Though she did publish one adult lesbian novel, Nora and Liz, Garden is best known for her 1982 young adult novel, Annie on My Mind, the story of two high school girls, Liza and Annie, who meet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and fall in love. Indeed, she was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award every year for ten years. When asked about her motivation to write for young people Garden said, “I think kids in every minority need to see people like themselves in books – that’s an acknowledgment of their existence on this planet and in this society.” Throughout her career Garden received dozens of awards for her work. Some of her 36 titles include Watersmeet, Endgame, Dove and Sword, Holly’s Secret, The Ghost Inside Me, and The Door Between. Garden explored and mastered every facet of children’s literature: picture books, middle-grade fiction, young adult, and genres from horror to humor to historical. A prolific novelist, she published at least one book every year until 2012. Garden published her first books at age 43 in 1971: What Happened in Marston, about racial violence, and the nonfiction title Berlin: City Split in Two. She later taught school and worked as an editor of children's literature. After originally considering a career in theater, Garden earned her Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the Columbia University School of Dramatic Arts.

As an only child, she credited her parents with instilling in her a love of books and storytelling. “I think kids in every minority need to see people like themselves in books that's an acknowledgment of their existence on this planet and in this society.”

Endgame by nancy garden