I've posted a topic or two before about the children's picture book I've written on the subject of bigfoot and have appreciated any and all responses from the good folks here. I've decided to add a page or two at the end of the book regarding a more scientific perspective for kids, to maybe get them more interested in the idea of the big guy roaming North America. This isn't such a problem but per the topic, I'm somewhat limited in my scientific resources at present.

I would really appreciate any ideas as far as what to include in these last two pages or advice on even what to talk about? The demographic, I'm guessing is probably going to be somewhaere between 3 to 6 years of age? It's a picture book using 3D characters I've created and rendered onto pictures of the amazing rain forest I live in here in Oregon and I've tried to stay, at least somewhat responsible as far as what little is known about these creatures. The artwork has turned out better than I had anticipated and am nearing the point of no return with sending it off and am realizing that I want to be quite sure of what and where I'm pointing the direction of these last two or three pages.

I'm not looking for what to write, just what everyone thinks I should write about, if that makes any sense. Thanks ahead of time to anyone who might have an idea or three...

Cheers

anybody?

Well, that is a bit confusing, at least to me.

I'll take a stab. Not sure exactly what you are looking for or what is already covered in the book. Don't think you can get real scientific at 3-6 years, but I would include the following:

- Mention the number of sightings being reported to various research groups, a lot of which are accessible online, a list of all the groups currently researching, and all of the areas research is being done across N. America and abroad

- Review the kind of equipment researchers are taking afield - trail cams, IR, Thermal imaging, pheromones, etc.

- Explain the types of evidence and how they are gathered and examined - footprint, audio, still pics/video, hair, dermal ridges

- Explain some of the theories of BF family groups, how adults and youger are thought to interact

- Present some information on how BF survive - what they eat, etc. Maybe make some comparisons to bears as far as size of range needed to sustain them. Explain theories of various BF size - smaller in the south, larger in NW and how that compares to other animals

- Compare/contrast the likenesses and differences thought to exist between humans, BF, gorillas. Maybe a simple explanation of the mid-tarsal break vs. the human foot.

- List the many names of BF and historical references from native americans on up

- Explain known hoaxes, how they came about, how they were debunked. Also, list the concerns of non-believers - lack of fossil evidence, lack of other types of evidence

Hope that helps.

peregrine,

if you look at my post, it says "I'm not looking for what to write, just what everyone thinks I should write about, if that makes any sense." the word "about" was meant to bring that statement into focus. sorry.

cheers

SW MI Yowie,

thanks for the reply! some great ideas that i hadn't thought of!

cheers!

I'm not sure how "scientific" you can get with 3-6 year olds, but one of my 3-1/2 year old son's favorite things to do is sit down with dad, and look at the various footprint, and cast photos that can be found in my stack of BF books. Don't know if this helps, but at 3-1/2 he doesn't care much about reading reports, or hair analysis. All he wants to do is see photos of Patty, and "bigfoot feet"!
Good Luck!

thanks sasqman!

i think that when i said "scientific" i was maybe being too general and my demographic might be higher than my original guess. what i was looking for is exactly what i'm getting from responses like yours and SW MI Yowie's. thanks for taking the time, i'm having a heck of a time trying to get these pages to make interesting sense to a child having this read to them!

i started out with the native american history and names and am now on to more modern accounts. BTW does anyone know a rounded off number for the number of sightings in the US and Canada? i know that going through the data bases is probably the only way to get a gist for this question but thought i'd ask.

thanks again!

spookysully,

The bests places to make an impact while writing are at either the beginning or the ending -- of a paragraph, chapter, or book. You're talking about the ending of your book so think big. How about summarizing what the bigfoot phenomenon is all about? What that is, I won't (can't) tell you, but, fortunately, you don't want advice on what to write, just what to write about. I seem to recall an interview of John Green who was asked a concluding question more or less asking him to summarize the topic. I can't remember his entire response, but it started off, as I recall, something like, "Something makes big tracks in the woods." Just an honest fact that tees up a summary of the entire phenomenon that tickles the curiosity of some humans and infringes on the beliefs of others.

Good luck with your book.

