Born on October 27th, Constance C. Greene, the daughter of newspaper reporters, published A Girl Called Al (Viking, 1969) the story about a very intelligent girl who is an under-achiever and latch key kid, although Greene says that at the time of the writing the term wasn't being used yet. Al was a likeable character and other books followed.

One of Greene's most popular books, Beat the Turtle Drum (Viking 1976), came from personal experience. At the age of eleven, Greene's sister died. The story relates how a young girl learns to cope with the accidental dealth of her sister. The book was adapted for television in 1976 as Very Good Friends and was shown on the ABC Afterschool Special.

Greene also wrote other juvenile and adult novels, among them Nora Maybe a Ghost Story and Isabelle the Itch.

—Leslie Greaves Radloff