Donna jo napoli author biography graphic organizer

American children's writer and linguist

Donna Jo Napoli (born February 28, 1948) is an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, as well as a linguist.

She currently is a professor at Swarthmore College teaching Linguistics in all different forms (music, Theater (structure), dance, Comparative Literature Studies). She has also taught linguistics at Smith College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the University of Pennsylvania.^[2]

Early life and personal life

Donna Jo Napoli was born the youngest of four children in Miami, February 28, 1948, to an Italian-American family.

After correcting an eyesight problem left undiagnosed until the age of 10, Napoli became an avid reader.^[3] From then on she found solace in the escape provided by books, using reading as comfort during family troubles and instability stemming from her father's gambling