G. canadensis

G. canadensis,

hey, just wanted to say thanks for the input! i've actually been rereading john green's book "Sasquatch The apes among us" and i know that i've seen that quote in here but cant for the life of me find it now! i know this is a children's book and i also understand that when dealing with youngsters, certain things have to be curtailed to fit into both their comprehension and more importantly these same things have to be interesting enough to keep the book off the shelf! i had no idea that these last few pages would be such a hurdle, i've rewritten and rewritten and rewritten them at least a dozen times and have come to the conclusion that i'm not going to make everyone happy no matter what i write. while i am sure that these creatures exist, i want to at least appear objective and thats why i used the word scientific in the original post. anyway, thanks for the reply!

cheers

hey, i was looking for the number, in miles, of forest in the united states and canada. i know that canada has one of the largest tracks of unbroken forest in the world, second only to the eastern siberian taiga, i believe? anyway if anyone knows where i might find this info, it would be greatly appreciated!

cheers

spookysully,

Here's an excerpt from an interview of John Green that I may have been thinking of (http://sasquatch-bc.com/jginterview.html):

Q: We all know that footprints are the main source of evidence of the sasquatch, except for the Skookum Cast, obviously.
A: I like to look at it in the opposite way. The footprints are real. Indisputably real. They require an explanation.
Q: As Danhinden said, something's making the ******* footprints!
A: Something's making them. Yeah, right. It's getting awfully close to fifty years ago. No explanation for those footprints, other than the existence of an animal with feet like that and sufficient weight, has been presented.

Looks like a direct quote from Dahinden is not in the cards for your children's book.

As to forest coverage in the US and Canada, you might get a start here: http://www.whrc.org/borealnamerica/index.htm. There's a polar view map of forested area, and a table showing coverage, in millions of hectares, for boreal, temperate, and tropical forests (presumably global coverage).

G. canadensis

G. canadensis

again, thanks and i appreciate your effort!

Danhinden's comment would work perfectly if i could come up with a "fun and happy" substitute for the missing 7 letters!


cheers

The actual Dahinden quote (I've bolded it) may be in this paragraph, which I found in an obituary for him (www.rense.com/general10/rene.htm):

Dahinden "investigated with an exhaustive thoroughness countless stories of Sasquatch sightings, thousands of footprints -- and not a few Sasquatch hunters themselves. He has badgered every branch of science in North America that could possibly relate to the existence of a hairy bipedal giant hominoid, with little success. For the most part he has met with responses that ranged from vague expressions of 'cautious interest' to the attitude of: 'It can't exist, therefore it doesn't exist.' ... He has never seen a Sasquatch; he is not easily persuaded by those who say they have seen one ... He says: 'Something is making those [goshdarn] footprints and I'm going to find out what it is.'"

Hmmm... pretty sure Dahinden wouldn't have said 'goshdarn'. We all know what he really said, however, I don't think he would have liked to have had his words transformed into PC speak.

He was damn good at cursing!

Robert,

You're right -- "goshdarn" is just a surrogate for Dahinden's real word, but the abbreviated version of the quote I first posted above, the "goshdarn" was automatically translated into "*******." Thank goodness the Forum is protecting our virgin eyes.

G. canadensis

Skully, WTG on the book, I hope it does well...

One thing I would like kids to know is it is not a monster, Kids generalize what a monster is and there is no good monsters in a kids mind. I have noticed that this is prevelant in the southern states, where BF is reffered to as some location name with monster at the end. In a whole the word is conotative to a negative and fearfull when the opposite is true.

The other word I hate is BF hunter for the same reason, a hunter hunts, tracks and kills...Now if this is a case then the wording is correct, but the majority of us are researchers and have no intention in doing this spicies any harm, quite the oppisite we look for leadership in Govt. to protect and leave well enough alone. we research.

You might mention that this species enjoys its solitude in the deeper reaches of the forest land, where it can live in peace possibly with its group or family living a simple life off the land, not unlike any other wild species out there anywhere in the world.

You might mention how courious they are, how it seems they leave present/gifts, maybe mention how good they are at moving through thick forests for as big as they are.

Keeping it light, humerious, and non threatening would make it a real treasure for a kid, and possible future researcher

Risky,

all very good and appreciated ideas, thank you! the bigfoot in my story is named "quietly" my avatar is an early version of him and he smiles most of the way through the book. it's a picture book and the story, while not over engrossing is styled around the age group i was targeting (i hope!) and doesn't really get into anything too overwhelming. the last couple of pages, i wanted to touch on a few aspects of the (seemingly) never ending search and give a few fun facts at the same time. the u.s. has over 749,000,000 acres of forested land and canada has the boreal forest which is 5.7 million square miles and mostly unbroken! things like this, i think will give both the kids and (hopefully) parents something to think about besides the skeptical standard "it can't exist, therefore, it doesn't exist" response.

i like the curious idea! i'm really trying hard to not make it too obvious that i believe these creatures do exist and keep the element of mystery that so many of us grew up with. anyway, i wanted to say thanks again for all the great ideas and if you've got a child that might like it, give it a look see when it's out!

cheers