Markus Zusak is Helmut and Lisa's youngest of four children, and he was born June 23, 1975, in Sydney, Australia. He grew up with two older sisters and one older brother that soon inspired him on his second written book. Another aspect that influenced his writing was his parent's working-class immigrant background. In Australia, at the age of sixteen, he began to write as he attended Engadine High School. With finishing his first manuscript at 18; it was called Rockman and remained unpublished. As his immigrant parents worked as one a painter and the other as a maid Zusak thought he would become a painter as well. Quickly he found out he does not demonstrate the talent like his father and alternatively went to college. Through his years of