Claire Eamer's eyes grow wide and her face erupts in a smile as she describes prehistoric creatures.

"Oh, they are so cool," she said in an interview Wednesday.

The longtime Whitehorse resident and former CBC radio journalist has just published her first children's book as a sole author, Super Crocs & Monster Wings: Modern Animals' Ancient Past.

Eamer has written both fiction and non, edited books and recorded radio broadcasts, but is now quite content to turn her attention to researching her passions, of which biology is one.

"Oh, I like biology a lot," she told the Star. "This world has been very different in the past." This is exactly where her book takes readers.

The book is written for a nine- to 12-year-old readership, although she points out it is suitable for younger children and older adults as well.

"I think kids' books are so much more interesting to look at," she said, explaining her foray into children's books.

The material is just so much more fun to explain on brightly-coloured pages and using simple, yet effective language, she said.

"Big, strange animals that fascinate every kid, and me ... it's making language lively!"

The science writer has also been working on two fiction novels aimed at young adults, and said she is quite a fan of such literature.

"I really like Harry Potter," she said. "I discovered it before my son did!"

Her son is now 21, and her husband, Alan Daley, helps her proof her works.

Eamer said the book contains about three to four months' worth of research and writing. She researched in both Vancouver and here at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre and with the territorial government's paleontology branch.

Three animals from the Beringia Centre made it into the final copy, including the camel.

"Camels are really cool," she began.

"They evolved in North America from small animals, the size of a rabbit," she said with a smile.

They became extinct in this hemisphere, after traversing the land bridge over to Asia, where they grew and evolved into the one- and two-hump species familiar today.

"But yesterday's camel used to live here," she said. "It's bizarre how things have moved around the world."

The book contains some "great facts about animals that used to wander right here where we're standing," she said.

Super Crocs & Monster Wings is being sold in stores across North America and online via Amazon.com, she said, by publisher Annick Press. The hardcover retails for $19.95, while the paperback is $9.95.

The toughest part about writing the book was not writing to a young audience, because she is quite used to that, but rather figuring out what animals to include. Eamer said she went with geographic variety, but regrets leaving some species out, like the jellyfish.

"There's murmurs about writing a Volume II for this book," she said. In the meantime, Eamer is preparing to release a second children's book that capitalizes on her second passion: history.

Traitors' Gate, and Other Doorways to the Past is set to to be released this fall.

The author said she hopes through studying history and evolution, readers will develop their own curiosities.

"I want to give people really cool information and give them questions to ask," she said.

Eamer will hold a book-signing at noon Friday at Mac's Fireweed Books, where her book is available in both hardcover and paperback.

Well-Read Books also carries copies, Eamer said.