Tribal couple writes 'Bigfoot' children's book

Grand Ronde Tribal member Adam Jeffers and his wife, Sara, want people to find Bigfoot.

Specifically, they want readers and their children to look into the pages of their new book series “Bigfoot Trails” to locate clues to finding the legendary and elusive creature that has become iconic in the Pacific Northwest.

Together, they wrote “Bigfoot Trails: Pacific Northwest” under the pseudonym S.A. Jeffers.

“My husband has always been interested in the Bigfoot legends and a couple of years ago we developed an idea one night and it was centered around a Bigfoot book for children,” says Sara. “This whole idea of hide-and-seek came up with the reigning champion of hide-and-seek – Bigfoot. So we developed the idea of creating the activity of finding him on each page as they are reading and developing their reading skills.”

The first book in the planned children’s activity series is set in the Cascade Mountains and each scene provides the reader with a clue to Bigfoot’s presence. Sometimes the clue is a footprint and on some pages you must find Bigfoot hiding in the trees.

The book is illustrated by artist Catherine Straus and each picture contains several images of animals that can be identified by young readers.

Sara says it gives children reading more to do than just read a story book.

“We have three boys ourselves so we are well familiar with trying to keep them involved and getting good reading practice in,” says Sara.

Adam, 32, is the son of Mark and Dawn Jeffers and the grandson of Don and Elota Jeffers. Sara is the daughter of Ray and Brandy Davenport. Adam works as a welder and Sara is a stay-at-home mom in Reedsport on the southern Oregon coast.

Adam says their boys (Jaxon, 10, Kainan, 8, and Toye, 18 months) were the inspiration for the book series.

“We felt we were tired of gaming systems and them wanting to sit in the house and play games all day,” says Adam, who grew up camping and being outdoors with his parents and grandparents. “We thought this would be a good way to develop some further interest in the outdoors and animals and stuff of that nature.”

Adam says he wanted to take the scary out of the Bigfoot legends for the book series. Sara said she liked the friendlier “Harry and the Hendersons”-type Bigfoot persona for their books, referring to the 1987 comedy starring John Lithgow.

“That was one of my favorite movies growing up because they were able to take something kind of scary and make him lovable,” says Sara. “You ended up being on his side. I always liked that movie.”

Sara says the two plan to explore their book series further in the future and that they are already planning their next book.

“We have a business meeting/date night scheduled soon to work on our next book idea,” says Adam. “We want to inspire kids to get unplugged from their electronics a little bit and inspire them to get outdoors and have some fun.”

Adam and Sara’s book can be found in paperback for $11.99 and e-book via Amazon and is available as a free Kindle download. The authors also have a Facebook page under “Bigfoot Trails.”