Lauren is an early years primary school teacher with a passion for literacy, reading and language. She has taught children in their first year of primary school for nearly ten years. She loves reading picture story books and using them with her students on a daily basis. Lauren loves to travel and a highlight of her teaching career was teaching English to children in Italy. Lauren is now a mother of two beautiful children, Nico and Isabella, and a wife to Pablo. Since meeting Pablo in 2015, Lauren has been learning Spanish. It is a beautiful and useful language to have and it also helps her communicate with Pablo's side of the family in Chile. Her motivation and love of learning Spanish has grown now that she is sharing that journey with her two young children in the hope to raise them as bilinguals. Deanne Lawn is an artist and craftsperson whose journey in the world of art has been shaped by her role as a Primary School Visual Arts Teacher. She has lived and worked in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges for over 20 years. She shares her creative world with her family, including her two adult artist daughters, Madeleine and Annalise and her engineer husband, Stephen. Deanne's love of drawing started at a young age, as she began sketching and drawing from the moment she could hold a pencil. Her early years were marked by a fascination of the whimsical world and a deep affection for animals; themes that continue to define her work today. Deanne still uses her cherished childhood collection of Derwent pencils, which she now combines with digital tools like Procreate. Her debut picture book illustration, ""Nene the Kangaroo,"" showcases her talent and love for storytelling through drawing. She looks forward to many more adventures with Nene and the opportunity to bring Lauren's story-telling to life.