Featured Interview With Claire Marie
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in the tiny little farm town of Harrisburg, Oregon, and have a love for small town life. I’m now lucky enough to call The Dalles, Oregon, my home in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge which has provided a lot of inspiration for Sammy the Sasquatch and her Forest Friends. My family and I have a wonderful, goofy pup who keeps us on our toes, a four-year-old Great Dane named Murphy who often tries to cuddle with Sammy the Sasquatch.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I think I realized my fascination with books at quite a young age. My mom would read to us almost every night before bed and by probably six-years-old I would crawl into bed at night with a stack of illustrated children’s books by my pillow and a clip-on book light in action. I would stay up long after I was tucked in to sneak in extra reading. The floor would creak when my mom came down the hall to check on me, so I’d quickly turn off my book light, feign sleep as she peaked in, then get right back to reading after she closed my bedroom door. I wrote for school assignments as do many kids and all through college but honestly, I never imagined I’d write a children’s book. For Sammy the Sasquatch; Welcome to Crittertopia, Sammy really started writing her story through me in December 2020 out of a desire to help parents, caring adults, and kids.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Growing up, I absolutely loved series like the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and Harry Potter among many, many other books. As an adult, my favorite genres to read are classic literature, including the works of John Steinbeck and Jane Austen, and science, including books by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Amishi Jha. Dr. Tyson and Dr. Jha are able to take incredibly complex, important concepts that have direct impacts on the human experience and make these fascinating topics fun, engaging, and accessible to all.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My first, and latest, illustrated children’s book, Sammy the Sasquatch; Welcome to Crittertopia, was born out of a desire to empower kids to keep themselves safe and to support adults in having big conversations in trauma-informed, gentle, non-scary ways. Sammy is a curious, friendly, and adventurous young sasquatch who knows it’s important to practice being safe every day as she tours readers around her magical world of Crittertopia. Sammy and her Forest Friends dance, mountain bike, explore the forest, and know what to do just in case a curious human ever wanders into Crittertopia, a lockdown, “locks, lights, out of sight.” While I know many adults associate a lockdown with the worst case scenario in schools, lockdown is just one of the many tools school staff and students can use to keep themselves safe when something is “not normal” on campus or inside a school. How parents and caring adults introduce lockdown has a big influence on how kids view and experience the practice. Through my work, I know parents and caring adults are often hesitant to discuss this topic with kids because they are, understandably, afraid to open a Pandora’s Box of questions they won’t know how to navigate. This book includes four pages of support information for parents and caring adults on how to navigate these conversations and provides opportunities throughout the story to highlight for kids how great they are at being safe every day, all day long.
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Claire Marie Facebook Page