Respect the Raccoon!
This clever, camouflaged bandit is able to adapt to almost any environment.
Sharon Hanzik was born in Richmond, Texas in 1968. She grew up in local small towns and really enjoyed the family vacations to national parks and other wilderness areas of North America. She enjoyed listening to park rangers as they taught visitors about the natural wonders. This prompted her career choice. She has spent a long career with Texas Park and Wildlife as a Natural History Interpreter. She interprets the natural wonders of Brazos Bend State Park to people of all ages.
Story Time, one of her favorite programs to present, led her to try her hand at writing about wild animals. A lover of poetry, she wrote about several different animals, all in verse. Her first, Raccoons Don't Use Spoons was prompted by the comical and sometimes bizarre camper encounters with raccoons: "they opened our ice chest and ate our steaks!" "they unzipped our tent to get to our food" "I'd swear one of them was teaching the others what to do!" Her poem about raccoons first teaches about the natural history of the animal then moves into its abilities and then guidance about co-existing with wild animals.
After reading her poem to visitors, it was decided that it would make a great book. After many unsuccessful attempts to get published, She decided to self-publish. Her book has been well-received and so she plans to follow this work with books about opossums, coyotes, river otters, owls, prairie dogs and tarantulas.
