Lauren Tarshis


Lauren Tarshis is an American author of children's books, with several series of fiction, non-fiction and historical fiction works found in thousands of libraries and translated into several languages.
She is the author of the New York Times bestselling series I Survived. The books, fast-paced historical fiction for kids in grades 3–5, focus on historical disasters from the perspective of a boy or girl who lived to tell the tale.
She is also the author of Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree, a Golden Kite honor book for fiction and Oprah's Book Club pick, and the sequel Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. The books are on many state lists and are often used by schools as part of anti-bully programs.
Tarshis is SVP editor-in-chief and publisher of the Classroom Magazine Division at Scholastic, Inc., which includes Storyworks magazine, a language arts magazine for children in grades 3-6 that she has edited for several years.
WWW LaurenTarshis.com

''Emma-Jean Lazarus'' books

  • Emma-Jean Lazarus fell out of a tree, in over 1,600 WorldCat libraries
  • *Translated into French as Pourquoi Emma-Jane est tombée de l'arbre, et ce qui s'ensuivit...
  • *Translated into German as Emma-Jean und das Geheimnis des Glücks
  • *Translated into Japanese as エマ・ジーン・ラザルス、木から落ちる / Ema jīn razarusu ki kara ochiru
  • Emma-Jean Lazarus fell in love, in over 1,000 WorldCat libraries
  • *Translated into German as ''Emma-Jean und das Geheimnis der Freundschaft''

''I Survived'' series

Tarshis has written 25 books for the I Survived series as of April 2023. These are historical fiction books about children who survive different disasters throughout history, including storms, wars, battles, genocides, terrorist attacks, and wild animal attacks. The tagline for the series is "When Disaster Strikes, Heroes Are Made." The books are published by Scholastic Inc.
The first book in the series, published in 2010, is I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912.
The latest book in the series, published in 2025, is I Survived the Dust Bowl, 1935.
In 2018, the first of six I Survived books in Spanish were released for the U.S. market: Sobreviví los Ataques de Tiburones de 1916. In 2019, two more titles were released: Sobreviví el Naufragio del Titanic, 1912, and Sobreviví el Terremoto de San Francisco, 1906. In 2020, a fourth title was released: Sobreviví el huracán Katrina, 2005. Two more Spanish language I Survived titles were released in 2021, Sobreviví el Bomdardeo de Pearl Harbor, 1941 and Sobreviví los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001.
Tarshis has also written three non-fiction books for the I Survived True Stories spin-off series, featuring some of the real events that the I Survived historical fiction books are based on. I Survived True Stories #1: Five Epic Disasters was released in 2014, followed in 2015 by I Survived True Stories #2 Nature Attacks!, and by I Survived True Stories #3 Tornado Terror in 2017.
In 2020, two new graphic novels were released: I Survived The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 and I Survived The Shark Attacks of 1916.
I Survived books have been translated into ten languages: Chinese, Czech, French, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese.

Other works