Barbara Park, an American author, wrote many children's books. She is most well known for her Junie B. Jones series of chapter books about a trouble-making schoolgirl. Park's first manuscript, Operation: Dump the Chump (1982), was accepted by the Random House imprint Alfred A. Knopf, Inc in 1981. It became her third book to be published after Knopf accepted her other manuscripts for Don't Make Me Smile (1981) and Skinnybones (1982). She then wrote two books targeted at an audience of young girls: Beanpole (1983) and Buddies (1985). These were followed by The Kid in the Red Jacket (1987). Park began writing sequels with the Skinnybones sequel Almost Starring Skinnybones (1988), followed by a sequel to Don't Make Me Smile called My Mother Got Married (And Other Disasters) (1989). She next wrote a trilogy of books, The Geek Chronicles (1990–1993).
Park published the first Junie B. Jones book in 1992 and continued writing them alongside her other projects. They were contrasted by more serious books released around the same time, Mick Harte Was Here (1995) about the death of a sibling, and The Graduation of Jake Moon (2000) about dealing with a loved one developing Alzheimer's disease. Park followed her Junie B. Jones series with the Junie B., First Grader books beginning in 2001. She also wrote two picture books, Psssst! It's Me...the Bogeyman (1998) and Ma! There's Nothing to Do Here! A Word from Your Baby-in-Waiting (2008). She continued writing Junie B. Jones until the final book was published in 2012, a year before her death.