Home Student Activities Current News Media Center Students Activities CAP Archives SLA Policies Policy Administration Our Mission Faculty & Staff Yearly Calendar School Menus Volunteers Parent Council Volunteers Downloads Back To School "Volunteer Hrs Form" Summer Packets Grade 6 (1.7M) Grade 7 (410k) Grade 8 (594k) Links NJHS Info FL Pre-paid College Media Info Book Review Authors New Items News Flash! Featured Author Jan Greenberg Jan Greenberg lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she grew up loving to read. "My parent’s library was filled with an assortment of books ranging from Plato’s Dialogues to Alice in Wonderland. It was there in that cozy room with a fireplace that I developed my eclectic tastes in literature." Jan’s three daughters influenced her decision to write for young readers. "Teenagers are the most interesting people I know. There is no other period in one’s life when certain emotions...joy, sadness, or anger, seem so intense. Now that my own children are grown, I receive wonderful ideas from young readers across the country. Of course I can still draw on autobiographical material." Over the years, Jan has taught creative writing and art appreciation in the St. Louis public schools and at several colleges, including Webster University. "In the early seventies my husband and I began collecting contemporary American art. Soon our rambling old house was filled with bright canvases, the lawn with large steel sculpture." At about that time, the Greenberg’s opened a contemporary art gallery. "The energy and excitement stimulated by my contact with artists who came to show at the gallery inspired me to write and develop my skills." Her work in art education, her conversations with artists, and her love of "looking at art" formed the basis of her recent books about American art and architecture. She enjoys traveling around the country interviewing artists, hearing their stories and making connections between their lives and their work. "A book is never a figment of imagination. It begins as a stomach ache, a slight quiver of discomfort. It’s like falling in and out of love. If the feeling is strong enough, a book may evolve. Or maybe not. But when something happens and a year later I’m holding a new book in my hand, I want to jump up and down, throw confetti, and stop everyone on the street, and say, ‘Look what I’ve done!’"