Frances Dall'Alba

Frances Dall'Alba lives in far north Queensland, Australia, a place where rain falls often and the landscape is dotted with lakes, mountains, and rainforest. As a thirteen-year-old, she grew up on a dairy farm, where she spent her days walking the road between home and the dairy, happily splashing through puddles in her gumboots. The farm was home to cows, but also to a few more unexpected visitors-snakes, spiders, myna birds, and cane toads.Despite the occasional intruders, the beauty of her surroundings made it easy to love her home-whether it was the creeks winding through the land or the sunsets painting the sky-it was enough to keep her enchanted by the world around her.Now, as an adult, Frances recognizes that there's a little bit of Joey in every young teen-a kid caught between innocence and the chaos of life. Throw in some giant animals, both real and imagined, and it's clear how unpredictable their lives can get. Especially when you can't see the cuteness.