Andrew Clements was born in Camden, New Jersey on May 29th 1949. He grew up in Camden and Springfield, Illinois. During the summer when he was younger, he spent his summers in Maine in a little cabin with his family. He spent most of his time engulfed in books. He graduated with a bachelor of the English arts and Literature from NorthWestern University and a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from National Louis University. After he graduated college, he went on to teach english and literature to students. He started his career of writing by first writing songs then moved on to working for publishing companies where he published, edited, marketed and developed children's books. In 1985 Andrew Clements wrote (draw) his first book; Bird Adalbert. He wrote his first novel Frindle which was published in 1996. Frindle won 16 state awards. Currently, Andrew Clements lives in Westborough, Massachusetts with his wife. He has four older children.