“The Adventures of Buddy the Beaver: Buddy Explores the Pond”
reads like a typical children’s book. But it was written by 10-year-old Carson
Clark, with a little help from his dad Jim.
“It’s about a little
beaver that explores his pond one day and he runs into some of his old friends
and some new friends,” Carson
said. “And so the new friends that he meets he learns about what they do and
what their names are and his old friends he just says hello to them.”
Carson’s father is nature
photographer and West Virginia native Jim Clark, who now lives in Leesburg, VA. When they came up with the idea of
writing a children’s book, with photographs, based on the adventures of a
beaver, the pair turned to the elder Clark’s
home state for inspiration.
“My so called ‘Crazy’ Uncle Norman he told us about a family
of beaver that will come out and just pose for you sometimes,” Carson said. “The
location is secret but they live down in southern West Virginia.’’
Jim Clark said they took the photos while visiting family in
McDowell County.
“What we enjoyed though about the book is that it took us to
WV to photograph,” Jim said. “I’m a native son, love my home state; Carson has fallen in love
with WV.”
Jim said trips to West Virginia gave them a chance to go to not
only photograph but to also play putt putt golf, or go swimming at Canaan
Valley and have pizzas in War.
“So it was a fun adventure for a father and son to
participate in,” Jim said.
The book offers young readers more than entertainment. It also teaches children about nature and
life.
“To teach about the
importance of wetlands and that every creature plays a role that is found in or
around that wetland,” Jim said. “We wanted to teach was that diversity is goo,
that no matter how different you might look or how different you are you’re
still an important part of the community or the environment.”
The book is filled with photographs taken by both father and
son. The elder Clark
has been capturing images of nature for more than 30 years. It’s a craft that Carson learned
more about while working on the
book.
“Well I found out that you just have to be very patient and
wait for them just to pop out,” Carson
said. “And you have to be careful because you might spook them with just one
little movement and they could go splashing deep down into the water and back
to the lodge.”
Carson
said it feels pretty good to author a book.
“Now I’m just going to go back to being a regular kid so I
can take a rest from it all and just go back to playing all my video games and
playing with my friends and play dates and all that kind of stuff,” Carson said.
Carson
doesn’t plan to be a regular kid for long. He and his dad have mapped out four more Buddy the Beaver books that
will take young readers through life on the pond in three other seasons and
with Buddy as he grows up and moves away from home.