Synopses & Reviews
Beloved Amber Brown returns in a new book!
Amber can't wait to be Best Child when her mom and Max get married, but planning a wedding comes with lots of headaches. Amber can't find the right dress, her dad keeps making mean cracks about Max, and Mom and Max have very different ideas about how much this wedding should cost. Her mother even suggests they go to city hall and skip the party altogether! Even though adults can be a lot of work, Amber is determined to be the best Best Child ever. She helps find the perfect location, makes her dad shape up, and, with the help of best friend Justin, gives the perfect wedding speech.
Paula Danziger called Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy her best friend and her other best friend, and this close connection enabled them to lovingly capture Amber Brown's voice, sense of humor, big-heartedness, and her fondness for puns.
Review
“Throughout the story, happiness and sadness are closely entwined for nine-year-old Amber: she’s thrilled that her divorced mother is marrying big-hearted Max, but uneasy that ‘for the first time in my life something huge is happening and Dad isn’t even a tiny part of it.’ . . . Coville and Levy do splendid service both to this character and her creator.”
Review
“Amber is trying to find comfortable middle ground between her father and her mother's wedding plans. She's trying not to take sides but sometimes finds herself caught between them, even in their mostly amicable split, a problem she good-naturedly deals with, setting a fine example for kids in the same position. . . . Fully faithful to the voice Danziger gave Amber Brown, this visit with an old friend will totally satisfy readers. (afterword by Danziger's niece, ‘the real Amber Brown’)”
Review
"Amber's original voice rings true, delivering plenty of wordplay and hilarious, wide-eyed observations. Ever insightful and resilient, Amber faces her challenges head on and recognizes that change is inevitable and difficult." --School Library Journal
Synopsis
Amber Brown.
Justin Daniels.
Best friends...a team that really knows how to have fun, that knows how to help each other out.
When Amber has trouble with fractions, Justin is there with the answers.
When Justin writes a messy report, it's Amber to the rescue with neat cursive writing.
They've known each other practically forever...been building a giant chewing gum ball for years...always sit next to each other in class...play together every day after school.... He never says things like, "Amber Brown is not a crayon." She never says, "Justin Time."
Best Friends...a great team.
And then--disaster strikes.
Justin has to move.
And the fighting begins.
Will the best friends be able to work it out before it's too late?
Synopsis
Amber Brown.
Justin Daniels.
Best friends...a team that really knows how to have fun, that knows how to help each other out.
When Amber has trouble with fractions, Justin is there with the answers.
When Justin writes a messy report, it's Amber to the rescue with neat cursive writing.
They've known each other practically forever...been building a giant chewing gum ball for years...always sit next to each other in class...play together every day after school.... He never says things like, "Amber Brown is not a crayon." She never says, "Justin Time."
Best Friends...a great team.
And then--disaster strikes.
Justin has to move.
And the fighting begins.
Will the best friends be able to work it out before it's too late?
Synopsis
Beloved Amber Brown returns in a new book!
Amber can't wait to be Best Child when her mom and Max get married, but planning a wedding comes with lots of headaches. Amber can't find the right dress, her dad keeps making mean cracks about Max, and Mom and Max have very different ideas about how much this wedding should cost. Her mother even suggests they go to city hall and skip the party altogether! Even though adults can be a lot of work, Amber is determined to be the best Best Child ever. She helps find the perfect location, makes her dad shape up, and, with the help of best friend Justin, gives the perfect wedding speech.
Paula Danziger called Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy her best friend and her other best friend, and this close connection enabled them to lovingly capture Amber Brown's voice, sense of humor, big-heartedness, and her fondness for puns.
About the Author
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in New York, Paula Danziger knew since second grade that she wanted to be a writer. Beginning her career as a teacher, Danziger taught at the junior high, high school, college levels. She received her Masters Degree in reading and during that time she wrote her first bestselling novel,
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit. She returned to teaching, but the success of her book encouraged her to become a full-time writer. It was non-stop for Danziger since then. Among her titles are: the enormously popular
Amber Brown books as well as
Remember Me To Harold Square,
The Divorce Express, and
Can You Sue Your Parents For Malpractice? Danziger received numerous honors, including: Parent's Choice Awards, International Reading Association - Children's Book Council Awards, a IRA-CBC Children's Choice Award and many nominations for state reading and library association awards.
Known as a flamboyantly funny and deeply honest writer and speaker, Paula Danziger knew how to relate to young readers at their level. She was vital, funny, and compassionate. She knew how kids felt, what made them laugh, what they wore, collected, read, and played with. From collecting novelty toys that would make any teacher cringe, to wearing jangly earrings, funky glasses and shoes covered with beads and sequins, Paula Danziger had a direct line into kids' hearts and funnybones. She will be missed always.
In Paula's memory, The Amber Brown Fund has been established to bring authors and illustrators to schools and libraries which otherwise could not afford them. Donations may be sent to The Amber Brown Fund/ SCBWI Museum of Children's Books, 8271 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.
"I grew up in Buffalo, New York. I loved to daydream, and through my fantasies I learned a lot about good writing. I had a crush on Elvis, and I made up what he would say to me. When I became a writer as an adult, I could make my daydreams almost come true. I put Elvis in several of my books. Kids have sent me pictures of Fletcher as Elvis. Principals have even dressed as Elvis when I visited their school.