Marissa Moss

Last updated
Marissa Moss
Marissa Moss.JPG
Moss in 2014.
Born (1959-09-29) September 29, 1959 (age 64)
Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Genre Children's books
Notable works Amelia's notebooks
Website
marissamoss.com

Marissa Moss (born September 29, 1959, Jeannette, Pennsylvania) is an American children's book author.

Contents

Work

Moss's work spans the many ages of a child. She started her first career making picture books. Amelia's Notebook was her first deviation from that format. This book is the format of a journal or diary and is penned in a black and white composition notebook. Moss herself says that she loves this format that she stumbled upon because it allows her to explore the world through a child's eyes. In fact, she says, "The things that happened to Amelia really happened to me--from the fire in the school to the marshmallows on the ceiling — though the names have been changed because my sister is mad enough at me already!" [1]

Other books in this series, which traces Amelia's life through the years, are: Amelia Writes Again, Amelia Hits the Road, Amelia Takes Command, The All New Amelia, My Notebook (with help from Amelia), Luv, Amelia, Luv Nadia, Amelia's Family Ties, Amelia Works It Out!, Oh Boy, Amelia!, Amelia Lends a Hand, Amelia's Best Year Ever, Amelia's Book of Notes & Note Passing, Amelia's Sixth Grade Notebook, Dr. Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide, Madame Amelia Tells All, toddler timeAmelia's Bully Survival Guide, Amelia's Guide to Gossip: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Amelia's 5th-Grade Notebook, Amelia's School Survival Guide, Amelia's Most Unforgettable Embarrassing Moments and Amelia's Must-Keep Resolutions For The Best Year Ever!. [2] Still to come in the series and slated for publication in 2007 are: The All-New Amelia, Amelia Tells All, Amelia's 7th-Grade Notebook, and Vote 4 Amelia. [3]

She has also written several historical journals, also in diary format. These include an account of a girl's life during the depression entitled, Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression.; [4] Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl; Emma's Journal: The Story of a Colonial Girl; Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl; and Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome...

Earlier in her career Marissa Moss wrote and illustrated several children's books not in journal format. These include After School Monster, Wanna Play?, But Not Kate, Regina's Big Mistake, Mel's Diner, In America, and The Ugly Menorah, although most of these are now out of print.

Moss has also written books illustrated by C.F. Payne: True Heart, Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel, and Mighty Jackie: The Strikeout Queen.

Moss illustrated G is For Googol: A Math Alphabet Book, which was written by David Schwartz. She has also written the ‘Mira’s Diary’ series.

Moss has reviewed children's books with New York Journal of Books since 2017. [5]

Personal life

Marissa Moss first submitted a book for publication at the age of nine. She attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1979. She studied art history in graduate school for two years and then attended the California College of Arts and Crafts to study the publishing world. She, like most artists and authors, received many rejections before finally breaking into print with her book, One, Two, Three & Four. No More? published by Houghton Mifflin in 1988. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. [6]

Awards

2017

2015

2014

2013

2012

2005

2001

1995

Related Research Articles

Karen S. Hesse is an American author of children's literature and literature for young adults, often with historical settings. She received the Newbery Medal for Out of the Dust (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Pope Osborne</span> American childrens writer (born 1949)

Mary Pope Osborne is an American author of children's books and audiobook narrator. She is best known as the author of the Magic Tree House series, which as of 2017 sold more than 134 million copies worldwide. Both the series and Osborne have won awards, including for Osborne's charitable efforts at promoting children's literacy. One of four children, Osborne moved around in her childhood before attending the University of North Carolina. Following college, Osborne traveled before moving to New York City. She somewhat spontaneously began to write, and her first book was published in 1982. She went on to write a variety of other children's and young adult books before starting the Magic Tree House series in 1992. Osborne's sister Natalie Pope Boyce has written several compendium books to the Magic Tree House series, sometimes with Osborne's husband Will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Cabot</span> American novelist

Meggin Patricia Cabot is an American novelist. She has written and published over 50 novels of young adult and adult fiction and is best known for her young adult series The Princess Diaries, which was later adapted by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films. Cabot has been the recipient of numerous book 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, and many others. She has also had number-one New York Times bestsellers, and more than 25 million copies of her books are in print across the world.

