Meg Cabot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Meg Cabot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meg Cabot (born Meggin Patricia Cabot on February 1, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana, United States[1][2]) is an American chick-lit author of romantic comedies for teens and adults. She has written under the name Meggin Cabot, as well as the pseudonyms Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. She has written and published over fifty books, and is best known for The Princess Diaries, later made by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films of the same name. Cabot has more than fifteen million copies of her books children's, young adult, and adult in print worldwide. Her website averages about 80,000 unique visitors a month. After graduating from the university, Cabot moved to New York City, with the original aim of pursuing a career as an illustrator.[1][2] However, she soon quit this job and started working as an assistant manager of the freshman dormitory at New York University.[1][2] This new job gave her more time to work on her writings.[1]

Meg Cabot
Born February 1, 1967 Bloomington, Indiana, United States Pen name Patricia Cabot Jenny Carroll Meg Cabot Occupation Writer Nationality American Writing period 1998-present Genres Chick-lit, Mystery, Romance, Science fiction Notable work(s) The Princess Diaries
Influenced old high school diaries; Princess Diaries from her mother dating an old professor of hers; life events

Official website

Meg Cabot married financial writer and poet Benjamin D. Egnatz on April 1, 1993. Their wedding date, April Fools Day, was a deliberate play on her husband's belief that only fools get married in the first place. The wedding was actually an elopement in Italy. Her novel Every Boy's Got One is loosely based on her own elopement. She has two cats, Henrietta (a one eyed cat) and Gem, about whom she often blogs. After living in Indiana, California, New York, and France, she now currently resides in Key West, Florida. She splits her time between an apartment in New York, New York, and a barn in Bloomington, Indiana.[3]

Contents
1 Writing career 1.1 Children's novels 1.1.1 Allie Finkle series 1.2 Young adult novels 1.2.1 The Princess Diaries series 1.2.2 The Mediator series 1.2.3 1-800-WHERE-R-U series 1.2.4 All-American Girl series 1.2.5 Avalon High series 1.2.6 The Airhead trilogy 1.2.7 Other young adult fiction 1.3 Adult novels 1.3.1 Heather Wells series

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1.3.2 Queen of Babble series 1.3.3 Romance novels 1.3.4 Boy series 1.4 Other works 1.4.1 Short stories 1.4.2 Screenplays 2 Awards 3 References

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Writing career
Cabot has written many novels for children, teenagers and adults, under several pen names: Meg Cabot,[4] Meggin Cabot,[4] Patricia Cabot,[4] and Jenny Carroll.[2] Cabot has also written many types of novels, including historical romances, contemporary chick lit, and young adult series with themes of mystery and paranormal suspense.[5] Her books have sold over 15 million copies in the world.[6] In October 2004, Cabot was named by The Guardian as the author of the month.[7]

Children's novels
Allie Finkle series Allie Finkles Rules for Girls: Moving Day, March 1, 2008. Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: The New Girl, August 5, 2008. Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens, March 10, 2009 Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Stage Fright, September 15, 2009 On February 5, 2007, Scholastic Corporation announced that it had won the rights to publish Cabot's future books, including books for 8-12 year olds.[8] Cabot will finish her contract with Harper Collins and then work for Scholastic with her new children's books and two new young-adult trilogies.[9] The Allie Finkle series chronicles the challenges Allie Finkle faces when she moves away and becomes the new girl in school, as well as other difficulties associated with growing up. Allie confronts these issues by making rules to live by, which helps her find out who she really is.

Young adult novels

The Princess Diaries series The Princess Diaries series is the most notable series written by Meg Cabot, and has been published in more than 40 countries.[6] The first book in the series was published in October 2000; the series spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List and was sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. In 2001 and 2004 respectively, the series was brought to the big screen by Walt Disney Pictures as The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. Note that in the UK and Australia the books are published under titles based on the volume number (eg: Mia Goes Fourth).

