Publication Date: August 2002 | Age Level: 9 and up
Abby Hayes is an ordinary fifth grader trying to invent a role for herself in a seemingly perfect world. This series combines the edge of BRIDGET JONES with a send-up of self-help books.
When Ms. Bunder asks the fifth grade to write about their bedrooms, Abby realizes something awful: her room is boring. She decides to paint her desk purple, her favorite color, but before she knows it Abby's whole room is purple! Luckily, her end-of-the-school-year party will be just the place to show it off to her classmates.
Quite a lot of Anne Mazer's writing education took place while she was unconscious. Her parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. Every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing Anne heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters. The furious sound of typing was her childhood wake-up music. During the day, her parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before she was seven years old, Anne knew about revisions, first and second drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four hour, seven day a week writer's boot camp.
In order to escape from her parents' obsession with writing, Anne turned to books. She was an avid reader from an early age and credits her love of reading for her writing career. Her favorite works were fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, and adventure. Her other interests were language, art, history, and science. At the age of twelve, she wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as she realized that a) she couldn't dance, b) she couldn't act; and c) she hated math.
Although at the time Anne thought writing was nothing but a nuisance, she now considers herself very lucky to have grown up with two aspiring writers. She learned a lot about discipline, perseverance and dedication to a craft from witnessing her parents' struggle. They eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.
It took Anne a long time to figure out that she, too, wanted to be a writer. During early adulthood, she worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that she was ill-suited for. She attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, traveled throughout Europe, and worked in Boston and New York City.
Anne's "eureka" moment about writing came while she prepared a research report for one of her bosses. As she lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, she realized that no one really cared how beautifully she wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except her, of course.
Using her parents' model of daily writing and discipline, she began to write. It took her seven years to publish her first book, a picture book inspired by her then two year old son, Max.
Anne is the mother of an adult son and daughter. Over the last twenty years, she has written over forty-five books for young readers. She has enough ideas to last for another quarter century and hopes that she will be writing for a very long time.
Fun Facts About Anne Mazer
* Her favorite foods are popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries. * When she was a kid, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day. * If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility. * She painted the rooms in her house yellow, orange, and violet. * One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting. * When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of) * In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.
4.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best!!!!!, February 22, 2005
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The More, The Merrier (The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, No. 8) (Paperback)
The book Amazing Days Of Abby Hayes the More the Merrier, by Anne Mazer and illustrated by Monica Gesue, is book number 8 from the Abby Hayes series. This story is fiction with hundreds of made-up characters you will love!
In the story, Amazing days of Abby Hayes, Abby is trying to plan a party for the end of the fifth grade year. During the story she struggles along the way to get thing done but at the end... well you can figure that out our self. (I don't want to spoil the surprise.)
I think that the author's writing style is very unquie and diffrent form alot of other stories. She has good word choice and interesting taste in how to do stuff.
I like the way the author, at some points, will write with purple pen. When she does write with it it means that Abby is writing in her journal. I feel when Abby is writing in her journal it is easier to relate to the character. I recommend this book to 3rd-5th grade because I started reading them at 3rd grade and I'm not sure if I will like the series in 6th grade.
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This review is from: The More, The Merrier (The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, No. 8) (Paperback)
Abby Hayes is a fifth grade girl. She wants to throw a Hurray its summer party to the whole fifth grade. When she gives the invitations, she wonders if they will think that her room is not cool and then Abby Hayes decides to give her room a makeover. But what if its too late to get a makeover.
I thoght this book was funny.
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Great Book in the Abby Hayes Series!!!!!, August 24, 2004
A Kid's Review
This review is from: The More, The Merrier (The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, No. 8) (Paperback)
I think this book is great if you are reading the Abby Hayes
series. It's a great book if your in the 4-6th grades. I really enjoy the Abby Hayes series a lot and read some of them in a day or less. I give this book a great review.
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