Claire Youmans is an accomplished non-fiction and ficton writer who has also written and edited innumerable articles, engaging audiences for over 20 years. With a deep love for Japan and its culture, Youmans has traveled there extensively studying the country’s culture and folklore. While working on a play produced in Tokyo, Youmans was so inspired by two minor characters—Azuki, a Toki-Girl, and her brother, Shota, a Sparrow-Boy—that she expanded their story into The Toki Girl and the Sparrow Boy series, starting with Coming Home, book 1. With generous doses of adventure, suspense, folklore and fantasy, Youmans has brought their visually compelling story into book form in The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, a series of exciting and compelling books that age as the charcters grow up. The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy Book 9, The Oni's Shamisen, releases in June 2022. With further books in development, Youmans now lives in Japan, seeking even more inspiration and motivation to bring that nation’s beauty and culture to life for all adventurous readers through its traditional folklore, history and culture, levened with a healthy dose of magicla realism. And dragons.