Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine

Barbara Park was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey on April 21, 1947. She spent her first two years of college at Rider University in New Jersey before receiving a B.S. degree from the University of Alabama.

She began writing children's books after she had children of her own. In a career that began in 1982, she published over 50 books including Don't Make Me Smile, Operation: Dump the Chump, Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here!, Skinnybones, and The Kid in the Red Jacket. She was best known for her 28-book Junie B. Jones series which was first published in 1992. She won seven Children's Choice Awards and four Parents' Choice Awards.

She helped found a charitable organization, Sisters in Survival, to raise money for women with ovarian cancer. She died from ovarian cancer on November 15, 2013 at the age of 66.

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