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Liz CooperAuthor Bio - Liz Cooper - has made up stories while falling asleep for as long as she can remember. Later, as an adult, she found that driving long distances was a great time to work on what she called her “mental manuscripts.” She wrote and illustrated her first children’s book more than thirty years ago but waited quite some time to get it published. Years ago, it never occurred to Liz that she might be a good enough writer to transform her “mental manuscripts” to paper versions. But much to her surprise, a contest entry in the first “I want to be a Children’s Book Writer” co-sponsored by Scholastic and Woman’s Day Magazine earned Liz a placement in the top ten out of 5,000 entries. Liz’s experiences as a delivery room nurse, elementary school teacher (Kindergarten and third grades), instructional resource teacher, school system reading/ language arts supervisor, and educational toy and bookstore owner, patented inventor, and trained national board-certified polysomnography (sleep) technician has provided Liz lots of material and ideas for children’s stories. That broad background, along with being a mother of two grown sons and grandmother to five, she knows what teachers are looking for. (continued below)
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The Potts-Abilities Series
Enrolling herself into Mortimer Potts Elementary School won't be easy, but Bluebell Skinks has a plan. In just three short weeks, Bluebell will prove to the world that a kid in a wheelchair can cause just as much chaos and a regular doing it, and have a blast doing it. With the help from her new friend, Frederick "French Frye," and her sister, Bonnie, Bluebell turns the school upside down by orchestrating an energetic student election, a frenzied disability day, and an extraordinary science presentation. Principal Grimble and Nurse Krutsky become caught up in the events with hilarious results, which Bluebell's uniquely talented classmates help her stay one step ahead of Hoops Russell, the school star basketball player who believes Bluebell is faking her disability. After Hoops sets on on a mission to discredit her, what happens next will surprise everyone, especially Bluebell. Join Bluebell Skinks as she becomes the most famous student to ever attend Mortimer Potts Elementary School by using humor, kindness, determination, and a wheelchair.
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When new student Mitzi Mufflin, who happens to be blind, joins the gang at Mortimer Potts Elementary School, she’s thrilled to named Principal for a Day. Little does she know, the real principal and teachers will disappear! Can Principal Mufflin and her pint-sized “staff” secretly run the school until the teachers return? Join Mitzi as she navigates her way through each new challenge to save the school from disaster, using resourcefulness, determination, and her cane, Tappity. Mitzi is confident in her abilities. She proves to us all, that if everyone were exactly the same, it would be a very boring world. This book is the second in a series by Liz Cooper featuring resilient young characters dealing with unique challenges.
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Have you ever heard a bird meow? Morris Flip may be autistic and doesn't use words to communicate, but he creates the most astonishing and realistic sound effects. When a new summer camp mysteriously opens up in town, he's thrilled... until he learns it's a cover for the camp owner who wants to find a long-lost jewelry collection hidden on the old abandoned Potts estate. Couple that with a fraudulent money-printing scheme and Morris and his Mortimer Potts Elementary School friends have their hands full. Will Morris be able to save the day? Author Liz Cooper weaves a tale of adventure, diversity, and problem-solving in the third volume of her Potts-Abillites middle-grade series featuring strong characters with disabilities, often marginalized in children's literature.
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Author Bio continued
Liz has an interesting writing quirk in that she writes humorous dialogue that sounds older and more sophisticated for her young characters. That’s because as a former teacher and current grandmother, she knows that kids consider themselves quite wise. For Liz, it’s important for her to model in her stories what good collaboration and friendships look like, especially when some of the kids in the group are considered “unusual.”
Liz believes that a good middle-grade story has to move along quickly, have an interesting problem, and at least one character they can relate to. She hopes that her young readers will see that the child characters in her books who are “differently-abled” are not as different as they first may think and to not marginalize them. Liz believes that children with disabilities are severely underrepresented in literature and hopes to change that with her offerings by focusing on the crazy situations that kids deal with, not the “bully vs. disabled victim.” To this end, Liz’s stories have underlying themes of kindness, problem-solving, teamwork, and lots of humor. She hopes this helps her young readers to enjoy books more for fun, since there are so many other pastimes pulling them away from reading these days.
When she isn’t writing humorous chapter books for middle-graders, Liz is very involved in interacting with and supporting any organization that supports children with disabilities, education in general, or literacy. This year, The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults have chosen two of her books to be printed in braille and sent to 4,000 blind children in the US, free of charge. Liz also enjoys making stained glass and quilting, and kayaking near her home along the Potomac River, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
Liz has an interesting writing quirk in that she writes humorous dialogue that sounds older and more sophisticated for her young characters. That’s because as a former teacher and current grandmother, she knows that kids consider themselves quite wise. For Liz, it’s important for her to model in her stories what good collaboration and friendships look like, especially when some of the kids in the group are considered “unusual.”
Liz believes that a good middle-grade story has to move along quickly, have an interesting problem, and at least one character they can relate to. She hopes that her young readers will see that the child characters in her books who are “differently-abled” are not as different as they first may think and to not marginalize them. Liz believes that children with disabilities are severely underrepresented in literature and hopes to change that with her offerings by focusing on the crazy situations that kids deal with, not the “bully vs. disabled victim.” To this end, Liz’s stories have underlying themes of kindness, problem-solving, teamwork, and lots of humor. She hopes this helps her young readers to enjoy books more for fun, since there are so many other pastimes pulling them away from reading these days.
When she isn’t writing humorous chapter books for middle-graders, Liz is very involved in interacting with and supporting any organization that supports children with disabilities, education in general, or literacy. This year, The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults have chosen two of her books to be printed in braille and sent to 4,000 blind children in the US, free of charge. Liz also enjoys making stained glass and quilting, and kayaking near her home along the Potomac River, near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.