Jude Watson

Hello! Thanks for clicking. I'm Jude Watson, and I write for kids. It's the best job in the world.

As a writer, I wear two hats. As Judy Blundell I write for Young Adults, and I won the National Book Award for my novel, WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED.

I write for middle-graders while wearing my Jude Watson hat, which is a bit more colorful. Maybe it even has a spinning propeller on top. I love to write mystery-adventures with thrilling twists and oddball characters and kids who find themselves in impossible situations doing incredible things.

I do all this from a chair, in a little room, in a not-big house, in a small town on Long Island. I like to read and I like to draw (badly) and my idea of excitement is to lace up my sneakers and walk to the harbor and back. I'm a nervous flyer and though I am respectful of the physics of modern aviation I also secretly suspect that it is only the unified belief of passengers that tons of metal can hurtle through the air that keeps a plane in flight. I am also not terribly comfortable on suspension bridges. And don't even ask me to go on a ferris wheel.

I am listing these fears just to clue you in: I'm a physical coward. I'm also a creature of habit. Once in awhile I go a little crazy and take a different route to the grocery store.

Still, I'll throw incredible amounts of danger at my characters. And I'll cackle maniacally while I do it.

Other random facts: During deadline periods I am deeply committed to popcorn and apples.

Every summer I go to Cape Cod, and every summer I wish I had a whole month there. I never do.

I am waiting for the day I'll see someone reading a book of mine in an airport or a train or a diner. I will most likely embarrass myself by cavorting and singing "That's ME!"

Happy Reading!