Clark the Mountain Beaver’s 10-Year Anniversary!

The year was 2015. I had this grandiose idea to publish a children’s book, Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure! Prior to this I had no knowledge of the literary world. Oh sure, I loved to read, but reading and publishing are two different animals.

So why write a book?

All because of a unique and secretive animal – the mountain beaver!

Clark the Mountain Beaver!

To discover something new for the first time is always exciting. You see it on children’s faces and in their reactions all the time. But as we get older, new experiences can become fewer and farther between. When Clark and I crossed paths in my yard, I was transported to being a kid again. I thought I knew every animal in my yard, but when I saw Clark I had absolutely no idea what he was.

A muskrat without a tail?

That was my first logical thought having seen a lot of muskrats. But there was something different about this critter so that wasn’t quite right. Now I was on a mission to figure this critter out.

Thankfully at the time, I was volunteering at PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society). We just so happened to have a mountain beaver brought in before my next shift. I worked on the wildlife rehabilitation side vs the companion animal side because I knew I wouldn’t be able to bring any of those critters home if I got too attached to them! Haha!!!

But back to the mountain beaver…. When I gazed into his enclosure, I exclaimed, “That’s the critter I just saw in my yard!” Mystery solved! My supervisor quickly handed me a huge book on mammals. From that point on I learned all I could about mountain beavers. I also began seeing Clark more and more throughout my yard.

One of the crazy things about mountain beavers is they spend approximately 75% of their lives underground, not to mention they are nocturnal. People researching them often have a difficult time even seeing them. Now, you can find plenty of signs from them including large mounds of dirt – a sure giveaway you have a mountain beaver beneath your feet. And I thought I just had super-sized moles!

After I learned about mountain beavers, I began to see Clark on a pretty regular basis. Why Clark was so active at various times of the day I’ll never know, but I had a few fun encounters with him.

Once I was sitting on the ground near my garden and Clark strolled right past me. He quickly gnawed off part of a plant from my garden, and proceeded to a secret entrance to his burrow. Mountain beavers have numerous entrances to come and go by. Their burrows are quiet elaborate with different areas for food storage, sleeping and pooping. Their burrows can also go as deep as ten feet below ground.

Did I mention mountain beavers are excellent diggers?

They also don’t have very good eye sight since they spend so much time underground. Probably why Clark was oblivious to me sitting there by the garden.

Another time I caught him trimming one of my rhododendron bushes. I watched this stocky little critter finesse his way up the rhode. He gnawed off a branch, and literally parachute down with the branch in his mouth. This technique didn’t exactly end the way he had planned. The branch in his mouth got caught on another branch on the way down and Clark had to let go of it, plopping to the ground without his meal.

It was these types of experiences with Clark that I incorporated into my book. In fact, all the friends Clark meets throughout his big adventure are based on experiences I had with those critters in my yard. As the clever author that I am, I just turned my experiences into Clarks.

As for my experience with the literary world, it was almost as eye opening as discovering a mountain beaver. You would think a children’s book would be the easiest book to write given their limited length and few words. But conveying a compelling story with very few words can be challenging. With Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure! I didn’t exactly meet the challenge.

Instead, I wrote in the fashion of the classics I remembered as a kid. Books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

Stories with words, lots of words, and engaging illustrations. Once I realized most people knew nothing about mountain beavers, including the fact they even exist, I knew Clark had a lot of explaining to do with this book. It felt like my one chance to educate the world about mountain beavers, and in true mountain beaver fashion it was going to have to be a unique picture book.

Another caveat with Clark the Mountain Beaver was I published this book at a time when POD (print-on-demand) was not readily available for colorfully illustrated children’s books. Having it traditionally printed left me with a panic attack at 3 AM the day before 1,000 books were to be delivered to my house.

The Panic: What does 1,000 books even look like and where am I going to put ALL those boxes???

Luckily, my brother, a graphic designer who designed the book and set me up with the printer, only received a frantic text from me at 3 AM. Even in a panic, I knew he wouldn’t appreciate the phone call I really wanted to make!

In the end, the boxes arrived and I figured out storage. Clark the Mountain Beaver and His Big Adventure was officially ready to be released out into the world.

It is now ten years later and I am doing it again! Since Clark the Mountain Beaver, I have published another picture book – in true picture book fashion – called A Bug-Lightful Discovery. I learned much about the literary world and how to write a children’s book since Clark’s original publishing.

In honor of Clark’s 10th Anniversary, I am publishing a second edition. I have edited the story down (a bit), reformatted the design so it can be a POD book through Amazon and the distributor IngramSpark. Most importantly, this second edition will be able to reach a whole new generation of kids all throughout the world.

Clark’s original message of staying true to who you are and to embrace your uniqueness continues to radiate throughout the book. With the help of his numerous friends Clark meets throughout his adventure, they remind him it is our uniqueness that makes us special and although we may all be different, it’s those differences that make life more interesting.

A message I believe is worth re-sharing with the world – especially here in 2025.

To learn more about these amazing critters and their unique connection to the Lewis & Clark Expedition (yes, a history lesson is included) get your copy at Amazon.com. If you’d like a personalized copy, visit my website karenbshea.com.

And one final request. If you do purchase a copy from Amazon, please consider leaving a review. Author’s love a good review. It helps the book gain momentum and exposure amongst the gazillion of other books out there.

With much gratitude and remember…

Be a friend to life’s wild side! 🐾💚