Buddy the beaver lives in a pond in West Virginia with his parents, three brothers and sisters and his animal friends of every variety.

His story has been documented through photographs over the past few years by Carson Clark, 10, a fourth-grader at Loudoun Country Day School.

The Leesburg resident has been a nature photographer since he was old enough to work a camera, and this year he became a published author with his first book, “The Adventures of Buddy the Beaver, Buddy Explores the Pond.”

The book tells the story of Buddy the young beaver through Carson’s words and photographs. In the book, Buddy explores the pond, meeting a rabbit, turtles, ducks, a butterfly and other animals Carson photographed.

“I thought of what kind of animal to use for the book and my uncle said there was a beaver family near his house in West Virginia,” he said. “Then I had to come up with a name for him, so I named him Buddy because it just fit a beaver like that.”

Carson put the entire project together with help from his father, Jim Clark, an author of several books of nature photography and a contributing editor for Outdoor Photographer Magazine.

On weekends and in Carson’s free time, he and his father would visit places like Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve in Leesburg to photograph nature.
“I like to photograph nature because I like to get away from everything,” Carson said. “It’s different from photographing people. It has a lot more color to it, and you have to be very patient.”

Carson and his father also did most of the planning for the storyline of the book together.

“We’d go to Leesburg Restaurant every Friday to eat lunch and come up with ideas for the book,” Carson said.

Carson’s book is available for sale for $8.

He and Jim Clark will be hosting a public book signing event May 25 at 7 p.m. at Loudoun Country Day School, 20600 Red Cedar Drive in Leesburg.

Half of the proceeds from his book sales will be donated back to his school.

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