3/26/2019 Paula Danziger - Wikipedia

emotionally generous. My father was a very unhappy person, very sarcastic, and my mother [was] very nervous and
worried about what people thought. They weren't monsters, but it wasn't a good childhood."[3] She graduated from
Metuchen High School.[4]

She was encouraged to study nursing in college but instead studied to become a teacher at Montclair State University,
where she was mentored by poet John Ciardi.[3] After earning a bachelor's degree in education, Danziger taught junior
high school English while pursuing a master's degree.[5] After being injured in an automobile accident, she 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.[6]

Following the success of The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, Danziger left teaching to write full-time in 1978. She maintained homes
in New York City and in Bearsville, New York. For several years, she had a flat in London, where she was known for
presenting a regular item about children's literature on the BBC's Saturday morning show Live & Kicking in the 1980s and
1990s.[7]

Death
On June 9, 2004, she experienced chest pain while her niece, Carrie Danziger, was visiting. After trying to hide her
discomfort and phoning a neighbor about her concern, she ultimately went to a hospital, where she was diagnosed as
having suffered a heart attack. She remained in the hospital and died from complications of the heart attack at St. Luke's
Hospital in Manhattan on July 8, 2004.[1]

Following a memorial service at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York City[8], Paula was buried in the Woodstock
Artists Cemetery in Woodstock, New York.[9] She was survived by her parents, brother Barry, niece Carrie, and three
nephews.

Writing career
Danziger's debut novel was The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, whose characters were largely based on her experiences from
childhood. She continued writing books for teens through the 1980s, expanding to books for younger readers with the
Amber Brown series, whose protagonist is based on Danziger's niece Carrie.[3] She frequently gave lectures and speeches,
wearing elaborate costumes and calling herself a children's Dame Edna Everage. She is quoted as saying that her
alternative career choice would have been as a stand-up comedian.[1]

She collaborated with Ann M. Martin twice, with P.S. Longer Letter Later (1998) and Snail Mail No More (2000).[10] The
two would send correspondence to each other as if they were the main characters.

Paula Danziger and author Bruce Coville read their work to each other over the phone beginning in 1992[11], continuing for
over a decade as a two-person writers' group[12] and later including author Elizabeth Levy. Following Danziger's passing,
Coville and Levy continued her Amber Brown series, beginning with Amber Brown is Tickled Pink (2012), which told the
story of the title character's mother's re-marriage.[13]

Awards
Paula Danziger's works were nominated for and won many American state children's book awards, including the
Massachusetts Children's Book Award for The Cat Ate My Gymsuit in 1979 and the California Young Reader Medal for
There's a Bat in Bunk Five in 1984. Four of her works were named IRA-CBC Children's Choices: The Pistachio

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