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Meg's books have been the recipients of numerous awards, including the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, the American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, the Tennessee Volunteer State TASL Book Award, the Book Sense Pick, the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, the IRA/CBC Young Adult Choice - as well as many others (see awards section for specific book wins).

Pen name Meggin Cabot Patricia Cabot Jenny Carroll

Genres Chick-lit, Mystery, Romance, Science fiction

she soon quit this job and started working as an assistant manager of the freshman dormitory at New York University.[1][2]

Allie Finkle series

Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Moving Day (March 2008)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl (August 2008)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens (March 2009)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright (September 2009)

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out (March 2010) Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Blast From the Past (September 2010)

The Allie Finkle series chronicles the challenges Allie Finkle faces when she moves away and becomes the new girl in school, as well as dealing with snobs and other difficulties associated with growing up. Allie confronts these issues by making rules to live by, which helps her find out who she really is.

This series revolves around Jessica Mastriani, an ordinary 16-year-old girl given extraordinary psychic powers after being struck by lightning. Her powers allow her to know the exact location of missing children; after seeing a picture of a person, they appear in her dreams. The first four books take place over less than a year, and chronicle her attempts to help missing children while trying to avoid the scrutiny of the federal government. The fifth book, published four years after the fourth book, picks up the story line after Jess has turned 19. Over the course of the books, Jess is romantically involved with Rob Wilkins, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

The first four books were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll. After poor sales, the series was discontinued. Sales improved when the books were re-released in 2004 under Cabot's real name. Cabot was unhappy with the discontinuation; she stated that she wanted to take the series up to eight books. Her current publishing house agreed to publish one more installment. Missing You was released in December 2006 and ended the series. The 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series was the basis for the television show Missing, which aired on the Lifetime cable network for three seasons from 2003 to 2006.[6] The series has been reprinted in the US in an omnibus edition, and retitled Vanished.

1-800-WHERE-R-U series When Lightning Strikes (February 2001) Code Name Cassandra (August 2001) Safe House (March 2002) Sanctuary (September 2002) Missing You (December 26, 2006)

The Abandon Trilogy Abandon (26 April 2011) TBA (TBA) TBA (TBA)

Blurb for the first book in the trilogy, Abandon: 'She knows what it's like to die. Now Death wants her back.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce knows what happens to us when we die. That's how she met John Hayden, the mysterious stranger who's made returning to normal life—or at least life as Pierce knew it before the accident—next to impossible. Though she thought she escaped him—starting a new school in a whole new place—it turns out she was wrong. He finds her. What does John want from her? Pierce thinks she knows... just like she knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven. But she can't stay away from him, either, especially since he's always there when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most. But if she lets herself fall any further, she might find herself back in the place she fears the most. And when Pierce discovers the shocking truth, that’s exactly where John sweeps her: The Underworld.'

Heather Wells series Size 12 is Not Fat, December 27, 2005 Size 14 is Not Fat Either, November 28, 2006 Big Boned, December 26, 2007

The Heather Wells series is an adult mystery series that features former pop star Heather Wells. Heather was once a teen star, but was fired by her recording company when she asked to sing songs she had written instead of the ones they composed for her. The book opens just after Heather has gotten a job as a residence house coordinator at New York College and quickly discovers that young girls in the dorm are being murdered. The second book was originally titled Phat Chick, but this was changed by the publishers to It's Not Over Until The Size 12 Chick Sings, and finally, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, which continued Heather's amateur sleuthing adventures. The third book in the series is published under the title "Size Doesn't Matter" in Australia and Great Britain. (In other countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, it was entitled "Big Boned".) In 'Size Doesn't Matter', Heather solves another mystery, and is involved in a love triangle with Tad, her boyfriend, and Cooper, whom she secretly loves, but rejected her. In March, 2008 the series was contracted for two additional books, which should be released in 2011 or 2012.

Other works She Went All the Way, December 2002 (as Meggin Cabot)

Awards

Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best British Isles Historical Romance, 1999, for An Improper Proposal Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection, Best Book selection, American Library Association, and New York Public Library Teen Book for the New Millennium citation, all 2001, all for The Princess Diaries Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best young adult category, Mystery Writers of America, 2003, for Safe House The Princess Diaries was voted "one of the nation's 100 best-loved novels" by the British public as part of "The Big Read," British Broadcasting Corporation, 2003. Queen of Teen nomination (2008) for her work "Airhead" nominated for Teen Choice Book of the Year, 2009

“I don’t want to sound like one of the 15-year-olds who write to me, but gee, I like your writing!” I really did sound like a kid when I wrote it.

my mother used to read to me every single day.

