Biographical Sketch

Joan Bauer was born July 12, 1951, in Oak Park, Illinois. She grew up in River Forest (in the same state of Illinois) and now lives in Darein, Connecticut. From the age of 12 had various working experience, including: assistant typing teacher, waitress, and receptionist. Her first serious job serious job was as an advertising sales rep at the Chicago Tribune. She also worked as a district sales manager at McGraw-Hill Publishing, and at Parade Magazine. She writes: "I’ve been a freelance writer for eighteen years—first as a journalist, then a short stint as a screenwriter, and finally, a novelist."

Asked about her first published work, she responds: "First ever was when I won second prize in the Chicago Tribune Fruit and Vegetable Poetry contest. I wrote a stirring poem about my life long hatred of lima beans called "Lima Bean Blues." I also got a job at the Tribune because of that poem--the sales manager hated lima beans, too. You just never know where vegetables can take you. First published magazine article was in American Baby magazine: "My Baby Needs Surgery" about my infant daughter’s surgery. First published novel—Squashed."

She has won a large number of awards for her fiction:

• SQUASHED—Winner of the Delacorte Prize for a First YA Novel, a School Library Journal Best Book, an American Bookseller’s Pick of the List, ALA Book for the Reluctant Reader. Winner of 1992 Best Book for Children—Booktalks Unlimited. State Award Lists: Illinois Rebecca Caudhill Young Readers Book Award Program; Missouri Mark Twain Award Program; Utah Children’s Book Award Program; South Carolina Junior Book Award List; Texas Lonestar Reading List; Tennesee Volunteer State Book Award Program; Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award Program; Sequoyah Young Adult Book Award Program; Iowa Reading List Program.
• THWONK—An ALA Best Book for Young Adults; A Top Ten ALA Best Book for Young Adults; American Bookseller Pick of the List; A book for the Teen Age, NY Public Library. State Lists: California Young Reader Medal Program; South Carolina Junior Book Award;
• STICKS—Sequoyah Children’s Book Award Program; Chicago Library Children’s Masterlist.
• RULES OF THE ROAD—Winner of the 1998 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (first year for YA); Winner of the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; An ALA Notable Book; An ALA Best Book for Young Adults; An ALA Top Ten Bet Book; An ALA Quick Pick; a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"; a BCCB Blue Ribbon Book. State lists so far: Texas Lone Star Reading List; Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award master list.
• BACKWATER—published in May ‘99—so far…Smithsonian’s Notable Children’s Books Masterlist.