A successful children's book writer, Gloria Miklowitz' young adult books confront such serious issues as nuclear war, religious cults, rape, teen suicide, and AIDS. "Young adults are at a most difficult age--not quite adult, not children. I empathize with their extremes of mood and care about their special problems, their hopes and dreams. I want to be everyone's mom and smooth their way into adulthood in the only way I can--through my books."¹

Born in New York, Miklowitz was one of five children. "I was a middle child and a dreamer. I was slow to read, but once learned, I was always reading something, though I can't say anything of great consequence. I was stuck on the 'Nancy Drew' books for a while, and moved to reading adult literature by the age of twelve or thirteen.

"I wrote a composition in the third grade, 'My Brother Goo Goo...