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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

mom would laugh and say, “That’s exactly what my parents always

said to me when I was a kid!

The people I met in books always seemed very real to me: as a kid, I counted among my friends the whip-smart New York kids of E.L. Konigsburg books, Harriet the Spy, Anne of Green Gables, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Anne Frank, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Little Princess’ Sara Crewe, L.M. Montgomery’s Emily Byrd Starr, Beanie Malone

I did major in creative writing, but I also majored in journalism (and history, just for fun). Except for the summer after my freshman year of college, when I worked as

at a 4-H camp (which was lots and lots of fun), every job I’ve held since then has been related to writing in some way.

an assistant coo

I worked on my school newspaper and had summer internships at newspapers in Urbana, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Indianapolis, Indiana. After college,

then quickly moved back to Indianapolis to work as a newspaper reporter there.

But a few went for the fantastical.

When my daughter was in third grade, she brought home a list one day that described what everyone in her class wanted to be when they grew up

ay that described what everyone in her class wanted to be when they grew up. Most of

I come from both a long line of farmers, and a long line of bookworms.

nurses (like my mom)

One kid said he wanted to be a spy; another was longing to be a professional dirt-biker; another saw himself as a future movie director. And I looked at that list and thought, “Yep, I’m with the dirt-biker and the spy.”

farmers (like my dad

  I grew up on a farm about halfway between two small towns: Washington Court House, Ohio, and Sabina, Ohio.

   As a kid, I also longed for a career that I didn’t actually believe real people got to do. The far-out, only-in-your dreams career I wanted was to be an author.

“Would you guys stop reading for a minute and look out the window? That’s the Grand Canyon we’re driving past!

How many of my ancestors, immigrating to America, had to admonish their kids, “Would you put down that book and look out? Don’t you want to see our new home?”

To me, it didn’t seem to be much of a step to go from loving books to wanting to create books of my own

The people I met in books always seemed very real to me: as a kid, I counted among my friends the whip-smart New York kids of E.L. Konigsburg books, Harriet the Spy, Anne of Green Gables, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Anne Frank, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Little Princess’ Sara Crewe, L.M. Montgomery’s Emily Byrd Starr, Beanie Malone, and many, many others.

One kid said he wanted to be a spy; another was longing to be a professional dirt-biker; another saw himself as a future movie director. And I looked at that list and thought, “Yep, I’m with the dirt-biker and the spy.”

and did volunteer work through my church and 4-H clubs.

Washington Court House, Ohio, and Sabina, Ohio.

indow?

(Lest you think I was some multi-talented prodigy, I should point out that I’m a terrible singer, a terrible actor, and, as a runner, I’m really, really good at walking

One of the advantages of going to a fairly small school is that, if you’re not too afraid of making a fool of yourself, they’ll let you try just about any activity.

) In college, one of the best things I did was spend a semester studying in Luxembourg, a small country nestled between France, Germany and Belgium.

fairly small school is that, if you’r

But it was being a reporter that really gave me the opportunity to meet lots of different people, in vastly different circumstances. It never failed to amaze me that I could sit down with people, and begin asking really, really nosy questions, and because I was from the newspaper, they would almost always answer.

events, all at once.)

or most of my time as a journalist, I worked as a general assignment report

characters and settings in my head. Facts weren’t enough for me. I still als

Somehow, for me, hearing so many different stories from so many different people--and witnessing so many different events--didn’t just inspire me to write it all down

ould go home and also write different kinds of stories, ones based mo

. So during this time, I had a lot more ideas for fiction than I actually wrote down.

  It was also during this time that I got married. My husband, Doug, and I met in college, and he also went into journalism right after school.

When he got a job as city editor of a newspaper in Danville, Illinois, it seemed like a big complication for my career. If I wanted to continue

as a newspaper reporter, I knew I’d probably have to have my husband as a boss.

My husband and I agreed to see this complication as an opportunity: this would be my chance to concentrate on fiction

. I took part-time jobs teaching writing at a community college and doing freelance business writing, but I also wrote Running Out of Time; Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey; and numerous short stories. While I was working on those, my husband and I also decided to start a family.

Like most writers, I went through an agonizing phase of submitting my work and collecting nothing but rejection letters for quite a while

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Still, it was a little challenging to be a newly published author at the same time that I was becoming a new mother.

For those first few years, I wrote only during my kids’ naptime, when I probably should have been napping myself.

   Since then, my life has changed quite a bit. My husband and kids and I moved from Illinois to Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, to Columbus, Ohio

    And that’s why I became a writer.

In a hurry? See a short biography. Writing a Report

Start Here

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At one point, Cabot, who began publishing in 1998, was pumping out a novel almost every month; by early 2006 she had published forty-four works of fiction.

In 2004, the movie The Princess Diaries 2 was released, which further followed the escapades of Mia, the Princess of Genovia. A few months prior, Cabot signed a seven-figure deal with her publisher, HarperCollins, to continue writing the Princess series and to build on her other young adult series. As Cabot told Teenreads.com, "I hope to write about [Mia] as long as people want to keep reading about her."

"I was a traditional Disney-princess worshipper," she told Trudy Wyss of Borders. "You know, I had the Snow White birthday cake when I was six, drew Cinderella endlessly on my notepads." Cabot read about princesses (her favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast ) and fantasized about being a real-life princess, often telling her mom and dad that her "real" parents, the king and queen, would arrive one day in Indiana to find her.

In addition, Cabot wrote for the high school newspaper and kept detailed journals. She also was active in after-school activities, including choir, theater, and the art club.

In 1991, with a bachelor of fine arts degree in hand, the budding artist moved to New York City to pursue a career as an illustrator. Instead, she landed a job as a freshman dormitory assistant manager at New York University. It was not exactly her dream job, but there were periods when work was slow, which gave her plenty of free time to return to her early love: writing.

Critics gave mixed reviews to the The Princess Diaries, claiming that at times it was over the top and cartoonish.

In just a few short years The Princess Diaries had become a mini-dynasty with Meg Cabot as its queen

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.

Many stude

nts were curious about the publishing process, so Harry gave them some feedback on that subject. He explained the submission and editorial process, and they were shocked to learn that authors receive only 10 percent of a book. He used his latest book, A Boy at War, a story about Pearl Harbor, as an example. Many students

expressed interest in reading this book because they had just seen the movie.

Students asked Harry how he came up with the idea to write "The Wild Kid." Harry replied that he saw the title on a T-shirt in Manhattan. The story itself, he felt, was an

important one that needed to be told: a young boy who is mentally retarded becomes

Students at I.S. 145 asked well-thought out, provoking questions about The Wild Kid, and the publishing process. Many expressed that they wished for a different ending (that the two boys end up living together, as brothers) and urged Harry to write a sequel, because "We'd want to read that!" Harry agreed that it would be a whole other story, and therefore another book. So, he engaged the students in a brainstorming session, asking them to create their own endings for the next story.