Dear Parents,

My name is Tim LaJoice of St. Ignace, Michigan.  This is my first book written and illustrated.  It came about as an assignment through Spring Arbor University at North Central Michigan College in Petosky, Michigan.

Woodaline the Beaver is a story about a beaver's journey deep into the forest and is filled with creatures to find.  Your family will draw close together as you read and share the adventure of Woodaline.  I have books large, small and coloring sheets available for sale.

Student connects with children through beaver story
BY AMANDA BAKER Design Editor Woodaline the Beaver begins to build her dam, and the children surrounding Tim LaJoice lean closer to point out all the animals around Woodaline's home. LaJoice, a graduate of St. Mary's with a degree in biology, has found a new passion in his children's book Woodaline the Beaver. After sixteen years he decided to return to college to study elementary education though Spring Arbor University.  LaJoice takes most of his classes on the North Central campus.   It was there, in his Children's Literature class with Kathy Cole, that he received the assignment to write a book. Overwhelmed at first by the assignment, LaJoice realized this would be his chance to fulfill a promise he had made some years ago to a group of children.	"Then I felt excited," he said.  "I knew that I had the time and the art skills and knowledge about beavers to make a nice little book." LaJoice decided to write about a beaver after working at Historic Mill Creek as a naturalist.  His interpreter program focused on wildlife with an emphasis on the beaver.  He says, "With that knowl-edge I was able to put together a realistic fiction story of Woodaline." LaJoice went all out with his story, taking the time to draw detailed pictures for each page.  "I drew the pictures using a #2 pencil and a 25-cent Bic pen.  It took a month... about 60 hours of illustration," he figures. LaJoice never would have predicted the response he received when he first read his book to his son's preschool.  "They were attentive and interested in Woodaline," he declares.  "Days later the kids were still talking about the book." After his success at the pre-school, LaJoice decided to read his book for more children. He explains, "I called Moran Township school, where I substitute teach, to read.  I got the same response with the grades K though 5."	It was then that LaJoice realized he was on to something. He now travels all over northern Michigan reading his book to students at various schools.  He talks to the students about how he wrote it and put it together. LaJoice enjoys how excited the children get by the time he finishes reading to them.  He says Woodaline helps him connect with the children in the classroom and with the child inside of him.       Taken from the May 2005 issue of North Central Michigan College "The Informer"

Beaver facts:

• Beaver are in the rodent family.

• The incisor teeth grow continuous.  Chewing down trees keep them under control.

• Beavers have a transparent eyelid that protects the eyes under water.

• Beavers have valves in their ears and nose that prevent water from getting in.

• There is a second set of "lips" behind the upper incisor teeth.  This prevents water from getting into the mouth while it chews on wood under water.

• Beaver can hold their breath for 15 minutes under water.

• Beaver build dams that hold back water.  This forms a small or large pond that the beaver use for a sanctuary and a safe haven.

• Beaver also build a home called a lodge that is dome shaped and entered by tunnels carved out under water.

• Beaver have webbed hind feet to help in swimming quickly.

• Their tail has many uses.  It is used as a paddle and rudder for swimming.  It is used as a warning device by slapping it on top of the water.  Most of the body fat of a beaver is stored in the tail.  The tail is used as a balance when standing up on their hind feet when chewing on a tree.

• Beavers have a split toe nail on the left and right foot that is used as a deep grooming comb and designed to help eject bugs out of the fur.

• Beavers mate for life starting at age two.  They will stay together for the rest of their lives.  If one mate dies before the other, it will usually stay single for the rest of its life.

• Female beaver are the dominate animal in the colony or family.  She can give birth to a litter of baby beaver (known as kits or cubs) for nine consecutive seasons in the spring.

• Baby kits are born at about a pound and stay in the same lodge for about two years.  Then they are forced out by the female and the male to make room for the new babies to be born.

• One beaver can chew down 200 trees in one year.

• Their primary diet is the aspen or willow tree bark.  An adult can eat 3 pounds of bark per day.  They are vegetarians and will also eat fruit, berries, grasses, cattails, nuts and leaves.

• Beavers can live on average for about 15 years in the wild and get up to 60 pounds on average.  The largest one ever recorded was in 1938 which weighed 120 pounds.  The oldest one recorded live in captivity for 50 years.

• Pre-historic beaver weighed as much as 500 pounds or more.

• Beavers are family oriented and work together as a team to build and maintain the dam and lodge.  They work to make a food cache of sticks under the water to help feed them throughout the winter months.  Beavers do not hibernate.