Author Appreciation Post: Paula Danziger

(And time now for another Author Appreciation session…)

One of my very favourite books of all time is called This Place Has No Atmosphere by Paula Danziger, an American children's author who passed away a few years ago. Danziger wrote a whole lot of books, but this one is a particular favourite because it's a teenage angst story that is set on the moon. Aurora and her sister Starr have to leave Earth when her parents – a doctor and a dentist – decide to join the team going to the small colony on the moon. At school, Aurora's part of the popular, cool crowd – the Turnips – even though she feels like she doesn't really fit in. On the moon, there's hardly anyone her own age – and they are most definitely not the kind of people who'd fit in back home.

There are some parts that are silly. Like most of Danziger's books there are a lot of puns. I mean, a lot. But there are also nifty predictions into the future, some of which still seem semi-plausible twenty-five years after the book was originally published. The portrayal of how kids and teenagers behave, even in this futuristic world, is completely spot-on. And it's set on the moon! How cool is that?

Paula Danziger wrote other books that I've read over and over again. The Matthew Martin quartet is terrific, and The Cat Ate My Gymsuit – about an overweight girl who learns to stand up for herself when she gets a cool, untraditional (but also highly flawed) English teacher – taps into so many tropes that I adore. (Not to mention the fact that it has a sequel set in summer camp. Oh my.)

I still remember the rush of discovering that Danziger was friends with another childhood (and, well, adulthood) favourite of mine, Ann M Martin; when they collaborated on a book, P.S. Longer Letter Later, it was a happy day. (That book also has a sequel.)

I remember vividly parts of The Pistachio Prescription, in which Cassie deals with nerves by eating pistachios and becomes part of a campaign to shake up student government in her school. (And the eyebrows bit.) I remember Lauren and Zach from Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?, and the big deal about a teenage girl dating a younger guy, and the difficulties with both her sisters, and the theme of injustice running throughout. Part of the reason I remember them is because I've reread them, of course. Like the very best childhood favourites, they hold up well.

The way in which Danziger takes her characters seriously – gives them dysfunctional families to cope with and never swoops in with an unrealistically happy ending – and how she manages to write compassionately about the injustices of the world, especially for young people, while still being very funny, is wonderful. The adults are marvellously flawed – I love reading about the parents who can't manage their money, for example, and I still remember the way the Martins argue over which way the toilet roll hangs. It's an imperfect, messy, complicated world (or moon) but ultimately a hopeful one. With puns. What more could you ask for?

"I made the choice long ago to write about real life. And life is both serious and funny."

– Paula Danziger on writing about serious issues