Joni Akins has been illustrating, designing, and producing art work since 1979 moving to children’s color books four years later, which progressed to children’s illustrated storybooks in 1986. Since working with children for close to 22 years in both personal and professional arenas, Joni has found that there are an ever-growing amount of very young children still in need of the awareness that they do not need to change how they look or think in order to be accepted and loved for whom they really are. Writing for the United States Navy Reserve families of deployed sailors since 2005, Mrs. Akins is currently working on a four-book project, which will help children focus energies away from missing their deployed family members through the use of art, activities and creativity.