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The Princess Diaries, Volume I (October 2000) Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight (June 2001) Volume III: Princess in Love (March 2002) Volume IV: Princess in Waiting (April 2003) Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess (August 2003) Volume V: Princess in Pink (March 2004) Volume VI: Princess in Training (March 2005) Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present (October 2004) Volume VII: Party Princess (March 2006) Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess (May 2006) Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess (December 2006) Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink (January 2007) Volume IX: Princess Mia (January 2008) Volume X: Forever Princess (January 6, 2009) Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren: Princess Lessons (March 2003) Perfect Princess (March 2004) Holiday Princess (November 2005)

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Princess Diaries 9, released December 26, 2007

Note that on January 6, 2009, a companion book to Volume X: Forever Princess entitled "Ransom My Heart" will be published under the name Princess of Genovia, Mia Thermopolis by Avon Books, the adult division of HarperCollins, the Princess Diaries series publisher. All author proceeds from the novel, which will be printed on 100% recycled paper, will go to Greenpeace. The Mediator series 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Shadowland (October 2000) Ninth Key (February 2001) Reunion (July 2001) Darkest Hour (December 2001) Haunted (February 2003) Twilight (December 2004)

The Mediator Series is about a 16-year-old girl named Susannah "Suze" Simon. Suze is a mediator, whose role is to help ghosts finish their business on earth so they can pass on to the afterlife. To this end, she can see, touch, communicate with, hit, punch, and 'kick ghost butt' when she has to. The series begins just after Suze's widowed mother marries Andy Ackerman, when she has moved to Carmel, California, to live in an old house complete with three stepbrothers. To make matters worse, her bedroom is haunted by an attractive male ghost named Jesse de Silva, who died 150 years earlier. Suze remembers that back in New York a fortune teller had told her that she was a mediator (which proved correct) and that she would only fall in love once but it would last for an eternity. Her one love for eternity just might be Jesse. But does he love her back? The first four books were originally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll (this was when Cabot was working with different publishing houses). Haunted was the first title to have Meg Cabot's name on it. The first four books were later reprinted under Cabot's real name in 2005 with new cover art when Twilight was released in hardcover. The U.K. titles for the series were as follows: Shadowland- Love you to Death, Ninth Key- High Stakes, Reunion- Mean Spirits, Darkest HourYoung Blood, Haunted- Grave Doubts, and Twilight- Heaven Sent. [10]

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The Mediator series rights have been sold to producer Julie Pistor, and will be made into a movie in the near future. 1-800-WHERE-R-U series 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. When Lightning Strikes (February 2001) Code Name Cassandra (August 2001) Safe House (March 2002) Sanctuary (September 2002) Missing You (December 26, 2006)

This series revolves around Jessica Mastriani, an ordinary 16-year-old girl given extraordinary psychic powers after being struck by lightning. Her powers allow her to know the exact location of missing children; after seeing a picture of a person, they appear in her dreams. The first four books take place over less than a year, and chronicle her attempts to help missing children while trying to avoid the scrutiny of the federal government. The fifth book, published four years after the fourth book, picks up the story line after Jess has turned 19. Over the course of the books, Jess is romantically involved with Rob Wilkins, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The first four books were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll. After poor sales, the series was discontinued. Sales improved when the books were re-released in 2004 under Cabot's real name. Cabot was unhappy with the discontinuation; she stated that she wanted to take the series up to eight books. Her current publishing house agreed to publish one more installment. Missing You was released in December 2006 and ended the series. The 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series was the basis for the television show Missing, which aired on the Lifetime cable network for three seasons from 2003 to 2006.[6] All-American Girl series All American Girl, September 2002 Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel, July 2005 The series revolves around Samantha Madison, a Washington, D.C. native, who, while skipping her after-school art class, saves the life of the president, and becomes a national hero. The two books revolve around her rise to fame and her love life with the president's son, David with whom appears to want to take their relationship to the next level in the second book. Avalon High series Avalon High, December 2005 Avalon High: Coronation (three-book manga series) The Merlin Prophecy (July 3, 2007) Homecoming (June 24, 2008) Hunter's Moon (September 1, 2009) There is a sequel to the first Avalon High novel. However, instead of a regular novel, it is part of a new partnership HarperCollins brokered with Tokyopop (a leading United States manga company). It will be released as a three-book manga series, called Avalon High: Coronation. The first manga, titled The Merlin Prophecy, was released on July 3, 2007 and was drawn by manga artist Jinky Coronado, who does the Banzai Girl manga. The Airhead trilogy

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Airhead, May 13, 2008 Being Nikki, May 5, 2009 Runaway, May 2010 Other young adult fiction Nicola and the Viscount, August 2002 Victoria and the Rogue, March 2003 Teen Idol, July 2004 How to Be Popular, July 2006 Pants on Fire"(formerly titled Tommy Sullivan is a Freak), May 2007 Jinx, July 31, 2007 The Abandon trilogy, Winter 2009

