Norton Juster - Biography

Biography

Juster was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was an architect, and Juster's brother became an architect as well. Juster served with the United States Navy before also becoming an architect; he studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Juster wrote The Phantom Tollbooth in the early 1960s while living in Brooklyn. Jules Feiffer, a housemate of Juster's, did the illustrations.

Although Juster enjoyed writing, his architectural career remained his primary emphasis. He served as a professor of architecture and environmental design at Hampshire College from its first trimester in 1970 until his retirement in 1992.

Juster co-founded a small architectural firm, Juster Pope Associates, in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, in 1970. The firm was renamed Juster Pope Frazier after Jack Frazier joined the firm in 1978.

Juster currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with his wife, Jeanne. Although he has retired from architecture, he still writes. His book The Hello, Goodbye Window, published May 15, 2005, won the Caldecott Medal for Chris Raschka's illustration in 2006. The sequel, Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie, was published in 2008. His most famous publication continues to be The Phantom Tollbooth.

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