''Amber Brown'' is a series of

realistic fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with fact, history, or plausibility. In a traditio ...

books for children created and originally written by

Paula Danziger Paula Danziger (August 18, 1944 – July 8, 2004) was an American children's author who wrote more than 30 books, including her 1974 debut '' The Cat Ate My Gymsuit'', for children's and young adult audiences. At the time of her death, all her ...

; later written by Elizabeth Levy and Bruce Coville. Early editions are illustrated by

Tony Ross Anthony Lee Ross (born 10 August 1938) is a British author and illustrator of children's picture books. In Britain, he is best known for writing and illustrating his Little Princess books and for illustrating the Horrid Henry series by Franc ...

and later by

Anthony Lewis Joseph Anthony Lewis (March 27, 1927 – March 25, 2013) was an American public intellectual and journalist. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and was a columnist for ''The New York Times''. He is credited with creating the field o ...

. The original series is narrated in first person by a nine-year-old Amber Brown, starting near the end of her third grade and through the summer after her fourth grade while turning ten.

Synopsis

''Amber Brown is Not a Crayon'' begins the series sometime after her mother and father have separated. Amber's mother now dates a man named Max and Amber's father pursues a new job in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. At the same time, Amber's lifelong best friend, Justin Daniels, finds out that his family is moving from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The separation and the tribulations of getting caught in the middle of divorced parents set the foundation for the remainder of the series. A series of picture books for young readers titled ''A is for Amber'' was also published by Danziger with illustrations by Ross and featured adventures with Amber and Justin before Justin moved away and before Amber's parents divorced but after they are already regularly arguing.

Release

Audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

releases of installments in the series are available, published by Live Oak Media and read by Dana Lubotsky. The recording of the ''A is for Amber'' series feature original music and sound effects. The series was originally inspired by Danziger's real-life niece, Carrie Danziger, shortly after both of her best friends moved away in the same summer. While Amber was a creative conglomeration of Paula Danziger's design, aspects of Carrie's life were used throughout the series. The second title, ''You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox Amber Brown'', was inspired by the Danziger girls going to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

together and Carrie getting chicken pox. Ross also used Carrie as the model for the original illustration of Amber. The series originally ended in 2004 with the death of the author Paula Danziger. In 2012, a new title in the series, ''Amber Brown is Tickled Pink'', was announced. Written by popular children's authors Bruce Coville and

Elizabeth Levy Elizabeth Levy (born April 4, 1942) is an American author who has written over eighty children's books in a variety of genres. Born in Buffalo, New York, she is currently living in New York City. She has appeared as a contestant on ''Billy on t ...

, whom Danziger described as her closest friends, the new title was released on September 13, 2012. Tony Ross returned as the illustrator for this installment. Two additional titles were released in 2013 and 2014. The second new title, ''Amber Brown is On the Move'', was released on September 12, 2013, and a final title, ''Amber Brown Horses Around'', was released in 2014. Anthony Lewis replaced Ross as the illustrator of the final two books. The idea to revive the series originated with Danziger's agent, Amy Berkower. ''Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon: The Graphic Novel'', adapted and illustrated by Victoria Ying, was published on May 21, 2024.

Adaptation

television adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

of ''Amber Brown'' was released on

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

on July 29, 2022. The series is produced by Boat Rocker with

Bonnie Hunt Bonnie Lynn Hunt (born September 22, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. Her film roles include ''Rain Man'', ''Beethoven (film), Beethoven'', ''Beethoven's 2nd (film), Beethoven's 2nd'', ''Jumanji'', ''Jerry Maguire'', ''The Green Mile ( ...

as writer, executive producer and showrunner. The series stars Carsyn Rose as Amber Brown and

Sarah Drew Sarah Drew (born October 1, 1980) is an American actress and director. She played Hannah Rogers in The WB family drama series ''Everwood'' (2004–2006) and April Kepner, Dr. April Kepner in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC medical drama se ...

as Amber’s mother, Sarah Brown.

Darin Brooks Darin Lee Brooks (born May 27, 1984) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Max Brady on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', Alex Moran on the Spike TV series '' Blue Mountain State'', and Wyatt Spencer on the CBS soap o ...

, and Lillana Inouye were also attached. In the television series, Amber Brown is biracial. In April 2023, it was announced that the series was cancelled after one season.

References

{{Paula Danziger Book series introduced in 1994 American children's books Series of children's books Children's books adapted into television shows