Non-fiction
In bookstores now
Spiked Scorpions & Walking Whales: Modern Animals, Ancient Animals, and Water
Chosen by the Canadian Children's Book Centre for their 2010 “Best Books for Kids and Teens” list!
Following in the steps of Super Crocs & Monster Wings, this highly engaging book looks at six different groups of animals that are linked with the place where all life began – the water.
Some make their homes between the worlds of land and water – like the 110-million-year-old platypus, which survived the destruction of the dinosaurs. Others, like the mysterious colossal squid, are creatures of the ocean depths that few humans have ever seen. Sea scorpions as large as crocodiles once flourished in ancient seas. Today’s scorpions, their smaller cousins, can survive in the driest deserts. Modern-day geese and swans make themselves at home in watery habitats and in the air above. But one of their ancient relatives was the Demon Duck of Doom, a giant, flightless Australian bird with legs built for walking and a beak the size of a suitcase.
What ties all the animals in this book together? Water. Take this chance to dip into that watery world – it will prove as fascinating as a stroll with a walking whale.
Super Crocs & Monster Wings: Modern Animals’ Ancient Past
Designated a Starred Selection by the Canadian Children's Book Centre in their 2010 “Best Books for Kids and Teens” list!
It’s hard to imagine, but about 99% of all the species that ever lived are already extinct. Some died off suddenly during global catastrophes, while others gradually disappeared as the world evolved. But some animals didn’t vanish altogether, and their distant relatives live among us today.
What were these ancient animals like? In a word, surprising. Ground-dwelling sloths were so tall they could nibble the leaves in treetops. Rabbit-sized camels scampered through the underbrush. Giant dragonflies the size of hawks were masters of the skies, swooping down on flies as big as chickadees.
Author Claire Eamer distills millions of years of global history on the astonishing evolution of six modern-day animals. At the same time, readers are treated to a visual feast of artists’ colorful renderings of the ancients, together with color photographs of their modern-day counterparts.
Reviews:
- “Eamer’s excellent book... will delight any young reader interested in evolution, palaeontology, and geology.” Paul Challen in Quill & Quire, March 2008
http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=5991 - “If your child is not hyped for science, this is one will turn them around. If you have a budding young palaeontologist or geologist on your hands, they won’t be able to put it down.” Mommy C in Mommy C’s Sanctuary for Offbeat and Quirky Children’s Literature, March 2008
http://quirkychildrenslit.blogspot.com/2008/03/super-crocs-and-monster-wings.html - “One of the most appealing aspects of this fact-packed book about modern survivors from the ancient animal world is the entertaining writing style.” Gillian Richardson in CM Magazine, April 18, 2008
http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol14/no17/supercrocs&monsterwings.html - “Without compromising clarity or accuracy, this book provides a "wow" scientific experience.” Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA, in School Library Journal, June 2008
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6566226.html#Nonfiction - “This book was a great, and fun, read. Out of 10, I rate this book a 9.9 because every book has room for improvement.” Reviewed by Carlos Doebeli, age 9, in YesMag, Sept/Oct 2008.
Traitors’ Gate, and Other Doorways to the Past
Take a walk in time by passing through eight remarkable entrances with kings and queens, saints and slaves.
Many doors have an astonishingly rich history. Over the centuries, Traitors’ Gate, the notorious entry into the Tower of London, has been a gateway into a fortress, a royal palace and even a prison.
In “Traitors’ Gate”, the glorious and sometimes blighted history of doorways colorfully unfolds in profiles that tell the story of each history-rich portal. Other famous doorways featured include:
- The magnificent portal of al-Khazneh, carved into the side of a cliff in southern Jordan;
- The entrance to Sankoré Mosque in Timbuktu, where 16th-century students entered to study with world-famous scholars;
- The door of the Castel Sant’Angelo, through which people fled to safety before invaders sacked Rome;
- Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, where men, women and children stumbled out the door and onto slave ships bound for the Americas;
- Meridian Gate in Beijing’s Forbidden City – palace, government headquarters and tourist centre;
- The Kremlin’s gold-encrusted entry, where subjects nervously waited for the infamous Ivan the Terrible; and
- The T-shaped doorway of the Spruce Tree House in the southwestern United States, rediscovered by a cowboy in the late 19th century.
Filled with fascinating facts and surprising stories, and accented by a superb selection of photographs, “Traitors’ Gate” is an irresistible doorway to the past.
Reviews:
- “The story of each doorway is a well-told romp through history and archaeology.” Megan Moore Burns in Quill & Quire, October 2008.
- “Whether it’s Traitors’ Gate, the watery Thames River entrance to the Tower of London in England, or the cast iron door of Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, where countless men, women and children were sold into slavery, or Al-Khazneh at Petra, in Jordan, also known as the ‘great door in the desert,’ Yukon author Claire Eamer’s incredible tales will capture young imaginations.” Brenda Hoerle in the Guelph Mercury, Sept. 20, 2008.
Previous publications
“Rare waterfowl sightings in the Yukon” in Flyway, Vol. 28 No. 1 (Winter 2007), Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Prairie-Western Boreal Region magazine.
“Scientist as Cobbler” in YesMag, July/Aug 2006.
“Earwax: It’s All in the Genes!” in YesMag, July/Aug 2006.
“DUC teams up with Saskatchewan Forestry Association in new teen magazine” in Flyway, Vol. 27 No. 3 (Summer 2006), Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Prairie-Western Boreal Region magazine.
“A Mammoth Task” in YesMag, May/June 2006.
“Devil’s Elbow trail showcases Yukon wetlands” in Flyway, Vol. 27 No. 2 (Spring 2006), Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Prairie-Western Boreal Region magazine.
“Klondike Gold: An Interactive History” (Hyperborean Productions and DNA Multimedia Corp. in cooperation with the Dawson City Museum, 1996). I was a principal writer and hypertext editor.
“The Canadian Rodeo Book” (Western Producer Prairie Books, 1982), co-written with Thirza Jones.
Your Yukon
Your Yukon is a popular column on Yukon science, which ran from 1996 to 2006 and re-emerged in early 2009. It appears every second Friday in the Yukon News and on Taiga Net. The Yukon office of Environment Canada was responsible for starting the column and keeping it going for more than 10 years. Your Yukon is currently supported by the Northern Research Institute, Yukon College, and Environment Yukon.
I've written about a third of the columns, including the first hundred. Here are a few of my favourites.
Canada’s rarest plant rediscovered in Kluane region
Ancient beaver dam records beaver building techniques
Light storms rage above the sky
Ancient creeks created modern Yukon oases
For more information about my non-fiction writing and contract work, contact me at claire-eamer [at] sff.net.