Mazer, Harry 1925-

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MAZER, Harry 1925-

PERSONAL: Born May 31, 1925, in New York, NY; son of Sam (a dressmaker) and Rose (a dressmaker; maiden name, Lazeunick) Mazer; married Norma Fox (a novelist), February 12, 1950; children: Anne, Joseph, Susan, Gina. Education: Union College, B.A., 1948; Syracuse University, M.A., 1960.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—Brown Gulf Rd., Jamesville, NY 13078. Agent—Marilyn Marlow, Curtis Brown Ltd., Ten Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Railroad brake man and switchtender for New York Central, 1950-55; New York Construction, Syracuse, NY, sheet metal worker, 1957-59; Central Square School, Central Square, NY, teacher of English, 1959-60; Aerofin Corp., Syracuse, welder, 1960-63; full-time writer, 1963—. Military service: U.S. Army Air Forces, 1943-45; became sergeant; received Purple Heart and Air Medal.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Society of Children's Book Writers, American Civil Liberties Union.

AWARDS, HONORS: Kirkus Reviews Choice list, 1974, for The Dollar Man; Children's Choice list, International Reading Association, 1977, for The Solid Gold Kid; Best Books for Young Adults list, American Library Association (ALA), 1977 (with Norma Fox Mazer), for The Solid Gold Kid, 1978, for The War on Villa Street, 1979, for The Last Mission, 1981, for I Love You, Stupid!, 1986, for When the Phone Rang, and 1987, for The Girl of His Dreams; Dorothy Canfield

Fisher Children's Book Award nomination, 1979, for The War on Villa Street; New York Times Best Books of the Year list, 1979, and ALA Best of the Best Books list, 1970-83, both for The Last Mission; New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list, 1980, for The Last Mission, 1986, for Hey Kid! Does She Love Me?, 1988, for The Girl of His Dreams, and 1989, for Heartbeat; Booklist Contemporary Classics list, 1984, and German "Preis der Lesseratten," both for Snowbound; Arizona Young Readers Award nomination, 1985, for The Island Keeper; Iowa Teen Award Master List, 1988, for When the Phone Rang; Books for Reluctant Readers, ALA, 1988, for The Girl of His Dreams, and 1989, for City Light; West Australian Young Reader's Book Award, Australian Library and Information Association, 1989, for When the Phone Rang; Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, ALA, 1998, for Twelve Shots: Outstanding Stories about Guns; Best Books, School Library Journal, 1998, and Fanfare list, Horn Book, 1999, both for The Wild Kid.

WRITINGS:

young adult novels

Guy Lenny, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1971, reprinted, Avon (New York, NY), 1988.

Snow Bound, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1973.

The Dollar Man, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1974.

(With wife, Norma Fox Mazer) The Solid Gold Kid, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1977.

The War on Villa Street, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1978.

The Last Mission, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1979.

The Island Keeper: A Tale of Courage and Survival, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1981.

I Love You, Stupid!, Crowell Junior Books (New York, NY), 1981.

When the Phone Rang, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1985.

Hey Kid! Does She Love Me?, Crowell Junior Books (New York, NY), 1985.

Cave under the City, Crowell Junior Books (New York, NY), 1986.

The Girl of His Dreams, Crowell Junior Books (New York, NY), 1987.

City Lights, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1988.

(With Norma Fox Mazer) Heartbeat, Bantam (New York, NY), 1989.

Someone's Mother Is Missing, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Norma Fox Mazer) Bright Days, Stupid Nights, Bantam (New York, NY), 1992.

Who Is Eddie Leonard?, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1993.

The Dog in the Freezer: Three Novellas, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

The Wild Kid, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

other

(Editor) Twelve Shots: Outstanding Short Stories about Guns, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1997.

Also contributor to Speaking for Ourselves: Autobiographical Sketches by Notable Authors of Books for Young Adults, Volume 1, compiled and edited by Donald R. Gallo, National Council of Teachers of English (Urbana, IL), 1990.

ADAPTATIONS: Snow Bound was filmed as an NBC After School Special in 1978.

