CURIOUS CRITTERS - leaping, flying, and coming your way!

 

In his children's picture book CURIOUS CRITTERS (September 17, 2011, Wild Iris Publishing, hardcover) photographer David FitzSimmons turns his camera on a variety of animals common throughout North America.

CURIOUS CRITTERS presents stunning images of everyday animals, including a red flat bark beetle, an Eastern spiny softshell turtle, a spotted salamander, and many other intriguing creatures. Each Curious Critter is photographed against a white backdrop, showcasing the animals’ colors, textures, and shapes with precision and clarity.

Along with each photo is a vignette, told from the critter’s perspective, that educates and entertains. For example, a bush katydid explains her bubblegum-pink color, a poetic opossum opines upon her often-shortened name, and a far-from-modest black swallowtail butterfly lets readers in on her secret for avoiding predators.

When parents read CURIOUS CRITTERS with their kids not only will they have fun reading, but they also inspire in them a life-long interest in nature. Kids will want to swap TV and video games for a trips to the park or more time in the backyard. So, get ready to have a budding biologist on your hands!

Just some of what kids will learn:

What turtles and humans have in common

Why black swallowtail butterflies impersonates their toxic cousins

How Eastern box turtles can live longer than humans (over 150 years!)

If squirrels can fly

Why crayfish grow new legs

How bats find food

Why frogs sing (kids love trying their hand at singing like a bullfrog!)

How jumping spiders jump and why they never have to look over their shoulders.

About the author:
David FitzSimmons is a free-lance photographer and writer as well as a university professor. David photographs and writes for various magazines, including Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography, and Shutterbug, newspapers, and online publications.

His 100+ calendar credits include numerous titles by BrownTrout and Barnes & Noble. Dave currently is at work on a handful of books. His most recent books include Animals of Ohio’s Ponds and Vernal Pools (Kent State University Press) and Curious Critters (Wild Iris, October 2011).

One of five Sigma Pro photographers in North America, David presents seminars and workshops to a wide variety of audiences, from public school groups and college classes to nature centers and civic organizations. His works have been exhibited at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, the National Center for Nature Photography, and the Telluride Photo Festival, among other venues.

David, a former high school English teacher, has been teaching for 20 years. He is a professor at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University, with a specialty in narrative theory—investigating the components of storytelling—something that influences his photography and writing.

Dave was inspired to photograph and write about nature by his parents, Mick and Judy FitzSimmons, active environmentalists and life-long teachers, and he is assisted in his natural history endeavors by his wife, Olivia, a naturalist, and his two daughters, Sarah and Phoebe.

Curious? To see sample photos from CURIOUS CRITTERS visit:: http://www.curious-critters.com

For an interactive view of sample pages:: http://www.curious-critters.com/index.php/curious-critters-sample-pages

To see more of David's photography:: http://www.fitzsimmonsphotography.com