    andrew clements (born may 29, 1949) is an american author of children's books. clements grew up in camden, new jersey and springfield, illinois, united states. as a child, he enjoyed summers at a lakeside cabin in maine where he spent his days swimming and hiking and 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 started his literary career by writing songs. then he worked for several publishing companies where he published, acquired, edited, marketed, and developed quality children's books. in 1985, clements added his own work to the market with a picture book entitled bird adalbert. his first novel was the award-winning frindle, which has won sixteen state book awards, as well as the christopher award. clements works have been translated into several languages including german, italian, french, korean, portuguese, basque, hungarian, japanese, dutch, and spanish. clements currently lives in westborough, massachusetts, with his wife rebecca. he has four grown children â charles, george, nathaniel, and john. his children are reflected in some of his books. == awards == === awards for frindle === â¢ 2000: utah children's choice award â¢ 1999â2000: pennsylvania young reader's choice award â¢ 1999: texas children's crown award â¢ 1999: pacific northwest library association young reader's choice, (wa,or,mt,ak,id,ab,bc) â¢ 1999: south dakota prairie pasque award â¢ 1999: sasquatch children's book award, (wa) â¢ 1999: rebecca caudill young readers award, (il) â¢ 1998â1999: maryland black-eyed susan book award, 4â6 â¢ 1998â1999: young hoosier book award, (in) â¢ 1998â1999: north carolina children's choice award â¢ 1998â1999: nevada young readers' award â¢ 1998â1999: charlie may simon children's book award, (ar) â¢ 1998â1999: maud hart lovelace award, mn youth reading award â¢ 1998â1999: georgia children's book award â¢ 1998â1999: william 
1949_births American_children\'s_writers Books_by_Andrew_Clements Living_people National_Louis_University_alumni Northwestern_University_alumni People_from_Camden,_New_Jersey People_from_Springfield,_Illinois Writers_from_Illinois Writers_from_New_Jersey