Rachel Shinnick was born in Minnesota, considers North Carolina ‘home’, but has her favorite memories from living in Hawaii, where she would run to the ocean to swim with dolphins and hear whales sing. She is a Jesus-follower, an avid tree-climber, a chocolate connoisseur, an accidental-intruder-of-shark-caves, and was an honorary coach on her father’s college football sideline when they won the national championship (she even got a ring to prove it!). Currently living in Italy, she spends most of her time training young people to be launched into ministry through an organization called Youth with a Mission. When she’s not out adventuring the Tuscan countryside, you will often find her tucked away doing one of two things: either reveling in the world of someone else’s magnificent imagination, or putting words to the fantastical worlds of her own. She stands giddily excited to be able to read these stories to her future children—but hopes the rest of you enjoy them until then!