Annie Fox is an American book author. In addition to writing, she also is a presenter of workshops for teens, their families and educators. In workshops and online, Fox has been answering teens' questions, especially teen girls' questions for over ten years. On her online teen chat rooms at Talk City's The InSite, her username is "Hey Terra!" She is also a contributor to The Huffington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Black</span> American author (born 1971)

Holly Black is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the New York Times bestselling young adult Folk of the Air series. She is also well known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with writer and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi, and her debut trilogy of young adult novels officially called the Modern Faerie Tales. Black has won an Eisner Award, a Lodestar Award, a Nebula Award, and a Newbery Honor.

<i>Amelias Notebooks</i>

Amelia's Notebook is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Marissa Moss. The books, targeted at children between 9 and 12, are a series of notebooks and journals written by the character Amelia, who writes about her life, thoughts, and memories. They are profusely illustrated and designed to resemble actual journals. Amelia is a character that many young people identify with. She has problems that many kids face like gossip, moving or crushes. Amelia has also written guides such as Dr. Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide, Amelia's Guide to Gossip, Amelia's Bully Survival Guide, Amelia's Easy-as-Pie Drawing Guide, a step-by-step guide on how to draw like Amelia, and My Notebook , an Amelia-style notebook for you to use. The books have been translated into Spanish, French, Indonesian, and Chinese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackie French</span> Australian author

Jacqueline Anne French , known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across several genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, and The Girl from Snowy River. Several of her books have been recommended for teaching the Australian Curriculum. French lives in Braidwood, New South Wales, with her second husband Bryan Sullivan.

Dear America is a series of historical fiction novels for children published by Scholastic starting in 1996. By 1998, the series had 12 titles with 3.5 million copies in print. The series was canceled in 2004 with its final release, Hear My Sorrow. However, it was relaunched in the fall of 2010. Each book is written in the form of a diary of a young woman's life during important events or time periods in American history. The Dear America series covers a wide range of topics, including: the Pilgrims' journey to the New World, the Salem Witch Trials, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, western expansion, slavery, immigration, nineteenth-century prairie life, the California Gold Rush of 1849, the Great Depression, Native Americans' experiences, racism, coal mining, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the fight for women's suffrage, the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Battle of the Alamo, the Vietnam War, and more. The breadth of historical topics covered in these books through fiction makes the Dear America series a favorite teaching device of history schoolteachers around the country. The re-launch series and releases contain a new cover style and different pictures of the main characters than those of the original releases. Originally all the books had a ribbon inserted as a bookmark for the books but were removed in the later releases. Several of the stories were filmed and released on videotape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia McKissack</span> American writer

Patricia C. McKissack was a prolific African American children's writer. She was the author of over 100 books, including Dear America books A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl;Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North; and Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl. She also wrote a novel for The Royal Diaries series: Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba. Notable standalone works include Flossie & the Fox (1986), The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural (1992), and Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? (1992). What is Given from the Heart was published posthumously in 2019.

Kathryn Lasky is an American children's writer who also writes for adults under the names Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Her children's books include several Dear America books, The Royal Diaries books, Sugaring Time, The Night Journey, Wolves of the Beyond, and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Her awards include Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature, National Jewish Book Award, and Newbery Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Selznick</span> American illustrator and writer (born 1966)

Brian Selznick is an American illustrator and author best known as the writer of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Wonderstruck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021). He won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration recognizing The Invention of Hugo Cabret. He is also known for illustrating children's books such as the covers of Scholastic's 20th-anniversary editions of the Harry Potter series.

Kenichi Zenimura was a Japanese-American baseball player, manager, and promoter. He had a long career with semiprofessional Japanese-American baseball leagues in the western United States and Hawaii; these leagues were very active and popular from about 1900 to 1941. He is also noted for the successful barnstorming tours he organized that brought famed players such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to the west coast and to Japan for exhibition games in the 1920s and 1930s. Along with most Japanese-Americans living on the west coast of the United States, during World War II he was incarcerated with his family in an internment camp. Their camp was the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. There he led construction of a complete baseball field including spectator stands, and he organized baseball leagues for the internees. These leagues were important both to the morale of the internees and to building relationships with nearby Arizona residents. Zenimura has been called the "Father of Japanese American Baseball".

