Author SPLOTlight: Paul Zindel

With titles like My Darling, My Hamburger; Pardon Me, You're Stepping on My Eyeball; and The Pigman, author Paul Zindel gets my vote for best titles ever. And his books are entertaining and engaging, too. He writes about quirky characters dealing with difficult situations. His stories are sad and funny at the same time in a way that makes you feel like you're encountering real life on the page. His characters are sometimes lonely, sometimes scared, but always thoughtful about their situations.

Zindel grew up and attended high school and college on Staten Island in New York. He wrote his first play in high school, where some of his friends described his sense of humor as "macabre." For 10 years he was a high school science teacher who wrote plays in his free time and later he became a full time author. Zindel died in 2003, but his stories live on.

Have you read a book by Paul Zindel? Be sure to comment and tell me how you liked it.

— Amy, Scholastic.com Editor