Hello, I'm Hayley. 

Photo: Charles Chessler
I am an award winning author, conservationist and photographer who loves writing children’s books; books I hope will inspire and bring joy to children and adults alike. My first book, How to Send a Hug (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) is my first collaboration with my husband, author/illustrator, John Rocco.  We are loving collaborating so much, we thought we'd keep going and have published several new books including All the Books, Wild Places: The Life of Naturalist David Attenborough, our Meet the Wild Things series including, Hello, I'm a Sloth, Hello, I'm a Pangolin, Hello, I'm a Quokka, Hello, I'm an Axolotl, Hello, I'm a Toucan and the forthcoming Hello, I'm a Loris. 

Prior to my writing career, I worked in children’s book publishing promoting amazingly talented authors and illustrators for over a decade. I consider myself very fortunate to be in such incredible company as a peer today. When not writing children’s books, I love exploring nature—especially near the ocean—and photographing animals, whether in their natural habitat or at a zoo. I also love swimming, running, traveling, exploring and learning all about the world around me.

Thanks for reading my bio! Everyone has to start somewhere, so I thought I’d share my very first picture books with you. I created them with the help of my 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Rivera. She always encouraged me to write and draw, and I'm so grateful for it. You can find those stories below. (Enjoy!)

Official Author Bio:
Hayley Rocco is an award-winning of several books including How to Send a Hug, her first collaboration with her husband, Caldecott Honoree, John Rocco. Before dedicating herself to writing for children full-time, Hayley worked as a publicist at several major publishers. An ambassador for Wild Tomorrow, a nonprofit focused on conservation and re-wilding South Africa, Hayley travels the world armed with a pen, a journal, and her camera, discovering stories of wild things and wild places. Visit Hayley at hayleyrocco.com and follow her on Instagram @hayleyroccobooks.

Philanthropy...
Rocco, along with her husband, John Rocco, have co-founded Children's Book Creators for Conservation (CBCC)- a collective group of children's book authors and illustrators who support conservation efforts with the mission to partner with organizations like Wild Tomorrow to amplify the important work they're doing to save our wildlife, wild places through the books we create.   Recently, Hayley and John were made official ambassadors for Wild Tomorrow. Click here to read more.​

To learn more about my passion for animal photography, you can follow my journey on Instagram @photoanimalism.
If you're looking for some additional fun, here are some of those books I was telling you about at the top of this web page. 
Click on the book covers to see inside!