Ashley M. Young

Bringing her passion for animal conservation and science, Ashley's stories strive to be powerful teaching tools for the parent or teacher. Her characters are often unexpected animals drawn from her experiences as a zoo keeper and environmental educator.

Though this is her first authored and illustrated book, she has illustrated others including Splat!. She is also the lead researcher of Empathy for animals: A review of the existing literature, coming out in the Curator Journal in 2018.

Making her home in Northern Colorado, she spends her days teaching kids about gardening, cuddling with her golden retriever Harvey and enjoying the outdoors!