Judith Viorst was born and brought up in New Jer­sey and has lived in Wash­ing­ton, DC, since 1960. She has writ­ten children’s chap­ter and pic­ture books includ­ing Alexan­der and the Ter­ri­ble, Hor­ri­ble, No Good, Very Bad Day; adult fic­tion and non­fic­tion, includ­ing the New York Times best­seller, Nec­es­sary Loss­es; poet­ry for chil­dren and adults. Her most recent books of poet­ry include, What Are You Glad About? What Are You Mad About? and Near­ing Ninety.