Kimberly Ridley is a science writer and editor who is passionate about the natural world. She is a contributing editor to Down East and co--editor of Signs of Hope: In Praise of Ordinary Heroes . Her articles and essays have appeared in the Boston Globe , the Christian Science Monitor , Ode Magazine , and many other print and online venues. When Kimberly isn't writing or helping scientists tell their stories in her work as a communications consultant, she is usually poking around the woods, wetlands, and seashore near her home in down east Maine. An avid birder and naturalist, she never leaves home without her binoculars, hand lens, notebook, and green rubber boots. She is the author of the recently released The Secret Bay ( Tilbury House, Fall 2015 ) . Rebekah Raye is an artist beloved for her bird and animal paintings and sculpture, but lately she has been spending a lot of time looking for spotted salamanders and frogs and fairy shrimp on nighttime outings with Kim Ridley. Rebekah's warm, expressive work is derived from her affinity with the natural world around her studio and home in East Blue Hill, Maine.

She illustrated Thanks to the Animals by Allen Sockabasin and The Secret Bay (Tilbury House, Fall 2015) and is the author and illustrator of The Very Best Bed and Bear--ly There . Rebekah shares her skills and her love of art in workshops for adults and children and makes frequent school visits.