster, which have about a 1 in 30 million chance of being caught, he said. 

His popular “Who Would Win?” series has more than 30 installments. He was stuck in an airport during a thunderstorm when he began wondering who would win in a fight between a killer whale and a great white shark. 

The series has taken many forms, from natural rivals to more whimsical matchups, like the jaguar and the skunk. 

“We know the jaguar could win in one second, but does he want to be sprayed in the face?” Pallotta asked the children. “His eyeballs would be burning, his blood would be on fire, and he would stink for two weeks. Is that worth it? What if your teacher said, ‘Go to the cafeteria, eat a cheeseburger — but there’s a skunk there, he’s going to spray you in the face.’ Would you eat it?”

“Noooooo,” 100 children yelled in unison.   

Pallotta is working on several more ideas, including “Who Would Win” installments, a book on all-black animals and alphabet books using the Coast Guard and Air Force.

“I try to look for stuff that hasn’t been done,” he said. “I never saw any fraction books for kids, so I wrote some fraction books” including one he showed the children that used Hershey bars. 

For his closer, Pallotta brought five volunteers up from the audience. He set up the projector with one last image from his works — a great white shark, which he swooped towards the kids. One of the kids moved to punch the shark in the nose, setting up a potential sequel.

Afterwards, the children hung around as long as they could to ask him more questions. Even the students who had to walk away were treated to shots of penguins and elephant seals from his travels to Antarctica.

Fourth-grader Grayson Siira pronounced the day “pretty good.”

Pallotta enjoyed his time at the school. 

“The kids were well-behaved,” he said. “They didn’t throw any tomatoes at me at all. I’ve been to plenty of schools where the kids didn’t behave at all. Your kids are too good.”