Marissa Moss (born September 29, 1959,

Jeannette, Pennsylvania Jeannette is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,780 at the 2020 census. Jeannette was founded in 1888 and named after Jeannette Hartupee McKee, the wife of one of the city's founders, H. Sellers McKe ...

) is an American children's book

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Work

Moss's work spans the many ages of a

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

. She started her first

career A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work (human activity), work and other aspects of personal life, life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ...

making

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

. ''Amelia's Notebook'' was her first deviation from that format. This book is the format of a

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

and is penned in a black and white

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

notebook. Moss herself says that she loves this format that she stumbled upon because it allows her to explore the world through a child's eyes. In fact, Moss says, "The things that happened to Amelia really happened to me--from the fire in the school to the marshmallows on the ceiling — though the names have been changed because my sister is mad enough at me already!" Other books in this series, which traces Amelia's life through the years, are: ''Amelia Writes Again'', ''Amelia Hits the Road'', ''Amelia Takes Command'', ''The All New Amelia'', ''My Notebook (with help from Amelia)'', ''Luv, Amelia, Luv Nadia'', ''Amelia's Family Ties'', ''Amelia Works It Out!'', ''Oh Boy, Amelia!'', ''Amelia Lends a Hand'', ''Amelia's Best Year Ever'', ''Amelia's Book of Notes & Note Passing'', ''Amelia's Sixth Grade Notebook'', ''Dr. Amelia's Boredom Survival Guide'', ''Madame Amelia Tells All'', ''toddler time'' ''Amelia's Bully Survival Guide'', ''Amelia's Guide to Gossip: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'', ''Amelia's 5th-Grade Notebook'', ''Amelia's School Survival Guide'', ''Amelia's Most Unforgettable Embarrassing Moments'' and ''Amelia's Must-Keep Resolutions For The Best Year Ever!''. Still to come in the series and slated for publication in 2007 are: ''The All-New Amelia'', ''Amelia Tells All'', ''Amelia's 7th-Grade Notebook'', and ''Vote 4 Amelia.'' Moss has also written several historical journals, also in diary format. These include an account of a girl's life during the depression entitled, ''Rose's Journal: The Story of a Girl in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

.''; ''Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl''; ''Emma's Journal: The Story of a Colonial Girl''; ''Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl''; and ''Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome''... Earlier in her career, Moss wrote and illustrated several children's books not in journal format. These include ''Who Was It?'', ''After School Monster'', ''Want to Play?'', ''But Not Kate'', ''Regina's Big Mistake'', ''Mel's Diner'', ''In America'', and ''The Ugly Menorah'', although most of these are now out of print. Moss has also written books illustrated by C.F. Payne: ''True Heart'', ''Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel'', and ''Mighty Jackie: The Strikeout Queen''. Moss illustrated ''G is For

Googol A googol is the large number 10100 or ten to the power of one hundred. In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, ...

: A Math Alphabet Book'', which was written by David Schwartz. She has also written the ‘Mira’s Diary’ series. Moss has reviewed children's books with ''New York Journal of Books'' since 2017.

Personal life

Moss first submitted a book for publication at the age of nine. She attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and graduated in 1979. Moss studied art history in graduate school for two years and then attended the

California College of Arts and Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a Private university, private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened ...

to study the publishing world. She, like most artists and authors, received many rejections before finally breaking into print with her book, ''One, Two, Three & Four. No More?'' published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

in 1988. Moss currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Awards

2023

* Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Middle Grade: ''The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner''

2017

California Young Reader Medal The California Young Reader Medal is a set of five annual literary awards conferred upon picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily ...

: ''Barbed Wire Baseball''

2015

* Washington State Student Award for Informational Text: ''Barbed Wire Baseball''

2014

ALA Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists which are part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adu ...

: ''Barbed Wire Baseball'' * Museum of Tolerance Once Upon A World Children's Book Award: ''Barbed Wire Baseball''

2013

California Book Award The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to ...

: ''Barbed Wire Baseball'' * California Reading Association Eureka Honor Book: ''Barbed Wire Baseball''

2012

* California Book Award: ''A Soldier's Secret''

2005

* Selected for the 2005-2006 Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award Master List: ''Mighty Jackie: the Strike-out Queen'' * Placed on the Chickadee Award Master List for 2005-2006 in the state of Maine: ''Mighty Jackie: the Strike-out Queen'' * Selected for the 2006 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award Master List: ''Mighty Jackie: the Strike-out Queen''

2001

* Sugarman Family Award for Jewish Children's Literature: ''Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl'' * National Parenting Publications Gold Award: ''Amelia's Moving Pictures'' (Video) * Parent's Guide Children's Media Award: ''Amelia's Moving Pictures'' (Video) * Parent's Guide Fiction Award: ''Oh Boy, Amelia''

2000

* Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Older Readers: ''Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl''

1995

* Child Study Children's Book of the Year: ''In America''

External links

Official site

Scholastic Books Author Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Marissa American children's writers 1959 births Living people Writers from Berkeley, California People from Jeannette, Pennsylvania University of California, Berkeley alumni California College of the Arts alumni