“Encourage children to write their
own stories, and then don't rain on their parade. Don't say, 'That's not true.'
Applaud flights of fantasy. Help with spelling and grammar, but stand up and
cheer the use of imagination.”
-- Gail Carson Levine
Author of 20 young adult books,
Levine’s very first novel, Ella Enchanted, received a Newbery Honor in
1998, but she was no “overnight success.”
Born this day in 1947, Levine grew
up in New York City and credits her parents David and Sylvia for her creative
streak. Her father, whose childhood in an orphanage provided inspiration for
her story Dave at Night, owned a commercial art studio, and her mother
was a teacher who wrote plays for her students to perform. Her older sister,
Rani, her senior by five years, became a painter.
As a child, Levine read avidly; her
favorite book was Peter Pan and she
also enjoyed the works of Louisa May Alcott and L. M. Montgomery. “I actually
didn’t want to be a writer,” she said.
“First I wanted to act, and then I wanted to be a painter like my big
sister.”
But, after taking a class in writing
and illustrating for children, Levine discovered that she enjoyed writing far
more than illustrating. She began
writing in 1987, but over the next nine years, all of her manuscripts were
rejected. A great poster
child for perserverance, she took more writing classes and joined writer's
groups, ultimately getting Ella
accepted. And she was on her writing
way. Her latest book, Stolen Magic, was just released.
Reflecting on her early writing and
being rejected experiences, Levine says "those years were actually some of
my happiest, because I was learning to write."
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