Barbara Lynne Park (née Tidswell; April 21, 1947 – November 15, 2013) was an American author of children's books. She is most well known for writing the Junie B. Jones series of chapter books. She has also written several middle grade and young adult books, including Skinnybones (1982), Mick Harte Was Here (1995), and The Graduation of Jake Moon (2000). Park's works frequently visit themes of familial relationships and children's experiences in school, and she based characters on her children and her own childhood memories. Park did not allow adaptations of her works except for stage plays.
Originally intending to become a high school teacher, Park abandoned the idea after an unpleasant semester as a student teacher. She moved across the country as her husband traveled for Air Force training before they settled in Arizona. Her first manuscript, Skinnybones, was accepted by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc in 1981. Don't Make Me Smile, another manuscript she had prepared, became her first book published by Knopf the same year. She began writing Junie B. Jones in 1992, which proved highly popular, and she continued writing the series for the rest of her life. She became active in advocacy for the use of bicycle helmets after a child died of a bicycle accident in her neighborhood in 1993, and this made up the plot of Mick Harte Was Here. She died of ovarian cancer in 2013.
Childhood
Barbara Lynne Tidswell was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, on April 21, 1947. Her father was Brooke Tidswell Jr, a banker, the local board of education president, and the owner of a home improvement store. Her mother, Doris Tidswell, was a high school library secretary. She had a brother, also named Brooke, who was two years older than her; he went on to become mayor of Mount Holly. Tidswell described her younger self as a tattletale—especially against her brother—and would tell on people so they learn their lesson "for their own good". She hoped to be on the television show The Mickey Mouse Club. In her final semester at Alabama University, Tidswell worked in a seventh-grade history and geography classroom as a student teacher. She was given no guidance by the teacher she was training under and found the experience unpleasant. In one instance, Tidswell was responsible for the class on her own; the classroom became rowdy while she was running a geography bee, and she was too afraid to respond when the office asked about the noise over the intercom. After her experiences as a student teacher, she lost interest in the profession.
Tidswell graduated in 1969 with a bachelor's degree.