Zana Fraillon was born in Melbourne, but spent her early childhood in San Francisco. 'I grew up in a house that had a whole room full of books and comfy chairs and this was my favourite place to be. As a teenager, a lot of my time was given to practising magic tricks and my first attempt at writing a book centred around a girl who solves crimes using her understanding of magic.' At the age of twenty, Zana lived for a year in China teaching English in a remote rural area. She returned to Melbourne and now lives with her husband, three children, two dogs and a recalcitrant cat...Zana has written two picture books for young children and a series for middle readers that has been published in five languages. Her dreams of one day ending world illiteracy and innumeracy are far from being realised, but 'if you are going to dream, you might as well dream big.'