Biography
Elizabeth MacLeod became a writer at a young age. When she and her older brothers were supposed to be doing homework, instead they were sliding crazy drawings and silly stories under one another’s bedroom doors. Elizabeth couldn’t draw (unfortunately, she still can’t), so she wrote wild tales about mad scientists and creatures from alien planets. Not a lot of homework got done!#While at the University of Toronto, Elizabeth didn’t take a single writing course. Instead, she studied science, graduating with an honors degree in biology and botany. That science training came in handy when she started in children’s publishing as the managing editor at OWL Magazine. Then she became an editor and writer at Kids Can Press, where she’s written on subjects ranging from Albert Einstein and horses to Mount Everest and Lucy Maud Montgomery.#Now Elizabeth is a very nosy freelance writer who loves finding out why people do the things they do, so she especially liked writing the books in the “Snapshots: Images of People and Places in History” series (for kids ages 8 to 12) and the “Inspiring Lives” series (for kids ages 6 to 8).#A proud Canadian, Elizabeth loves writing about people who live in Canada and have changed the country – and sometimes the world. As a female writer, she thinks it’s vital that kids know about the courageous women who have improved our lives, so she’s really pleased to share her book Canadian Women Now + Then with readers. Elizabeth wrote about a different kind of brave Canadian in her book Bunny the Brave War Horse, the incredible true story about a horse from Toronto, Ontario, who served with amazing courage in World War I.#Elizabeth and her husband live in Toronto, where their cat, Cosimo, is usually sprawled across her desk!
Awards
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The Wright Brothers (First Reader)
2009 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Canada Year by Year
2017 - Best Books for Kids & Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2017 - Information Book Award, The Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada, Commended
2017 - Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction, Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards, Winner
2016 - Kids Books of the Year 2016, Quill & Quire, Winner
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Canadian Women Now and Then
2021 - Children’s Choice Book Award, Hackmatack, Short-listed
2021 - Light Reads, Great Stories List, Ontario Library Association, Winner
2020 - OLA Best Bets, Ontario Library Association, Winner
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Lucy Maud Montgomery (First Reader)
2009 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Thomas Edison (First Reader)
2009 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Samuel de Champlain (First Reader)
2009 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Alexander Graham Bell (First Reader)
2008 - Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Winner
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Eleanor Roosevelt
2008 - Silver Birch Award, Ontario Library Association, Short-listed
2007 - Information Book Award, Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada, Short-listed
2006 - Best Bets - Top 10 Canadian Children’s Books, Ontario Library Association, Winner
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Lucy Maud Montgomery
2003 - Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Short-listed
2002 - Alberta Children’s Choice Rocky Mountain Book Award, Ontario Library Association, Short-listed
2002 - Our Choice, , Winner
2002 - Silver Birch Award, , Short-listed
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To the Top of Everest
2003 - Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, Ontario Library Association, Short-listed
2003 - Silver Birch Award, Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada, Short-listed
2002 - Children’s Literature Choice List, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Winner
2002 - Information Book Award, International Reading Association, Short-listed
2002 - Our Choice - Starred Selection, , Winner
2002 - Young Adults' Choices, , Short-listed
- Red Cedar Book Award, ,
First Readers
Harry Houdini (First Reader), 2021
Marie Curie (First Reader), 2009
The Wright Brothers (First Reader), 2008
Lucy Maud Montgomery (First Reader), 2008
Thomas Edison (First Reader), 2008
Samuel de Champlain (First Reader), 2008
Helen Keller (First Reader), 2007
Alexander Graham Bell (First Reader), 2007Non-fiction
Canadian Women Now and Then, 2020
Canada Year by Year, 2016
Eleanor Roosevelt, 2006
Lucy Maud Montgomery, 2001
To the Top of Everest, 2001Picture Books
Bunny the Brave War Horse, 2014