Susan Beth Pfeffer

Susan Beth Pfeffer (February 17, 1948 – June 23, 2025) was an American author best known for young adult and science fiction. After writing for 35 years, she received wider notice for her series of post-apocalyptic novels, "The Last Survivors" series, some of which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Life and career

Pfeffer was born in Manhattan, New York City, on February 17, 1948, the daughter of Leo Pfeffer, a lawyer and professor, and his wife, Freda née Plotkin, a secretary. She was the first cousin of fellow children's book author Ellen Conford. Pfeffer's family lived in Queens before moving to the suburbs of Nassau County, New York. She began writing stories as a child.

She published her first book, Just Morgan, in 1970, while she was a senior at New York University. After college, she moved to Middletown, New York, and continued to write full-time. She published more than 75 books.

Pfeffer's books cover the range of children's literature from picture books to young-adult novels. They include biographies for younger readers, and both historical, such as the Portraits of Little Women series, and contemporary fiction. She also wrote a book for adults about how to write for children. About David (1980) and The Year Without Michael (1987) are two of her books that received critical notice. Pfeffer said that she enjoyed writing about family dynamics. Pfeffer achieved wider notice with her 2006 book Life as We Knew It, a bestseller. This became the first of her Moon Crash series. Pfeffer cited the film Meteor as inspiration for the Last Survivors series.

Pfeffer died from endometrial cancer at her home in Monroe, New York, on June 23, 2025, at the age of 77.

Works

The Last Survivors Series

Life as We Knew It (2006), Harcourt Children's Books ISBN 0-15-205826-5.

The Dead and the Gone (2008), Harcourt Children's Books ISBN 978-0-15-206311-5.

This World We Live In (2010), Harcourt Children's Books ISBN 978-0-547-24804-2.

The Shade of the Moon (2013), Harcourt Children's Books, ISBN 978-0-547-81337-0.

Awards

Pfeffer's books have won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, the Buxtehude Bull prize and been named on American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults (2007) and Teens’ Top Ten Booklist in 2007. She was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award, Quill Awards and Hal Clement Award.