Lauren Tarshis (born November 23, 1963) 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 historical fiction books, aimed at children in grades 3âÂÂ5, focus on historical disasters from the perspective of a child.
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.
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: Sobrevivàlos Ataques de Tiburones de 1916 (I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916). In 2019, two more titles were released: Sobrevivàel Naufragio del Titanic, 1912 (I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912), and Sobrevivàel Terremoto de San Francisco, 1906 (I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906). In 2020, a fourth title was released: Sobrevivàel huracán Katrina, 2005 (I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005). Two more Spanish language I Survived titles were released in 2021, Sobrevivàel Bomdardeo de Pearl Harbor, 1941 (I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941) and Sobrevivàlos ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001 (I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 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.