That stack of books by everyone’s bed—I have that same stack: books I’ve read, books I’m going to read, books I need to read, books that people have told me are good books to read. My favorite author right now is Diane McKinney-Whetstone.

In 1994 the dedicated teacher became an author, releasing her first children's book, Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs.

Draper is also a poet and nonfiction write

Draper's most recent young adult novel, The Battle of Jericho (2003),

the Coretta Scott King Honor Book of 2004.

Books

I write because I care about young people. I write because I teach."

Draper breezed through high school, taking advanced and honors courses, and graduated a National Merit Scholar.

National Merit Scholarships are awarded each year to a handful of students who achieve excellence on the college placement examination, the SAT.

In 1971, when she was just twenty years old, Draper graduated with a degree in English.

She earned a master's degree in 1974

this same period, she married her husband, Larry Draper, who is also a teacher. The couple has four children.

I inhaled books and knowledge

" the author commented on her Web site.

Draper began school she was already a self-described bookworm

when they were very young; by the time

and Catherine Mills read to her three children each night startin

Mills's home,

filled the

As an English teacher in the Cincinnati Public School system, Draper earned a reputation as a no-nonsense educator who challenged her students to the limit.

I demand the best from them," she explained on her Web site

they expect the best from me."

Draper introduced students to classic and contemporary literature through seminar-like classes where kids were encouraged to discuss what they read in conjunction with current events.

One of Draper's writing assignments, in particular, became legendary. As part of their final grade, seniors at Walnut Hills High School were asked to produce a well-researched term paper.

The Draper Paper."

T-shirts were even

designed

given only to those students who successfully met the challenge.

shirts proudly boasted:

Draper's classes were in high demand through the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1997 she was named Ohio's Teacher of the Year.

April 1997 t

Cincinnati educator

scored

even bigger honor

she earned the title U.S. Teacher of the Year.

award ceremony

Washington, D.C., President Bill Clinton applauded Draper for her many years of service.

reprinted part of his speech:

27 years she has inspired

and life

passion for literature

students with her

Sharon Draper

credit to her profession

, she is a true blessing to the children she has taught.

the rest of her litter, abandoned in an alley in Brooklyn. The reason I went for an alley cat, instead of a cat from the ASPCA or Bide-a-Wee or whatever, is that my husband insisted he wanted a calico cat. And calico cats, for some reason, were in short supply in the Tri-State area at that time. So I put out an alert to all of my friends: If you hear of a calico kitten, let me know. Sure enough, a friend knew of a neighbor who had found a litter of kittens (Gigi), one of which was a calico. OK, first thing: Henrietta is not a calico. She is a tortoiseshell. Here is what the vet said in an unenthusiastic voice when I first brought Henrietta in: “Oh. A tortoiseshell.”

Why? Because tortoiseshell cats, though revered in some cultures (ancient Celtics believed tortoiseshell cats brought good luck; Japanese fishermen used them as ship cats to ward off ghosts) can be, in actuality, “difficult.” I didn't know all of this the day I heard about Henrietta. All I knew was thatall of the kittens from the litter Gigi found were really sick, with infections in their eyes. Henrietta was the least badly affected of her brothers and sisters…she still had one good eye left. And yet when I got to Gigi's, Henrietta was the only kitten she hadn't managed to give away. People had chosen completely BLIND cats over Henrietta. Perhaps they knew what my vet knew.

Recently, my friend Beth (the owner of Fat Henry, on whom Mia's cat Fat Louie is based) revealed to me that when she and I walked into Gigi's house (I took Beth with me because my husband was stuck at work) Beth took one look at Henrietta and thought, “That cat is going to be dead by the end of the week. If she's not dead now.” Henrietta didn't move or even utter a sound the whole subway ride home. When my husband came home and finally saw her, he had to poke her to make sure she wasn't dead. She did look kind of dead. I didn't know what to do about my new dead kitten. I thought maybe she was hungry. There'd been three huge dogs at Gigi's house, so maybe Henrietta had never gotten a proper meal.

So I opened a container of Sheba and put it on a plate and set it front of her. The slab of Sheba was almost as big as Henrietta was. At first she showed no interest. She just lay there, kind of dead. Then she must have gotten a sniff of salmon pate. Since she sat up. And then ate the whole thing in about two minutes. I've still never seen anything that small put away something that big. And then, to our very great surprise, this tiny, almost comatose kitten stretched, turned around, saw my new sheer curtains, and immediately began to climb them. Purring loudly.