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Adult novels
Heather Wells series 1. Size 12 is Not Fat, December 27, 2005 2. Size 14 is Not Fat Either, November 28, 2006 3. Big Boned, December 26, 2007 The Heather Wells series is an adult mystery series that features former pop star Heather Wells. Heather was once a teen star, but was fired by her recording company when she asked to sing songs she had written instead of the ones they composed for her. The book opens just after Heather has gotten a job as a residence house coordinator at New York College and quickly discovers that young girls in the dorm are being murdered. The second book was originally titled Phat Chick, but this was changed by the publishers to It's Not Over Until The Size 12 Chick Sings, and finally, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, which continued Heather's amateur sleuthing adventures. The third book in the series is published under the title "Size Doesn't Matter" in Australia and Great Britain. (In other countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, it was entitled "Big Boned".) In 'Size Doesn't Matter', Heather solves another mystery, and is involved in a love triangle with Tad, her boyfriend, and Cooper, whom she secretly loves, but rejected her. In March, 2008 the series was contracted for two additional books. Queen of Babble series 1. Queen of Babble, May 2006 2. Queen of Babble in the Big City, June 26, 2007 3. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, June 24, 2008,April 21, 2009 (paperback) Queen of Babble debuted at #27 on the New York Times Bestseller List, the highest debut of any of Cabot's adult books; it was also the first of her adult books to be released in hardcover. The series focusses on Lizzie Nichols, a lover of vintage fashion - and of talking. In the first book, her big mouth gets her into trouble with her British boyfriend, Andrew, and Lizzie ends up rushing off to France where her good friend is vacationing and helping out with a wedding. Like most of Cabot's books, the plot is primarily based on romance, but it also deals with the aftermath of Lizzie's tendency to babble. The series is currently contracted as a

Queen of Babble in the

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trilogy.

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Big City, June 2007.

In the first book, Lizzie comes to England to be with Andrew, but after finding that he is lying to the British government, she leaves to her friend Shari in Mirac, a beautiful vineyard. On the train yard, she meets Jean-Luc (later known as Luke) who she confides about everything to him, much to her embarrassment when she hears he is her host. Even though she begins to crush on him, she finds that he has a mean girlfriend who takes advantage of him. At the end, Luke and Lizzie get together even though Luke is upset for Lizzie telling his mother about wanting to be a doctor. In the second book, Lizzie moves to New York to fulfill her dream of becoming a wedding gown restorer. She is joined by her boyfriend Luke, who has recently joined medical school. Luke asks Lizzie to move in with him into his mother's pied-a-terre on Fifth Avenue. Lizzie agrees and moves in with him, but her best friend Shari who is currently staying with her boyfriend Chaz, disapproves of Lizzie moving in with Luke during the first months of their relationship. Lizzie later begins to work as a secretary for Chaz's father's company Pendergast, Loughlin and Flynn while taking up a job at Monsieur Henri's wedding gown restoration shop, free of cost. She is later fired by Pendergast. Loughlin and Flynn for ruining the "confidentiality of a client". Throughout the book, Lizzie cherishes the dream of marrying Luke and is terribly upset when she finds out he doesn't want to marry her. They break up, he leaves for France and Lizzie vacates the house they had been sharing for many months. Lizzie then goes for a wedding of a friend, accompanied by Chaz, where they share a stroke-of-midnight kiss. They go to Lizzie's place kissing in a cab and Chaz later admits that he is in love with Lizzie even though Lizzie is confused about how she feels about him. The book ends with Luke flying back from France and proposing to Lizzie. In the third book, Lizzie accepts Luke's proposal and while he goes to Starbucks to pick up coffee and coke, Lizzie hurries back inside her apartment and tries to get a sleeping Chaz to leave before Luke comes and assumes that something happened between them. After much ado, Chaz leaves grudgingly, after warning Lizzie that she was making a terrible mistake and that she and Luke would not last. Luke returns later to the apartment and both of them sleep together and inform their family and friends that they are engaged. Lizzie keeps hearing Chaz's parting words in her head and is quite upset by it. Her best friend Shari, who is living with her new girlfriend and boss, Pat, is upset with Lizzie for accepting Luke's proposal as she felt that "he was too perfect". Lizzie then continues to take on a famous celebrity, Ava Geck as her client. Lizzie is still unsure about how she feels about Chaz, even though all her friends, including Ava, think she is in love with Chaz and not Luke. Luke takes Lizzie, Chaz and his new girlfriend Valencia out to dinner where Lizzie and Luke have a heated argument about their wedding and Lizzie leaves in a huff. She gets into Ava's limo when she arrives in front of the restaurant and they go to Lizzie's apartment where Luke meets them later. He and Lizzie agree to take some time off. Later, Luke flies to France while Lizzie attends Shari and Pat's barbecue party where she gets a phone call saying that her grandmother is dead. She flies to Ann Arbor and is joined by Chaz. Lizzie realizes that she is love with Chaz and both of them finally sleep together. Lizzie is a little upset about cheating on Luke but knows she doesn't love him. Monsieur Henri sells his business, leaving Lizzie jobless. Luke asks her to join him in Paris but she refuses. She breaks up with him when he gets back and soon, she and Ava Geck start their own clothing line. A little later, Chaz reveals to Lizzie that Luke was cheating on her with his classmate. Luke goes back to become an investment banker again and Chaz and Lizzie end up getting married. Romance novels These novels were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Patricia Cabot. Where Roses Grow Wild, March 1998 Portrait of My Heart, January 1999 An Improper Proposal, November 1999 A Little Scandal, June 2000

