Claudia Krause Books
AboutA LITTLE ABOUT MS. KRAUSE
Ms. Krause is an author and teacher. She was born in Los Angeles but raised in a small, rural community in California. After graduating from California State University at Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Ms. Krause started teaching elementary school in the Capistrano Unified School District. She taught there for eleven years, teaching kindergarten through the third grade. During this time, she wrote and published a book for Simon Schuster, teaching young children the alphabet. Alphabetivities: 175 Ready-To-Use Activities from A to Z is currently available for purchase on Amazon.
She obtained her master’s degree in Education from Redlands University, at Redlands, California and taught for an additional eight-plus years in Nevada. She simultaneously taught numerous subjects at a commercial tutoring center for the last nineteen years, including reading, math, SAT/ACT-verbal, writing, study skills, and homework support. Recently, Ms. Krause has self-published her Caldecott Activity Book, to be used with Kitten’s First Full Moon, by Kevin Henkes. The purpose of this book is to inspire children into asking questions and offering suggestions for various activities related to the book. It is available for purchase on Amazon.
EARLY MUSINGS
I have some very vivid memories of the small, rural community in which I grew up. There was no traffic light. It never had a bowling alley. When a theater finally came to town, it was cause for celebration. The town had a yearly rodeo, with a pet parade kicking off the festivities. I remember one year my mother putting my cat inside a giant birdcage, with a bright red ribbon attached to the top. She placed the birdcage inside my brother’s wagon, and I pulled the howling cat down the center of the street. I was quite proud to display my cat, but I don’t think he was awfully excited about the situation.
I attended a local public-school until the eighth grade. To give you an idea of the size of the town, the graduating class at my brother’s high school had twenty-five students that year. Everybody knew each other. That was a double-edged sword because everyone knew everything that happened in town. I remember talking too much in school one day, and by the time I got home, my mother already knew what had happened. Word travels fast in a small town! The kids in my neighborhood walked to school.
It was about two to three blocks from my house to school. Mt. Whitney was in the background. During the summer, it had green pine trees along the edges, but in the winter, snow covered it. It was, and still is, a beautiful sight. As a young girl, I didn’t realize the beauty and natural wonder of this place.
As young kids, we longed for the day when we would travel to other parts of the country. Little did we know that one day we would love returning to this wondrous mountain town. When you live in a location like this, you take it for granted. People from around the world come to this small rural community to photograph and climb Mt. Whitney.