Book in the Works!

....And here's another hint:

These tidy bundles of rope are called Monkey's Fist knots. They're especially handy on boats where they can be used to weight the end of a throwing line or as fenders to keep a boat from banging against the dock.

Claire Eamer photo 

More hints to come as we get closer to publication date, which is -- sadly -- still well in the future.

What Next?

 What next, indeed! I'm working on a new kids' non-fiction book for publication by the wonderful and prolific Orca Book Publishers. It's early stages yet, but I'll tell you more about it as the work progresses. In the meantime, here's a hint:

Claire Eamer Photo

Extremely Gross Animals Gets Some Love!

My latest kids' science book, Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations, has cropped up in a couple of very satisfying places recently.

It's a finalist for the 2023 Diamond Willow Award, Saskatchewan's children's choice award. My picture book, Underneath the Sidewalk, won the related Shining Willow Award a few years ago, and the award celebration and ceremony in a Saskatoon school was beyond awesome. Great to be in the running again, Saskatchewan!

Also, Extremely Gross Animals is on the book list for the TD Summer Reading Club. I hope it's an inspiration for kids to look closely at the world around them while they're out enjoying summer holidays.

Come find me at Word Vancouver this September

Heads-up that I'll be at Word Vancouver on Saturday, September 16, promoting my most recent science book, Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations. I'll post more details closer to the time (and when I know more details). 

In the meantime, enjoy this very odd camel I spotted recently on a plate in a museum in Toledo, Spain. It's neither stinky nor slimy, but it's definitely a bit strange!

Have we got some books for you! And some authors too!!

Looking for a good science book? Go straight to Sci/Why, a group blog by Canadian kids' science writers for your science fix.

The blog was launched in 2011 by a few writers (including me) who wrote science books and articles mainly or partly for kids. Our idea was to help Canadian kids, parents, teachers, librarians -- and even scientists -- find us, their science-writing home team.

Since then, more than eleven years ago, the blog team has shifted and changed, people have joined it and left and some have come back again. Some of us who were there at the beginning are still there. We promote our own books and each other's books, but mainly we just write short pieces about whatever our current scientific fascination is.

And the current fascinations can be....well....fascinating. Way back in the first year of the blog, Judy Wearing explained why Santa's hair is white. In 2012, Jan Thornhill explained why slime molds make her happy. More recently, Kiron Mukherjee talked about the importance of representation and diversity in science and elsewhere -- and about his mother's loving quest, long ago, to find a brown Cabbage Patch doll just for him.

And me? 

Well, my latest fascination is the Arctic Woolly Bear caterpillar of the Eastern Arctic and its close cousin, the Beringian Arctic Woolly Bear, first spotted just over a decade ago on a mountain in the Yukon, hundreds of kilometres south and west of the Eastern Arctic. You can read all about it here, on Sci/Why.

Enjoy!

And it's here!

Officially released into the wild today, June 1 -- Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations (Kids Can Press). You know you want all that grossness!

One week to go!

 It's coming fast! (bounce...bounce...bounce) 

June 1 -- just a week from today -- is the Book Birthday for EXTREMELY GROSS ANIMALS: STINKY, SLIMY AND STRANGE ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS! 

(And yes, I am shouting. Authors are allowed to shout when they have new books.)

Just to give you a teeny-tiny taste.... Did you know that parrotfish sleep in snot sleeping bags? That giraffes can stick their tongues up their noses? Like waaaay up! Oh, and that there's an animal stinkier than a skunk?

For the rest, you'll have to wait another week. Sorry!

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay