Miriam Chaikin was born December 8, 1924 in Jerusalem and came to the United States in 1925. She attended school in Brooklyn, New York and worked as a children's book editor and editorial director for various publishing companies. Miriam Chaikin began writing stories for adults and published her first story "Stranger" in Story [magazine] in 1964 and has also written for such journals as Good Housekeeping and Women's Day . In 1971, she published her first book for children, Ittki Pittki . Miriam Chaikin writes for children to let them know "that they are not alone in what they feel" and aims to give her readers a vivid account of the joys and hardships of growing up. Throughout her career, Miriam Chaikin has written both fiction and non-fiction for children. Many of her books draw on her Jewish heritage and several of her works of fiction focus on the experiences of two characters, Molly a young girl growing up during World War II, and Yossi, a young Hasidic boy. She has also written several books dealing with the history and meaning of the Jewish holidays of Purim and Hanukkah as well as books telling the story of Exodus and Joshua. In 1984 she received the Sydney Taylor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries for her work.

Biographical Sources: Something About the Author, vol. 24, p. 71. Children's Books: Awards and Prizes, 1992 ed., p. 139.