A word from the real Amber Brown

“Aunt,” my seven-year-old self said to Paula Danziger, in my deep truck-driver voice, “why don’t you write a book for younger kids?” At the time, Paula was only writing novels for young adults. This badgering occurred often and went on for several years.

Then one day:

“Aunt,” I sobbed into the phone, “I’m losing my two best friends. Ben and Dylan are both moving away.” Without my friends, the new school year looked miserable. Paula calmed me down and was very supportive, as she always was. Paula had the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known and was always there when I (or anyone else) needed her.

I am the real-life Amber Brown. I am also Paula’s only niece, Carrie Danziger.

Paula took my nagging for a book for younger readers and the tragedy of my best friends moving away plus many of her own experiences and ideas to give birth to Amber Brown.

By the time Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon was published, I was already reading Paula’s older works, such as The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, but the Amber Brown series exceeded all of my expectations—it became Paula’s masterpiece and a major part of her legacy.

Even though the world is very different today than it was when she began writing in the 1970s, the troubles and the turmoil of her characters remain the same as today’s young readers. Paula strove to relate to people on a personal level through her work and was successful because she was such a “people person.”

Paula had so much love to give that she needed many recipients. She had many “best” friends in her life. Two of these friends, Elizabeth Levy and Bruce Coville, are pertinent to the novel that you just read. They still jokingly refer to each other as “Paula’s best friend” and “Paula’s other best friend.”

Bruce and Paula had been friends since the time of the dinosaurs. Long, long, LONG ago, they began reading and critiquing each other’s work over the phone. They re-created this process several times at conferences, sitting back to back as if they were on the phone.

Bruce knew Paula and Paula’s writing very well. He is the author of many science fiction adventures, including the My Teacher Is an Alien series. Even though their genres are very different, Bruce and Paula were able to edit and support each other as writers.

Liz and Paula were friends for a long time but not quite as long as Bruce and Paula. Liz is the author of the Fletcher mystery series and MANY other books. Liz and Paula used to run into each other at writing events around the country. They always meant to get together when they were back in New York, but somehow never did. Finally, after years of running into each other on the road, Paula said to Liz, “Either we’re going to do this, or we’re not!” From that point on they were best friends; they would speak on the phone every day and frequently traveled up and down the west side of Manhattan to see each other.

Almost all of Paula’s friends heard at one time or another, “You’re going to love this person, but you can’t love them more than you love me.” Paula loved to network her friends together, and she is the reason that Bruce, Liz and I are friends.

Paula’s close connection with Bruce, Liz and my family is the reason why they were asked to co-write Amber Brown Is Tickled Pink. Paula always intended there to be more Amber Brown books and this was lovingly written to preserve her legacy as well as Amber’s.

As Paula always said, “Amber Brown would not be complete without the illustrations.” Thank you to Tony Ross for illustrating the Amber Brown books for all of these years and continuing to bring her to life in the latest rendition. Amber Brown Is Tickled Pink also needed and received the support of the people at Writers House and Putnam. Thank you to everyone involved for allowing the world to continue to hear Paula’s voice. Thank you to all of Paula’s readers and fans who keep Amber and all of Paula’s other characters not only alive but close to their hearts.

Thank-yous would not be complete without a thank-you to Paula, who not only shaped my life but continues to shape the lives of her readers through her books.

—Carrie Danziger