Mary risk is the pseudonym for the author Elizabeth Laird, an award-winning British writer of children’s fiction and travel, known for the large body of folktales which she complied from regions of Ethiopia. The author uses the pseudonym for her TV and educational writing, including the TV adaptation of The Animals of Farthing Wood. Under the Mary Risk name, Elizabeth has also penned several stories for children learning English as a foreign language. Alex illustrated I Want My Banana in the I CAN READ series for b small publishing.