“Why can't you ever bring home a normal pet?” my husband wanted to know. Henrietta quickly proved to be a problem cat. Maybe it's genetic. Maybe it's her one eye. Maybe it's the tortoiseshell thing. But from the beginning, Henrietta was just…weird. She likes to collect things. Her primary loves are paper clips and bottle caps—anything sparkly. She used to keep these things in a little pile beneath bed. Not that we were allowed near it. If we so much as looked like we might be about to go under the bed for a suitcase or whatever, Henrietta would puff out to ten times her normal size, hiss, and stalk around the bedclothes, growling menacingly, to try to keep us away. This was charming when she was little. But as she grew larger, if anyone happened to come to my apartment and see her do her “Bed Dance”, they'd often ask, “Um…what's wrong with your cat?” The last straw was when my wedding ring disappeared. I tore the apartment apart looking for it, then realized there was only one place it could have gone.

But when I moved the bed to get it back, I was confronted by the strangest sight I have ever seen. If you can imagine a Ninja in cat form, that is what I saw in front of me. Henrietta, who had previously only made threatening noises and puffed her fur out a lot during the “Bed Dance,” was now walking menacingly towards me ON HER HIND LEGS, her front claws raised to gouge my eyes out. I thought she'd get over it. I really did. I mean, she's a CAT. How long would she remember the day I ransacked her treasure chest?

For THREE MONTHS after that, every time she saw me, Henrietta turned into Ninja cat again, puffing out, growling, and walking on her hind legs. One day while cornered in the kitchen, I called my vet, and asked them what you're supposed to do when your cat is really a Ninja in disguise and is TRYING TO KILL YOU. “This is the tortoiseshell?” my vet asked, with a sigh. “Yeah. They do that.”

The vet suggested an animal therapist be sent to study Henrietta and suggest treatment. For $170/hr. I didn't have $170/hr to give to an animal therapist. I was living in a studio apartment, for crying out loud! So I launched my own line of therapy: I didn't touch Henrietta's stuff anymore. I bought her a nice, comfy bed for my closet, since that seems to be her preferred sleep spot (on top of my suede boots). I spent hours experimenting with treats with which I tried to lure her into petting distance to prove I wasn't all bad. And I kept plenty of containers of catnip all around the apartment to hurl at her in emergencies. It's seemed to work—at least in so far as she isn't trying to kill me anymore. In fact, she finally seems to have forgotten all about my betrayal, and will now allow me to touch—and even carry–her. She usually purrs when I do so. She likes to curl up under the duvet when I'm writing, sleeping on my feet.

She loves my husband, too, and will, when he points at her, roll over and squirm in delight. Yes. Like a dog. That is not Henrietta's only doglike trait. When Henrietta hears activity in the hallway outside our apartment, she runs to the door, growling. If anyone—no matter how long she's known them, or how many times they've fed her–who is not myself or my husband enters our apartment, she goes Ninja cat on them.

This was a particular problem when a landlord wanted to show the studio apartment we were moving out of. Henrietta would not allow the realtor or the prospective tenants move freely through the apartment. I would be out shopping and get a frantic phone call on my cell from the realtor—“Your cat has us all trapped in the kitchen and won't let us out”—and I would have to run home, grab Ninja Henrietta off her hind legs, stuff in her pet carrier, and take her back to Bloomingdales with me (Henrietta seems to like Bloomingdales). The truth is, as much as I love her just the way she is, Henrietta really is a Problem Cat, much like Seabiscuit was a problem horse. Henrietta, however, will not be winning any races. I've discussed her condition with many vets. Would getting another cat help? What about a dog? The consensus, sadly, is that tortoiseshells often get worse, not better, when another animal is introduced into the household. The best I can do is enjoy Henrietta the way she is, relishing in the fact that I own such an unusual pet.

Still, when we start going down to Key West, Henrietta will be facing her first plane ride—in the cabin with me, of course…I would never put her under the plane—and I can't help thinking about what might happen if she should escape from her carrier during the flight. What if she start swandering down the aisle on her hind legs, waving her front claws Ninja style? Can you imagine the horrified looks I'll receive from the other passengers? And what if there's an air marshal on board? He might conceivably shoot her. I mean, really, in her own way, Henrietta is a dangerous weapon…. I just hope they'll let her through security. More later, Meg