Colleen Yanez

Colleen Yanez grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago and almost always seemed to have a book in her hand. She grew up reading The Babysitter's Club, Encyclopedia Brown and choose your own adventure stories, amongst many others. Although she didn't have defined ambitions to become a writer, she was always writing! Letters to friends, diary entries, and poetry seemed to always be part of Colleen's daily workouts.

In 1998, Colleen graduated from Marquette University with degrees in Secondary Education & English. As much as Colleen loved reading and writing, she loved to teach kids the art and science even more. Once finished with college, Colleen began her journey visiting many great places on the planet. She's traveled to Thailand, Europe, Peru, Guatemala, Africa and more, including all 50 states. While on all of these adventures, Colleen stayed true to form: writing in journals, writing letters or emails, poetry and reading all the time.

A few years after graduating from Marquette, Colleen decided to put down roots back in Chicago. She began teaching special education and bought her first condo. As part of putting down roots, Colleen adopted her first dog, Jack, from the Chicago Humane Society. Jack and Colleen bonded immediately and could be found doing many adventurous things together: hiking, camping, road tripping, etc. Where Colleen went, so went Jack!

About a year and a half after Colleen adopted Jack, she was bringing groceries back into her house. After she made the second trip from the car, Colleen noticed that Jack was acting funny...all of a sudden, he could no longer jump on the couch. Not wanting to panic, Colleen tried to treat Jack as normal as possible and go about the day as she would. However, by early evening, it was apparent that Jack's pain was getting worse, not better. Colleen and Jack went to an emergency vet where he was misdiagnosed with having a problem with his leg and was told to follow up with her regular vet. By the time that happened, which was just over 24 hours later, Jack's condition had worsened and he was permanently paralyzed.

Determined to not let this stop them, Colleen figured out a new way of relating to the dog that was still the same in his heart. She bought a custom dog wheelchair, worked out what was needed around the house, and moved on! Because so many people wanted to know all about Jack, one day Colleen decided to write a book about Jack. Combining her love of Jack with her understanding of people with disabilities and how they can be perceived, Colleen wrote the book to focus on Jack as the dog and not as the disability.

Currently Colleen resides in Colorado with her fur babies and her husband and enjoys sitting on her deck, dogs all around, writing more adventures of Jack!