Park, Barbara

Barbara Lynne Park (née Tidswell; April 21, 1947 – November 15, 2013) was an American author of children's books. She is most well known for writing the Junie B. Jones series of chapter books. She has also written several middle grade and young adult books, including Skinnybones (1982), Mick Harte Was Here (1995), and The Graduation of Jake Moon (2000). Park's works frequently visited themes of familial relationships and children's experiences in school, basing characters on her children and her own childhood memories. Park did not allow adaptations of her works except for stage plays. Originally intending to become a high school teacher, Park abandoned the idea after an unpleasant semester as a student teacher. She moved across the country as her husband traveled for Air Force training before they settled in Arizona. Her first manuscript, Skinnybones, was accepted by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc in 1981. Don't Make Me Smile, another manuscript she had prepared, became her first book published by Knopf the same year. She began writing Junie B. Jones in 1992, which proved highly popular, and she continued writing the series for the rest of her life. She became active in advocacy for the use of bicycle helmets after a child died of a bicycle accident in her neighborhood in 1993, and this made up the plot of Mick Harte Was Here. She died of ovarian cancer in 2013.