Elizabeth MacLeod was born on October 21 in Toronto As a child Liz liked to read Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables books swim sing dance and hang out with her friends Encouraged by her parents she began writing stories and poetry for her own enjoyment at the age of 10 her favorite subjects being mad scientists and tyrants who threatened to take over the world Today Liz is inspired by almost anything her friends reading and the funny beautiful world around her Her first job in publishing was at OWL magazine and Liz credits editor Sylvia Funston as one of her mentors Liz also names Valerie Wyatt a writer and editor as an important influence on her work as well as a good friend An avid reader Liz enjoyed digging up amazi Elizabeth MacLeod was born on October 21 in Toronto As a child Liz liked to read Nancy Drew and Anne of Green Gables books swim sing dance and hang out with her friends Encouraged by her parents she began writing stories and poetry for her own enjoyment at the age of 10 her favorite subjects being mad scientists and tyrants who threatened to take over the world Today Liz is inspired by almost anything her friends reading and the funny beautiful world around her Her first job in publishing was at OWL magazine and Liz credits editor Sylvia Funston as one of her mentors Liz also names Valerie Wyatt a writer and editor as an important influence on her work as well as a good friend An avid reader Liz enjoyed digging up amazing facts and researching historic royals and their countries and customs for Royal Murder 2008 She encourages anyone with a desire to write to just do it Even if no one ever reads it the joy that comes from expressing yourself through words is reward enough Liz adds that writing takes practice and with each day you are bound to improve Liz lives in Toronto with her husband Paul and their two cats Smedley and Cosmo. She enjoys keeping active spending time with friends music theater and cheering on the Toronto Maple Leafs Liz plans to continue writing about a broad spectrum of topics in both fiction and non fiction and would like to work on picture books in the future site_link One half is about the koalas the other half about cheetahs Informative text with full page color photos about the habitat habits characteristics and diet of the Koalas AND Cheetahs Getting to Know Natures Children Koalas Cheetahs Getting to Know Natures Children