Megan McDonald
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Megan Jo McDonald is an American
children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
author. Her most popular works is the series of books which concern a third grade girl named Judy Moody (written for grades 2–4). McDonald has also written many picture books for younger children and continues to write. Her most recent work was the '' Julie Albright'' series of books for
American Girl American Girl is an American line of dolls released on May 5, 1986, by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to fourteen-year-old boys and girls of a variety of ethnicities, faiths, and social classes from different time periods throughou ...
.


Life and career

McDonald was born in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania, to John and Mary Louise McDonald. She is the youngest of five girls, which served as the inspiration for ''The Sister's Club''. She was awarded a B.A. from
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
in 1981, and an M.L.S. from
University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
in 1985. Megan McDonald began her career as a children's librarian, working at
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city. Like hundreds of other Carn ...
,
Minneapolis Public Library The Minneapolis Public Library (MPL) was a library system that served the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. It was founded in 1885 with the establishment of the Minneapolis Library Board by an amendment to the Minneapolis ...
, and Adams Memorial Library in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The city population was 8,338 as of the 2010 census (9,265 in 1990). It is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Rid ...
. Her first book, ''Is This a House for Hermit Crab?'', came as a result of patrons asking her where to find a story she had told to children at a library. McDonald is married to Richard Haynes and lives in
Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma County, in California with a recorded population of 7,521, per the 2020 U.S. Census. Sebastopol was once primarily a plum and apple-growing region. Today, wine grapes are the predominant agriculture crop, a ...
.


Published works


''Judy Moody'' and ''Stink''

The ''Judy Moody'' series follows the humorous adventures of the title-character, an eight-year-old girl. A spin-off series follows her younger brother, nicknamed Stink. All of McDonald's books in the Judy Moody series and the Stink series are illustrated by
Peter H. Reynolds Peter Hamilton Reynolds is a Canadian author and illustrator of children's books and is the founder of the educational media company FableVision. Life Reynolds was born in 1961 in Canada with his identical twin brother, Paul, who collaborates as ...
. Character list: # Judy Moody # Stink Moody # Rocky Zang # Frank Pearl # Jessica Finch # Amy Namey # Noc # Alisson Monday # Mr. Todd # Jalisco # Tody # Chloe # Tori Judy Moody books: #''Judy Moody'' (
Candlewick Press Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo. Sebastian Walker launched Walker Books fro ...
, 2000) #''Judy Moody Gets Famous!'' (Candlewick Press, 2001) #''Judy Moody Saves the World!'' (Candlewick Press, 2002) #''Judy Moody Predicts the Future'' (Candlewick Press, 2003) #''Judy Moody, M.D. The Doctor Is In'' (Published in the UK as ''Doctor Judy Moody'') (Candlewick Press, 2004) #''Judy Moody Declares Independence'' (Candlewick Press, 2005) #''Judy Moody: Around the World in 8½ Days'' (Candlewick Press, 2006) #''Judy Moody Goes to College'' (Candlewick Press, 2008) #''Judy Moody: Girl Detective'' (Candlewick Press, 2010) #''Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer'' (Candlewick Press, 2011) #''Judy Moody and the Bad Luck Charm'' (Candlewick Press, 2012) #''Judy Moody: Mood Martian'' (Candlewick Press, 2014) #''Judy Moody and the Bucket List'' (Candlewick Press, 2016) #''Judy Moody and the Royal Tea Party'' (Candlewick Press, 2017) #''Judy Moody Book Quiz Whiz'' (Candlewick Press, 2018) Judy Moody and Stink books: #''Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday'' (Candlewick Press, 2008) #''Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt'' (Candlewick Press, 2009) #''Judy Moody & Stink: The Big Bad Blackout'' (Candlewick Press, 2014) #''Judy Moody & Stink: The Wishbone Wish'' (Candlewick Press, 2015) Stink books: #"''Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid''" (Candlewick Press, 2005) #"''Stink: and the Incredible Super-Galactic Jawbreaker''" (Candlewick Press, 2006) #"''Stink: and the World's Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers''" (Candlewick Press, 2007) #"''Stink: and the Great Guinea Pig Express''" (Candlewick Press, 2008) #"''Stink: Solar System Superhero''" (Candlewick Press, 2009) #"''Stink: and the Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Smackdown''" (Candlewick Press, 2011) #"''Stink: and the Midnight Zombie Walk''" (Candlewick Press, 2012) #"''Stink: and the Freaky Frog Freakout''" (Candlewick Press, 2013) #"''Stink: and the Shark Sleepover''" (Candlewick Press, 2014) #"''Stink Moody in Master of Disaster''" (Candlewick Press, 2015) Film: *''
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer ''Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer'' is a 2011 American comedy film based on Megan McDonald's '' Judy Moody'' book series. Directed by John Schultz from a screenplay by McDonald and Kathy Waugh, it introduces Australian actress Jordana Beatty ...
'' (2011)


Novels

*''
The Bridge to Nowhere ''The Bridge to Nowhere'' is an independent 2009 crime drama written by Christopher Gutierrez, directed by Blair Underwood in his directorial debut. Plot Kevin, Brian, Chris, Darick and Eddie are childhood friends from a working-class neighbor ...
'' (Orchard, 1993) *''Shadows in the Glasshouse'' (Pleasant Company, 2000) *''The Sisters Club'' (American Girl, 2003) *''All the Stars in the Sky: The Santa Fe Trail Diary of Florrie Mack Ryder'' (
Dear America ''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 M ...
series, Scholastic, 2003)


The Sisters Club Series

*''The Sisters Club'' (2008) *''The Rule of Three'' (2010) *''Cloudy with a Chance of Boys'' (2011)


American Girl titles

*''Meet Julie'' *''Julie Tells Her Story'' *''Happy New Year, Julie!'' *''Julie and the Eagles'' *''Julie's Journey'' *''Changes for Julie'' *''A Brighter Tomorrow: My Journey with Julie'' *''Pen Pals'' (American Girl Magazine) *''The Gnome Diaries''


Films

Megan McDonald's book, ''Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer'', was adapted to a movie with the same name released in 2011, directed by John Schultz, with
Jordana Beatty Jordana Beatty (born 30 January 1998) is an Australian award-winning actress best known for playing the title role of Judy Moody in the feature film ''Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer'' and Susan Parks in the 10th anniversary tour of '' Bill ...
in the role of Judy Moody. McDonald co-wrote the screenplay with Kathy Waugh.


Awards

*1991: Children's Choice Book, International Reading Association/Children's Book Council (CBC), for ''Is This a House for Hermit Crab?'' *1991: Reading Rainbow book selection, ''Is This a House for Hermit Crab?'' *1993: Judy Blume Contemporary Fiction Award, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, for ''The Bridge to Nowhere'' *1993: Carolyn W. Field Award, Pennsylvania Library Association, for ''The Great Pumpkin Switch'' *2003: Garden State Children's Book Award for Younger Fiction, for Judy Moody *2014
California Book Awards The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...
Juvenile Finalist for "Shoe Dog"


References


External links

*
Judy Moody character
at publisher Candlewick Press
McDonald
at American Girl Publishing
"Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer"
at IMDb * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Megan American children's writers Oberlin College alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni People from Sebastopol, California Writers from Pittsburgh Writers from California Living people Year of birth missing (living people)