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J.C. Greenburg

Discuss This Author Dan Greenburg

“With all these questions spinning around in my head, I never had a boring moment.”—J. C. Greenburg

J. C. Greenburg is the author of many books for young people in the library and reference field. She's a frequent visitor to schools and pays close attention to kid feedback. She's married to Dan Greenburg, author of The Zack Files, and lives in New York.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“I’ll be landing at the airport in thirty minutes,” said Uncle Al. “Right now I want you to think about the sign over my office door.”

“Oh yeah!” Andrew nodded. “It says, ‘Questions have many answers.’”

“You’ve got it!” said Uncle Al. “It’s the best magic I know. It works for anything. You can use it to make a pizza, find new planets, or get unshrunk!”
—from Andrew Lost in the Garden

“I just want you to be normal!” my mother used to say pleadingly—and often. She said it when she found me digging for dinosaur bones in the backyard. She said it when she found the orchid plants I was growing under my bed. (That was before I knew plants need light!) She said it in the grocery store when, instead of asking for candy or cereal, I asked for a Venus Fly Trap.

Poor Mom. She wanted a normal kid. I wanted to see platypuses and figure out how flies walk across the ceiling without falling off. And just how giant is a Giant Gippsland Earthworm anyway? With all these questions spinning around in my head, I never had a boring moment.

I also loved to write. So when I graduated from college, I found the perfect job for me. I became an editor of science books. I worked on books about volcanoes and stars and weather and math. I especially loved helping authors who wrote about living things. The biologists were such fun!. And they, too, loved to ask questions.

Now here was the best part about my job: If I had a question about anything, I could call an expert anywhere in the world to find an answer. Experts are people who love to study things like earthquakes and ants and octopuses. Experts are people who want to tell you what they know about what they love!

After many happy years of working on other people’s books, I decided it was time to write my own. I had learned a lot about things that interested me: why spiders don’t stick to their own webs, why insects can never grow as big as the ones in horror movies, what the inside of the earth is made of. And I still had a TON of questions. Maybe there were kids who were interested in the things I was interested in. That’s when I came up with the idea for “Andrew Lost.”

Now there are two favorite parts of my work as an author. I still get to call anyone in the world to ask questions. For example, a little while ago, I needed facts on blue whales, the biggest creatures that have ever lived, for Andrew Lost in the Whale. I called two experts. We had interesting conversations about what a blue whale’s tongue looks like and whether a 10-year-old could squeeze through a whale’s intestines.

My other favorite part of being an author is visiting schools and talking to kids about everything from the cute creatures that live upside down in our eyelashes to the giant squid that lives in the deepest ocean.

If you asked me how to guarantee that your life would be interesting, I’d tell you this:
Come up with some questions and look for answers. You’ll meet some terrific people, have lots of fun, and you will never ever be bored.


Author Bookshelf

Andrew Lost #18: With the Frogs

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

ANDREW, JUDY, AND Thudd are still the size of insects. Andrew has invented special bug suits to protect them. But the suits won’t help much when they get lost in a pond full of frogs that love to...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #17: In the Desert

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #2: In the Bathroom

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Debbie Palen

When Andrew and Judy’s neighbor gives her dog a bath, microscopic Andrew and Judy find themselves washed off the dog and lost in the bathroom! They’ll have to use their wits–and Thudd’s...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #8: In the Deep

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd drive the Water Bug deep into the ocean, where the only light comes from strange glowing creatures. Just as they're passing over the deepest place on earth, the trusty Water Bug...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #13: In the Garbage

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have time-traveled out of an ice age only to find themselves shrunk down and tossed out with the garbage! As they get up close and personal with half-eaten hog dogs, soggy pasta,...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #4: In the Garden

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Debbie Palen

Andrew, his cousin Judy, and super-smart robot Thudd hitch a ride out of the kitchen on the back of a fly and end up in the garden. The view is awfully nice from the head of a daisy, but time is running...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #12: In the Ice Age

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have escaped the dinosaurs only to find themselves surrounded by the woolly mammoths of the Ice Age! Can they locate their lost Uncle Al and travel back to their own time before...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #15: In the Jungle

