Paula Danziger is a best-selling author of novels for teens and pre-teens who is known for her light and humorous take on the serious problems that beset adolescents, including the break-up of a family, issues of self-esteem and identity, dysfunctional families, new relationships, and political and social issues such as feminism and environmentalism. Sometimes criticized by reviewers and educators for simplistic and cliched versions of teen life, Danziger answers such critics through the voice of her very first teen protagonist, Marcy Lewis, who explains in The Cat Ate My Gymsuit that "middle-class kids have problems too."
In YA novels such as Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice", There's a Bat in Bunk Five, The Divorce Express, and Remember Me to Harold Square, Danziger has created memorable teenage female protagonists who suffer the usual traumas and indignities of kids of that age, including first rejections and first pimples. More recent novels include two series of books for pre-teens, one featuring eleven-year-old Matthew Martin and another featuring spunky third-grader Amber Brown.
