Elizabeth Zunon grew up in a hot, sunny, tropical country in West Africa called the Ivory Coast, where people speak French (and many other languages). Since her mother is American, she wanted to make sure that Elizabeth and her little brother could speak both French and English, so she read them a lot of bedtime stories in English after they came home from speaking French all day at school. As a little girl, Elizabeth loved to draw, paint, make up dances and play dress-up, and as she grew up, she didn't really change! Elizabeth went to art school in the United States and decided to focus on Children's Book Illustration. In school, she made a lot of paintings and books that were filled with images and memories of her childhood in the Ivory Coast. She still loves thinking about life there and drawing palm trees, tropical flowers, people in busy marketplaces, and days at the beach- especially since she now lives in Upstate New York, where it gets cold and snowy!Some things you may not know about Elizabeth Zunon:1) She has been known to break out in dance, mid-painting, around the living room, paintbrush in hand (when no one is looking, of course!)2) Her secret wish is to be a ballerina.3) She always buys a new paintbrush and a new paint color that she's never used before when starting a new project. It makes every painting even more exciting, and the new color adds something unexpected!