Most people have heard of the Junie B. Jones series for beginning readers. Thousands of people were shocked by the news that Barbara Park, who wrote the beloved books, died at the age of 66 on November 18th.

The Junie B. Jones books are about 6 year old Junie B, a spunky kindergartner and first grader. The series is loved by many beginning readers- over 60 million copies have been sold in North America, and the books have been translated into twelve different languages. The thirty books in the series were published over the span of twenty years, the most recent published last year. The series spent over 180 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Barbara Park was born in New Jersey in 1947. She began publishing children’s’ books in 1980. In addition to the Junie B. Jones series, she wrote children’s books about subjects like divorce, Alzheimer’s, remarriage, and death of a family member with a light tone and appropriate use of humor.  One such example is the book Mick Harte Was Here, which tells the story of 13 year old Phoebe Harte and how she deals with the death of her brother Mick Hearte . As a writer Barbara Park, has influenced writers and readers all over the world! Her characters, as she stated in an interview, are influenced by the people in her life that make her happy which include family and close friends. However, interestingly, her stories are not inspired by anything at all, she thinks of writing as a job rather than something inspirational.

She published her first Junie B. Jones book, Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, in 1992. She wrote over fifty books before she lost her seven and a half year battle with ovarian cancer. She is survived by her husband Richard A. Park, her two sons, a brother, and two grandchildren. Barbara Park has been putting smiles on children’s faces since 1992 and continues to do so even after her passing.