Andrew Clements

Andrew Elborn Clements (May 29, 1949 – November 28, 2019) was an American author of children's literature.

His debut novel Frindle won an award determined by the vote of U.S. schoolchildren in about 20 different U.S. states.

In 1985, Clements added his own work to the market with a picture book entitled Bird Delbert.

His first novel was the award-winning Frindle, which has won 16 state book awards, as well as the Christopher Award.

Clements was married to the former Rebecca Pierpont, and they had three sons.

The Children's Literature Association named Frindle the best English-language children's book published in 1996 that did not win a major contemporary book award, thus making it the winner of the Phoenix Award for 2016.

In June 2015, Frindle was named the Phoenix Award winner for 2016, as it was the best book that did not win a major award when it was published.

Clements was born in Camden, New Jersey, and lived in nearby Oaklyn and Cherry Hill before moving to Springfield, Illinois as a pre-teen.

As a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in Maine where he spent his days swimming, hiking, water skiing, and his evenings reading books.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Northwestern University and a Masters of Arts in Elementary Education from National Louis University, he worked as a teacher, sharing his love of reading with elementary, middle, and high school students.

He worked for several publishing companies where he published, acquired, edited, marketed, and developed quality children's books.

He died at his home in Baldwin, Maine, on November 28, 2019, at age 70 from an undisclosed illness.