SOURCE CITATION
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
Photograph provided by Scholastic, Inc.

"Sidelights"
Anne Mazer commented: "I have always loved books. From the earliest age, I would devour anything that could be read--from sappy comic books to cereal boxes to encyclopedias and dictionaries, to just about any kind of fiction. I loved boys' books, girls' books, great books, simple books, educational books, and just-for-thrills books. As a young girl, I stood in front of the shelves of books that lined our walls and hungrily pulled out volumes. The same scene was repeated countless times in libraries, where I would wander among the stacks almost intoxicated by so many books. When I got older, I crept into my closet late at night, where I stuffed towels under the door and read till well past midnight.

"As a teenager, I disliked school and would often slip out after homeroom and walk four miles to the Syracuse Public Library or the Syracuse University Library, where I would spend the day reading. Though my parents had begun writing when I was five, I did not think of myself as a future writer. My love of books was somehow private and almost secret.

""After high school, I lived in many different cities and held many different jobs. But I wasn't happy. At the age of 28, I was working in a real estate office as an executive secretary. One day, a friend said to me, `You are a misfit in an office.' `I have always wanted to be a writer,' I replied. `What's stopping you?' he asked. I didn't have any good answer to that, so that night I sat down at my typewriter and began to explore ideas for a novel. I haven't stopped working since.

""My first book was a novel for young adults, which was never published. After a few years of trial and error, I decided to try my hand at picture books. It was an instant fit. I love writing for small children. Though the text has to be done with the utmost simplicity, I find that I can express many complex and profound emotions such as joy, love, and contentment. I also love the spareness of the picture book. There is no waste in a good picture book. Each word counts, and each word must be placed exactly right.

""In the spring-summer of 1987, I wrote three picture books. I was sitting at my typewriter, casting about for ideas. My two-year-old son was tumbling on the bed in front of me. `Look at me, Mom! Look at me!' I wrote the words on my blank piece of paper. In a few minutes `look at me' had changed to `watch me,' and I was off. Watch Me has a simple text that hides the fact that each verse was written hundreds of times. Some of the verses came out smoothly and easily, but most were the result of hours of trial and error. The phrase `watch me' seemed such a universal theme for small children that I couldn't believe half a dozen people hadn't thought of it already.

"" The Yellow Button was a completely different experience. When I was a small child, I often tried to encompass infinity within my own mind. I would dazzle myself with visions of unlimited space and then return to my room, my self, my own small, but somehow newly expanded and enlivened reality. This mental game--a kind of contemplation really--used to give me great pleasure. One night I was sitting at the typewriter when a picture popped into my mind of a button sitting in a pocket. As I wrote down the words, describing the picture I clearly saw, one image seemed to flow from another. In a very short time, the book was written--and I made few changes in it.

""My third book The Salamander Room was triggered by a remark a little boy made while we were on a nature hike. I no longer remember the original conversation, but the boy wanted to bring a salamander home. From this, I got the idea of a boy who transforms his room to make a home for the salamander. I wrote several versions of The Salamander Room before I hit on its final form."

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born April 2, 1953, in Schenectady, NY; daughter of Harry (a writer) and Norma (a writer; maiden name, Fox) Mazer; married Andrew Futterman (a clinical social worker), June, 1983; children: Max, Mollie. Education: Attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, Syracuse University, and the Sorbonne. Memberships: Authors Guild, Authors League of America. Addresses: Agent: Joanna Cole, Elaine Markson Literary Agency, 44 Greenwich Ave., New York, NY 10011.

CAREER
Free-lance writer, 1982--. Worked as an executive secretary at a real estate office and at various other jobs.