Jayne Moore Waldrop
Jayne Moore Waldrop writes for both children and adults. In addition to Back to Our Nests, her other books are She Remembered It All: The Art of Memory Painter Helen LaFrance, winner of a 2025 Gold Book Award by the Independent Book Publishers Association, and A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson, both published by Shadelandhouse Modern Press; Drowned Town (University Press of Kentucky), a Great Group Reads selection by the Women’s National Book Association and INDIES Book of the Year Award silver winner in fiction; Pandemic Lent: A Season in Poems and Retracing My Steps, a finalist in the New Women’s Voices Chapbook Contest, both published by Finishing Line Press.
Contributors
Donna Sloane
Illustrator
Deborah Slone is a watercolor artist and educator based in Lexington, Kentucky. Rooted in her Appalachian upbringing in southeastern Kentucky, her work is shaped by a lifelong appreciation of the natural world. She holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Studio Art from Morehead State University, along with a second bachelor’s degree in Art Education from the University of Kentucky.
For over a decade, Deborah has shared her passion for art through community classes and private lessons for students of all ages. Her paintings draw on her family’s rich storytelling traditions, using nature as a metaphor for meaning, memory, and belonging. In 2024, Deborah illustrated her first book, Mr. Tux and the Little Garden Hotel, written by Rebecca Suter Lindsey, and published by Shadelandhouse Modern Press. This year during Women’s History Month, her portrait of the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, was acquired for permanent display in the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol.
Featured Book
Back to Our Nests
On a sunny summer day at the lake, a young girl notices the many living creatures around her—birds, toads, fish, insects, her fellow human beings—all sharing one special place in the world. As she explores, she discovers the connections between herself and the natural world. With richly detailed watercolor illustrations in a picture book for ages 4-8, the story celebrates the lively inhabitants of all sizes and shapes in their precious shared habitat.