Dorothy Van KirkDorothy Van Kirk is the author of Dusty the Christmas Star, published in 2012 and illustrated by her granddaughters in Australia; The Duck Showed Up was published in 2021.Dorothy was born in the Bronx and, as a child, she knew that she wanted to writ children's stories. Lurk the Lavender Leopard was written during the time that Dorothy and her husband were raising their three children, Dorothy was finishing her degree at Colorado State University and starting a new career in the bio-tech industry. She graduated from CSU with her B.A. in French, Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude. Dorothy took advantage of her many trips to and from Australia to begin and to create some of her rhyming stories. She now resides in Colorado, still writing children's stories and tutoring French. Read More Read Less