Magic Marcus: Independent Reading 12

Elizabeth Dale always dreamed of being a writer but somehow got side-tracked into studying for a physics degree, followed by health service management. When her children were born she finally returned to her dream, writing thousands of short stories for magazines all over the world. Re-discovering a love of children's books while reading to her daughters, she decided to turn her hand to writing them - and has now published over twenty books for children, including picture books and junior fiction. Writing is her full-time job, but also her favourite activity. She also enjoys reading, gardening, walking, and being in the country. Her favourite children's books include Walk Two Moons, The Selfish Giant, Cosmic, and Someone Else's Life. She loves watching cosy sentimental films, such as You've Got Mail, Return to Me, and While You Were Sleeping, as well as classic old films starring Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Doris Day. Elizabeth is married, with three daughters, and lives in a village in West Sussex. Her daughters, Katie and Jenny, are also children's authors with Hachette.

Gareth Conway is an illustrator and animation character designer. He graduated from University with a degree in animation and has worked in children's television animation ever since. Gareth started working on illustration projects in 2007, in that time he has illustrated joke books, activity books, sticker books, educational reading books, poems, puzzles, young fiction books and most recently picture books, including the bestselling Greg the Sausage Roll books. Gareth lives in Devon with his wife and daughter.