Paula Danziger (August 18, 1945 – July 8, 2004)

A U.S. and E.U. children's author. She grew up in Metuchen, NJ. She lived in New York City and in Bearsville, NY (just outside of Woodstock). For several years, she had a flat in London.  Danziger, who said she knew in the second grade that she wanted to be a writer, wrote more than 30 books, including her 1974 debut The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, Remember Me to Harold Square, The Divorce Expresss and Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice? She was also the author of the Amber Brown and Matthew Martin series.  She was a graduate of Montclair State University, earning a bachelor's and master's there before becoming a teacher at John Adams Middle School in Edison, New Jersey. After being injured in an automobile accident, had trouble writing, as she was only able to write backwards. She was able to regain the ability to write normally, but she was able to write backwards for the rest of her life. This sequence of events prompted her to do what she really want to do in life; she began writing. Most of her books are considered Young Adult (YA) books, although some of the Amber Brown books were aimed at younger readers.