My Story is a series of historical novels for older children published by Scholastic New Zealand which was inspired by Dear America. Each book is written in the form of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important event or time period in New Zealand history. The series was renamed My New Zealand Story around 2010 when the style of the covers also changed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Pick-Goslar</span> Close friend of Anne Frank (1928–2022) and Holocaust survivor

Hannah Elisabeth Pick-Goslar was a German-born Israeli nurse and Holocaust survivor best known for her close friendship with writer Anne Frank. The girls attended the 6th Montessori School in Amsterdam and then the Jewish Lyceum. During The Holocaust, they saw each other again whilst imprisoned at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Goslar and her young sister were the only family members who survived the war, being rescued from the Lost Train. Both emigrated to Israel, where Hannah worked as a nurse for children. They shared their memories as eyewitnesses of the Holocaust.

<i>The Popularity Papers</i> Middle grade book series by Amy Ignatow

The Popularity Papers is a middle grade book series written and illustrated by Amy Ignatow. The first book of the series was published in 2010. To date, six sequels have been published.

  1. Book one: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  2. Book two: The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  3. Book three: Words of (Questionable) Wisdom from Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  4. Book four: The Rocky Road Trip of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  5. Book five: The Awesomely Awful Melodies of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  6. Book six: Love and Other Fiascos with Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
  7. Book seven: The Less-Than-Hidden Secrets and Final Revelations of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang
<i>Luv Ya Bunches</i> Book by Lauren Myracle

Luv Ya Bunches is a 2009 children's novel by author Lauren Myracle. The book was first published on October 1, 2009 through Amulet Books and focuses on the friendship between four elementary school girls with similar floral themed names. It's very popular among girls ages 9–13, and is known for its girly and interesting story plot. Luv Ya Bunches has received some controversy over its inclusion of same-sex parents, with Scholastic requesting that Myracle remove the couple and some objectionable language before it could be sold at their book fairs. Myracle removed some of the language, but refused to replace the lesbian couple with a heterosexual one. Scholastic later retracted their statement, saying that they would offer the book at book fairs but would not sell the book at ones held in elementary schools.

Ann Catherine Stewart James is an Australian illustrator of more than 60 children's books, some of which she also wrote. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria. James has been illustrating books since the 1980s and has become a significant contributor towards the development and appreciation of children's literature in Australia. In 2000 she was awarded the Pixie O'Harris Award as a formal acknowledgment of this contribution and was also the 2002 recipient of the national Dromkeen Medal for services towards children's literature. Ann James still lives and works in Melbourne, where she runs the Books Illustrated gallery and studio that she co-founded with Ann Haddon in 1988.

<i>Juan Bobo</i> (comic book) Comic book series of folk stories from Puerto Rico

Juan Bobo is a comic book series of folk stories from Puerto Rico, centered on the Juan Bobo children's character. For centuries, these folk stories have been passed from generation to generation amongst Puerto Rican schoolchildren, and the Juan Bobo comic books have been published in Puerto Rico, the United States and Spain, among other countries. For nearly two centuries a vast collection of books, songs, riddles and folktales have developed around the Juan Bobo character. Hundreds of children's books have been written about Juan Bobo in English and Spanish. There are at least 70 Juan Bobo stories. In 2002, the book Juan Bobo Goes to Work won the ALA Notable Books for Children Award and the Belpré Medal for its illustrations.

<i>From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess</i> (novel) Book by Meg Cabot

From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess is a 2015 children's novel written and illustrated by Meg Cabot and a spinoff of the author's young adult fiction series, The Princess Diaries. The book, released on May 19, 2015 through Feiwel & Friends, is the first in the series of the same name From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess. It follows Olivia, a biracial 12-year-old who finds out she is the paternal younger half-sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis.

Jackie Carter was an American children's author. Her goal was to provide children of all races with images of themselves in the books they read.

References

  1. "Children's Literature: Meet Authors & Illustrators". Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
  2. "Marissa Moss.com". Marissamoss.com. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  3. "SimonSays's On Demand Pages on Vimeo". Simonsays.com. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. results, search (1 October 2001). Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the Great Depression. Harcourt Children's Books. ISBN   0152024239.
  5. "New York Journal of Books" . Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  6. "Book Wizard: Teachers, Find and Level Books for Your Classroom - Scholastic". Books.scholastic.com. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  7. "California Young Reader's Medal - Barbed Wire Baseball". February 1, 2017.
  8. "2014 Notable Children's Books". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). 2 January 2015.
  9. "Winner 2014 Award". Museum of Tolerance. 2014.
  10. "California Book Awards Complete List of Winners". ISSUU. March 8, 2016.