Beatrice Ruby Mathews McKnight (January 15, 1917 – May 25, 2012) was a Mormon youth counselor, author, and serial con artist, known primarily for producing books purporting to be the "real diaries" of troubled teenagers.
The books deal with topical issues such as drug abuse, Satanism, teenage pregnancy, and AIDS, and are presented as cautionary tales.
[4] Critics have questioned Sparks's qualifications and experience,[5] and researchers have been unable to find a record of the Ph.D. she claimed on book jackets and in her resume.
[5] Sparks claimed that her experiences working with troubled adolescents made her want to produce cautionary tales that would keep other teens from falling into the same traps.
[1][5] Sparks was unable to produce the original diary for critics,[8] and investigator Alleen Pace Nelson publicly questioned the book's veracity and verifiability.
Other names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.