Jovi Giraffe Learns to Look: A Lesson in Eye Contact (Ducky Friends)

Patricia Bardina, Ph.D., was born in Chile and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied psychology at Pomona College and then moved to Seattle, where she received a master's in educational psychology and master's and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Washington.

Joanne Burgess, B.A., grew up in Duluth, MN. She studied geography and urban studies at the University of Minnesota and then moved to Seattle where she studied education at City University in Bellevue, Washington. Prior to graduate school, they worked together teaching social skills to children on the autism spectrum and with other psychological disorders at Seattle Children's Hospital. During this time, they came up with the concept of the Ducky Friends Series.

Paul Sharp was born and raised in Indiana. He then attended and graduated from the Art Institute in Pittburgh, Pennsylvania. Freelancing for twenty years, he worked as Art Director in Toys & Games for Random House and as Art Director for Children's Magazines at Curtis Publishing. His characters appear in numerous children's books and magazines, as well as brand name packaging, commercials, party goods, apps, and animated interactive media. He created the characters for the Ducky Friends series with his wife, Alice, as the colorist of Kuume, the Ducky Friends' home. Paul and Alice Sharp now live in Bloomington, in the southern hilly part of the state and home of Indiana University.