Abigail Louise Hoiland - Author/Illustrator

In 1981, Abbey Huchel was born as the third daughter to a Marine father and a cheerleading mother. As a military family, they moved across the United States and Europe. Blessed with boundless energy, Abbey took up the trumpet before high school, played soccer and tennis, ran track, and even pole vaulted in high school—continuing to vault competitively in college.

In 2003, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University. Though rote memorization was never her strength, Abbey thrived in active, meaningful learning environments. Fueled by optimism and a passion for teaching, she earned her teaching credential and set out to make education fun, joyful, and full of movement. Her teaching journey took her to preschool English classes in China, elementary schools in California and Arizona, and teaching English as a second language to adults at an international school in California. During her career, she was granted an emergency teaching credential while student teaching and was nominated for Teacher of the Year in 2012. Despite these achievements, burnout set in, and she decided to channel her creativity into graphic design, lending her artistic skills to several small businesses.

After living in 20 homes, with 25 roommates, across 3 states and 3 countries, Abbey eventually met and married her lovable, eccentric husband, becoming Abigail Hoiland. Together, they planted roots and built a family, complete with two charismatic children, two dogs, a lizard, and a hamster.

Reading to her own kids, Abigail couldn’t help but notice that many children’s books were either inaccurate or confusing. With her background in education and technical art skills, she decided to write and illustrate her own stories—books that are accurate, fun, and packed with science, history, and logic. She believes that if children start life with engaging, fact-based stories, school later on will be easier and make more sense.

And so, ByDilly was born, and her first book, Auntie Aye-Aye’s Fresh Fact-tastic Rhymes, was published. Welcome to the adventure!