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Lady of Skye, December 2000 Educating Caroline, November 2001 Kiss the Bride, May 2002 Ransom My Heart, Jan 2009 Written by Mia Thermopolis princess of all Boy series The Boy Next Door, October 2002 (as Meggin Cabot) Boy Meets Girl, January 2004 (as Meggin Cabot) Every Boy's Got One, January 2005

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Other works
She Went All the Way, December 2002 (as Meggin Cabot) Short stories "The Christmas Captive" (as Patricia Cabot), included in the adult romance anthology A Season in the Highlands, which was published in November 2000. "Girls Guide to New York through the Movies" included in Metropolis Found: New York Is Book Country 25th Anniversary Collection, published in August 2003. "Kate the Great" included in Thirteen: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen, published October 2003. "Party Planner" included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night In, published September 2004. "Connie "Hunter" Williams, Psychic Teacher" included in the teen short story collection Friends: Stories About New Friends, Old Friends, and Unexpectedly True Friends, published August 2005. "Allie Finklestine's Rules for Boys" included in the CosmoGIRL! short story collection Shining On, published April 2006. "Reunion" included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night Out, published June 2006. "Cry, Linda, Cry: Judy Blumes Blubber and The Cruelest Thing in the World" included in Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, published Spring 2007. "Ask Annie" included in Midnight Feast, published July 2007. "The Exterminator's Daughter" included in Prom Nights From Hell, published May 2007. "Every Girl's Dream" A short story written by Cabot out of the Mediator Series. Screenplays Early versions of the screenplay for Disney's Ice Princess, released in 2005, were written by Meg Cabot

Awards
Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best British Isles Historical Romance, 1999, for An Improper Proposal Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection, Best Book selection, American Library Association, and New York Public Library Teen Book for the New Millennium citation, all 2001, all for The Princess Diaries Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best young adult category, Mystery Writers of America, 2003, for Safe House The Princess Diaries was voted "one of the nation's 100 best-loved novels" by the British public as part of the "The Big Read," British Broadcasting Corporation, 2003.

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Queen of Teen nomination (2008) for her work "Airhead" nominated for Teen Choice Book of the Year, 2009

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References
"Meg Cabot." Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 50. Gale Group, 2003. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. ^ a b c d Meg Cabot Biography ^ a b c d Historical Romance Writers Author: Patricia Cabot ^ Biography of Meg Cabot, Meg Cabot ^ a b c Fresh Fiction: Author Meg Cabot biography and book list ^ Barnes & Noble.com - Meg Cabot - Books: Meet the Writers ^ a b c Meg Cabot Biography - Airhead Author - CosmoGIRL! ^ Author of the month: Meg Cabot | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books ^ Scholastic Corporation Press Release, Meg Cabot ^ Meg Cabot's Blog, Meg Cabot ^ http://www.megcabot.com/chattranscripts/ChatTranscript_01-29-05.html

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