Wendy Mass facts for kids

Wendy Mass (born April 22, 1967) is a popular author who writes exciting novels for teens and books for children. She is known for her creative stories that often explore big ideas and everyday adventures.

Her 2003 novel, A Mango-Shaped Space, won the American Library Association (ALA) Schneider Family Book Award in 2004. This award celebrates books that show the experience of a disability. Some of her other well-known books include 11 Birthdays, A Mango-Shaped Space, and Every Soul a Star. In 2011, her book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life was even made into a movie!

Becoming a Writer

Wendy Mass was born in Livingston, New Jersey. When she was a kid, her favorite subjects in school were reading and science. She loved to read so much that she would often compete with her friends to see who could read the most books! This helped her become a great writer later on.

Wendy also worked in town libraries and bookstores when she was young. Her very first idea for a career was to be an astronaut. She even wrote her first story with her two siblings. It was about a cat that magically turned into a goat and caused a lot of trouble in her neighborhood!

In high school, Wendy kept working at a local bookstore. She took writing classes and decided that writing was what she wanted to do for a living.

College and Early Career

Wendy went to Tufts University and studied English. She continued to improve her writing skills there, mostly by writing short stories. After college, she moved to Los Angeles to try out different jobs in the writing world.

She worked for a literary agent, helped at a television casting company, was an editor for a magazine, and even read scripts for a film producer. Through these experiences, Wendy realized she really wanted to write books that would inspire pre-teens, teens, and adults.

She then moved back to her hometown in New Jersey. While writing her own books, she also worked as a book editor in New York City and Connecticut. Wendy has advanced degrees in creative writing from California State University, Long Beach and Drew University.

Amazing Books and Awards

Wendy Mass has written many books, with 29 novels published for children and teens. She won the American Library Association (ALA) Schneider Family Book Award in 2004 for her book A Mango-Shaped Space.

In 2011, she also won the Black Eyed Susan Award from The Maryland Association of School Librarians for her book 11 Birthdays. She has received many other honors, including the American Library Association Award for best books for teens, and has won 11 state book awards!

Personal Life

Today, Wendy Mass lives in New Jersey. She shares her home with her husband, their twin children, a dog, and two cats.

Fiction Books by Wendy Mass

• Getting a Clue (1996)
• The Bad Hair Day (1996 children's picture book)
• Noah and the Ark (1997)
• A Mango-Shaped Space (2003)
• Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair (2006)
• Sleeping Beauty: The One Who Took The Really Long Nap (2006)
• Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (2006)
• Leap Day (2006)
• Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall (2007)
• Every Soul a Star (2008)
• 11 Birthdays (2009)
• Finally (2010)
• The Candymakers (2010)
• 13 Gifts (2011)
• Beauty and the Beast: The Only One Who Didn't Run Away (2012)
• Pi in The Sky (2013)
• The Last Present (2013)
• Space Taxi: Archie Takes Flight (2014)
• Space Taxi: Water Planet Rescue (2014)
• Graceful (2015)
• Space Taxi: Archie's Alien Disguise (2015)
• Space Taxi: The Galactic B.U.R.P. (2015)
• The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase (2016)
• The Seventh Element (2016)
• "Robin Hood: The One who Looked Good in Green" (2018)
• Bob (2018)

TV Scripts

• Mr. Monk Goes to the Theater (2003) (with Stu Levine and Tom Scharpling)