Amy Ignatow

Amy Ignatow (born September 15, 1977) is an American author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She is best known for the children's book series, The Popularity Papers.

Personal life

Ignatow was born and raised in Huntington, New York, on Long Island. She graduated from Huntington High School in 1995. She attended SUNY Oneonta and later transferred to study illustration at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, graduating magna cum laude in 2002. In 2009, she sold her first book to Abrams Books and bought a home in Mount Airy, Philadelphia.

Professional career

Her first book, The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, was published by Amulet Books in spring 2010. Positive reviews of the book appeared in The New York Times, School Library Journal, and other publications and review web sites, such as KidLiterate. The sequels were similarly well-reviewed, and became a seven-book series about middle schoolers Julie and Lydia.

Ignatow has since written several additional children's books.

According to her author biography, Ignatow has worked as a teacher, a farmer, a florist, a short-order vegan cook, a ghostwriter for Internet personal ads, a telefundraiser, a wedding singer, and an air-brush face and body painter.