Lauren Tarshis

Lauren Tarshis is an American children's author and editor best known for the I Survived series, a long-running line of illustrated historical-fiction chapter books that place a young protagonist inside a real historical disaster or crisis — the sinking of the Titanic, the Hindenburg explosion, Hurricane Katrina, the September 11 attacks, the Battle of Gettysburg, and dozens of others — and follow their survival through carefully researched, age-appropriate detail. The series has become a staple of elementary and middle-grade classrooms for making difficult historical events accessible to young readers without sensationalizing them, and several entries have been adapted into graphic novel editions.

Before and alongside I Survived, Tarshis has had a long career as a children's magazine editor, serving as editorial director of Scholastic's Storyworks and editor-in-chief of Scholastic Scope, roles that shaped her skill at pairing historical accuracy with material genuinely engaging to young readers. Each I Survived book is grounded in real research, and many editions include backmatter with historical facts, photographs, and further-reading suggestions aimed at turning entertainment into genuine historical curiosity. Because each volume covers a different event with a different protagonist, new readers can start anywhere in the series based on which historical disaster interests them most; there is no fixed reading order. No film or television adaptation of the series exists to date, though it remains one of the best-selling children's series of its kind.