On Nov. 3, 2003, Southeast Idaho resident Judy Young received word that her second and third books were both accepted for publication. That same day, Young waltzed into her school’s principal’s office and verbally tenured her resignation for the end of the school year. After earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in speech and language pathology and working for 24 years in the field, Young left it all to follow her dream to became a full-time children’s book author.

“I’ve never looked back,” Young said. “I enjoyed my career as a speech pathologist, but I am in heaven with my career as an author. It is a Cinderella story dream come true.”

Young, who lives near Preston, has now had 24 books published, has three more under contract and has won many awards. In 2017, her book, “A Pet for Miss Wright” was featured in one of the online video series “Reading Rainbow Storytime.” Another book, “R is for Rhyme, A Poetry Alphabet,” became the inspiration for the University of Utah’s 58th annual Tanner Creative Dance and Children’s Dance Theatre performance.

Recently, Young shared her passion for writing with the school children at Preston’s Pioneer Elementary School.

“I tell kids when I’m visiting schools that there are two really important questions that I ask to get an idea going,” Young explained. “They are the same questions which help get ideas going for a scientific experiment. The first question is ‘What if …?’ What if there was a kid who went to different national parks and ran into different mysteries (“The Wild World of Buck Bray”)? Or what if there was a girl who was not going to be able to go to school because 20,000 schools shut down during the Great Depression (“The Lucky Star”)?”

Young continued, “The second question I ask, is ‘How would ...?’ ‘What if …’ gets your storyline started, but ‘How would … ‘ tells it where it’s going. For example, for Minnow and Rose, I had read about how Native Americans frequently helped the pioneers cross rivers. What if there were a Native American girl who met a pioneer girl when they were crossing a river and how would they become friends?”

Young’s background in speech and language pathology and in the schools has helped her write books like her “Digger and Daisy” series that are leveled for developing readers. Her background has also helped her know how to help students learn to improve and have more confidence in their writing.

“Writing poetry,” Young said, “a kid can be successful in a very short amount of time. They don’t have to deal with all the rules and punctuation. They can get their thoughts down in a very short amount of time and then expand that to a sentence or a paragraph. Actually, a lot of kids with difficulties are more creative and not afraid of being wrong because they make mistakes all the time. Kids without difficulties are more afraid so they stifle their creativity because it’s that part that seems wrong to them. When you let go a little bit, your writing improves.”

In all her books, Young weaves education into entertainment to capture the attention of young readers. She uses poetry to teach non-fiction information on everything from animal sleeping patterns to the source of familiar games like hopscotch — which Young says originated as a training exercise for Roman soldiers. Young’s middle-grade books also address tough issues in such books as “Promise,” which deals with a young boy coming to terms with his abnormal family and his father’s imprisonment.

Young believes she was fortunate in breaking into the writing world. Before moving to Idaho, both she and her husband, Ross, were working and living in Missouri. Ross, a professional artist, was asked by Sleeping Bear Press to illustrate a children’s alphabet book about Missouri. They also asked him is he knew of a good author who could write the book.

“My husband originally responded, ‘No,” Young said, “and then got off the phone and thought he’d just blown my chance, but he immediately called them back and told them about me.”

Young said that once Sleeping Bear Press found out that she had worked with children as a speech pathologist and understood school curriculum, they asked her for writing samples. She didn’t hear back from them for three months, but eventually “S Is For Show Me: A Missouri Alphabet,” became her first published book in 2001 — a collaborative work between her and her husband.

The Youngs moved to Southeast Idaho in 2015. Avid outdoorsmen, the Youngs have been fishing, backpacking, hunting, and snowshoeing in Southeast Idaho since 1977. Once their two children left home, Judith said they found it harder and harder to go back to Missouri.

Located two miles up a dirt road in the Mink Creek Valley and surrounded by national forest, Young says their Idaho home provides the enriching environment that inspires each of their work. Every day she and Ross go for a 2- to 4-mile walk to think and bounce ideas off each other. Young says it’s these times of quiet thought that have helped her develop her thinking and writing.

“I am often asked if I ever get writer’s block,” Young said, “No, not really. There’s so many ideas out there. It’s not that people can’t think of an idea, it’s that they haven’t thought of an idea. There’s a difference there. That’s one of the things I see in society. People aren’t taking the time to think. Everything has to be instantaneous. Kids are the same way. You have to develop that art of thinking which takes time and quiet. Shut off the television; turn off the music and get those earbuds out of your ears. Take a walk and let quiet happen for a while and let your mind go. That’s when ideas start popping up.”