Two SistersNative Charlestonians, Claire McPhail and Bonnie McPhail Stabler spent their best childhood memories playing in the creeks and pluff mud with their sister Linda, behind their home on Folly Beach, SC. Who knew those memories would be integrated into their first book? Lucky to be of the generation when parents turned their children outside to entertain themselves, the girls crabbed, fished, covered themselves in pluff mud and watched battalions of colorful china-back fiddler crabs march up and down sandy banks; male crabs waving their one large claw in unison to impress their ladies. They shared their creek with a family of otters, at night watched foxes eat table scraps (put out by mother), and woke up to the song of red wing blackbirds. Claire and Bonnie continue to be wildlife lovers/watchers; at the beach, the farm (Ehrhardt, SC) or the mountains of NC. God is in the Details. "To think that Freddy the Fiddler Crab started with the advice from a close friend who said 'Claire, you should write a book!' Freddy was born at that moment," Claire explains. "Thank you for your support and encouragement, Christopher Walker." "Selecting the illustrator was easy. Bonnie, a former Art Teacher and award-winning artist, was as enchanted by the goofy, stalk-eyed fiddler crabs as I was." "My mission in writing is to open children's eyes to the beauty of even the lowliest, most common of God's creatures, to heighten the awareness of the fragility of the environment, and to show kindness and helpfulness to others."