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have landed in the Australian rain forest. They must find a way to the river and Uncle Al, but they're still the size of bugs! They dodge rhinoceros beetles and tree kangaroos,...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #3: In the Kitchen

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Debbie Palen

Andrew, his cousin Judy, and super-smart robot Thudd escape the bathtub–only to get flushed down the toilet! Now they have to find their way through a maze of pipes to the kitchen sink. But the kitchen...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #6: In the Whale

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Mike Reed

After escaping an underwater volcano, Andrew, Judy, and Thudd drive their submersible vehicle, the Water Bug, right down a whale’s throat!This is the second in a four-book set that will take the...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #9: In Time

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

The evil Dr. Kron-Tox has kidnapped Uncle Al and whisked him away in his time machine! Luckily, Andrew has a time machine of his own. But like most of Andrew’s inventions, the Time-a-Tron doesn’t...

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  • eBook
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Andrew Lost #16: In Uncle Al

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Some families are ARE a little too close! A shock from a numbfish has shrunk Andrew, Judy, and Thudd to microscopic size. Just when they think Uncle Al has rescued them, a mosquito bite injects them into...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #10: On Earth

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have escaped the Big Bang only to find themselves trapped inside the Earth as it forms all around them! Meanwhile Uncle Al is stranded in the Ice Age. Somehow Andrew, Judy, and...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #1: On the Dog

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Debbie Palen

When Andrew’s latest invention, the Atom Sucker, goes haywire, Andrew and Judy are shrunk down to microscopic level! Andrew and Judy find themselves lost on their neighbor’s dog, where they...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #7: On the Reef

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd are out of the whale, but not out of trouble, when the Water Bug gets caught on the Great Barrier Reef! This is the third in a four-book set that will take the kids on a tour of...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #5: Under Water

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

After getting unshrunk, Andrew, Judy, and Thudd take a much needed vacation to Hawaii. While making modifications to Uncle Al’s latest invention–the submarine-like Water Bug–Andrew ends...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #14: With the Bats

By: J.C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Thanks to an invention mishap Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have been shrunk down to the size of bugs. That’s a serious problem when they get lost in a deep, dark, and bat-filled cave. Bats love to eat...

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  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Andrew Lost #11: With the Dinosaurs

By: J. C. Greenburg
illustrated by: Jan Gerardi

Andrew, Judy, and Thudd have escaped primordial Earth only to find themselves surrounded by huge–and hungry!–dinosaurs. Meanwhile Uncle Al is still stranded in the Ice Age. Somehow Andrew,...

Available In:
  • eBook
  • Trade Paperback
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Favorite Series Starters Boxed Set

By: J.C. Greenburg, Mary Pope Osborne, Barbara Park, Roy Roy, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
illlustrated by: Debbie Palen, Sal Murdocca, Denise Brunkus, John Steven

Let the adventures begin!What do the Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, A to Z Mysteries, Andrew Lost, and Nate the Great series have in common? Not only are the main characters spunky and lovable kids...

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On the Dog

By: J.C. Greenburg

When Andrew's latest invention, the Atom Sucker, goes haywire, Andrew and Judy are shrunk down to microscopic level! Andrew and Judy find themselves lost on their neighbor's dog, where they encounter everything...

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In the Bathroom

By: J.C. Greenburg

When Andrew and Judy's neighbor gives her dog a bath, microscopic Andrew and Judy find themselves washed off the dog and lost in the bathroom! They'll have to use their wits and Thudd's storehouse of facts...

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In the Kitchen

By: J.C. Greenburg

Andrew, his cousin Judy, and supersmart robot Thudd escape the bathtub only to get flushed down the toilet! Now they have to find their way through a maze of pipes to the kitchen sink. But the kitchen...

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In the Garden

By: J.C. Greenburg

Andrew, his cousin Judy, and supersmart robot Thudd hitch a ride out of the kitchen on the back of a fly and end up in the garden. The view is awfully nice from the head of a daisy, but time is running...

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Andrew Lost: Books 1-4

By: J.C. Greenburg

ANDREW LOST #1: ON THE DOGWhen Andrew's latest invention, the Atom Sucker, goes haywire, Andrew and Judy are shrunk down to microscopic level! Andrew and Judy find themselves lost on their neighbor's dog,...

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