Non-fiction
Amazing animals in surprising places
Lizards in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them
- On January Magazine's list of Best Books of 2010 for Children and Young Adults.
- On the Calgary Herald's 2010 list of recommended non-fiction kids’ books for Christmas giving.
- “...an excellent and highly engaging addition to any school or personal library.” CM review, 29 Oct. 2010
- “...a refreshingly economical way to explore some of the natural world’s more venturesome residents.” Booklist, Dec. 2010
- “...an enjoyable and fascinating title.” School Library Journal, Dec. 2010
Fish in trees? Frogs underground? You’d never expect to see a bird at the bottom of a stream. But that’s precisely where the American Dipper hunts for food! Readers will be amazed to discover how the 36 animals featured in this book have learned to live in hostile environments — from searing heat to glacial cold, from high in the sky to deep in the earth. From Annick Press.
Also in bookstores
Spiked Scorpions & Walking Whales: Modern Animals, Ancient Animals, and Water
- On the Calgary Herald's list of recommended non-fiction kids’ books for Christmas giving.
- On the Canadian Children’s Book Centre 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.
Super Crocs & Monster Wings: Modern Animals’ Ancient Past
- On the Calgary Herald's list of recommended non-fiction kids' books for Christmas giving.
- A Starred Selection on the Canadian Children's Book Centre's 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.
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. For example, 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 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.
Your Yukon
Your Yukon is a popular column on Yukon science, which ran weekly from 1996 to 2006 and re-emerged in early 2009 as a biweekly column. Currently, it appears every second Friday in the Yukon News and on the Internet.
I've written about a third of the columns over the years, including the first hundred. They provide an accesssible and entertaining introduction to the natural history of the Yukon and the huge variety of science being conducted in the territory. Browse through the archives or search by key word to learn more about the amazing place where I live.
Contact me at claire [at] claireeamer.com.