Joan Bauer was born in River Forest, Illinois, the eldest of four sisters. The girls were raised by their mother, a teacher with a lively sense of humor; Bauer's father played little role in her upbringing. Responding to a question in a 1999 interview that is posted on the website of her publisher, Penguin-Putnam, the writer described her father, as "a very messed up man--an alcoholic [who was] married four times, a chronic gambler." Bauer was close to her grandmother, who lived with the family; the woman, a gifted storyteller, engaged the imaginations of her granddaughters with wonderful tales, which she told in a colorful, animated style, using a range of voices.
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