SIDELIGHTS: "Harry Mazer writes about young people caught in the midst of moral crises, often of their own making," asserted Kenneth L. Donelson in Voice of Youth Advocates. "Searching for a way out, they discover themselves, or rather they learn that the first step in extricating themselves from their physical and moral dilemmas is self-discovery. Intensely moral as Mazer's books are," the critic continued, "they present young people thinking and talking and acting believably," a characteristic which accounts for Mazer's popularity. In The Girl of His Dreams, for example, Mazer relates the romance of two ordinary young adults with "a credibility apart from its fairytale ending," commented Marianne Gingher in the Los Angeles Times, a credibility due to the "dimensional characters." Although "contrivances abound," the critic believed that "the happy ending feels earned. Harry Mazer writes deftly about the nature of adolescent yearning, both from a boy's and girl's perspective." And Snow Bound, the tale of two mismatched teens who are caught unprepared in a New York blizzard and must cooperate to survive, has a similar appeal. New York Times Book Review contributor Cathleen Burns Elmer noted that "occasionally a plot turn seems contrived," but she admitted that the book has a "capacity to enthrall [that] lies in the mature reader's willingness to suspend disbelief. Snow Bound is a crackling tale; Mazer tells it with vigor and authority."

The Dollar Man presents another "average" youth in uncommon circumstances; Marcus Rosenbloom is overweight, prone to daydreaming, and obsessed with finding out the identity of his father, about whom his single mother refuses to speak. "The idea is not novel, or even presented with extraordinary subtlety or style," observed Tobi Tobias in the New York Times Book Review, "but there is such charged energy in Mazer's work and Marcus is such an authentic person that you care, very much, what happens." "Not incidentally," a Kirkus Reviewer writer remarked, "this is an outstandingly empathetic and realistic study of … a food addict and, moreover, a sensitive interior view—undistorted by the self-discounting sarcasm that has become a narrative cliche—of the kind of kid who is usually shoved into the background … but who in this case deserves the front and center attention Mazer accords him." The result, concluded the critic, is "a rare combination—uncompromising yet ever so easy to connect with." Mazer brings his life experience to the keyboard when he writes. According to one biographer, "The halls and the stairs were Mazer's playground, and he grew up between two worlds—the park and the street—both of which he would later use in his novels."

The Last Mission, based in part on Mazer's experiences in World War II, "represents an amazing leap in writing, far surpassing anything [the author] had written before," claimed Donelson. Fifteen-year-old Jack Raab is Jewish and so desperate to fight against Hitler that he borrows his older brother's identification to enlist in the Army Air Forces. Jack is trained as a gunner, and he and his fellow crew members fly out of England on over twenty missions before being hit by enemy fire; Jack bails out and is the only one to survive—but he ends up a German prisoner of war. While war stories form a much-explored genre, Paxton Davis felt The Last Mission stands out; as he detailed in the New York Times Book Review, the force of Mazer's novel "lies less with details of Air Force training and service … than with the emotional substance upon which the experience depends. For Jack Raab is no mere author's pawn," the critic explained. "The reader feels his shock and grief at losing his friends, suffers with him the doubts and apprehensions that being a Jewish prisoner inevitably raise, and especially, experiences with him the bewildering mixture of relief and repugnance that comes with returning to civilian life."

A Kirkus Reviews writer, however, believed that "despite Mazer's evident and convincing first-hand acquaintance with the material," the novel is a "reduction of a genre that is best met at full strength." Donelson, on the other hand, asserted that The Last Mission "conveys better than any other young adult novel, and better than most adult novels, the feeling of war and the desolation it leaves behind…. This book is a remarkable achievement, both for its theme and its portrait of a young man who searches and acts and finds the search futile and the actions incoherent." As Davis concluded, "Mazer is a prize-winning writer for young people. No wonder."

In Someone's Mother's Missing, Mazer tells the story of Lisa Allen, a young girl whose world falls apart when her father passes away. Her mother cannot cope with the void and the mountain of bills he left behind, so she leaves Lisa. A Publishers Weekly reviewer criticized this book and felt that its "overly brief and choppy chapters omit many details and preclude examination of the characters' motives or the impact the events have on their lives." Mazer tells the tale of another troubled teen in Who Is Eddie Leonard? Eddie, a teenage boy, shows up at the home of a family whose son has been missing for years. He claims to be their son, but they never quite trust him or believe his assertions. The father eventually locates the boy's birth certificate, proving that he is not their son. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed, "Mazer does a better job with internal monologue than with dialogue," but added that "the character does work" in spite of this flaw. The same reviewer felt that Eddie is "a metaphor for the alienation that many teenagers feel" and that readers may "appreciate the unsentimental treatment of the main character, who is far from perfect and far from innocent."

Mazer's disturbance about the accessibility of guns among today's youth led to the compilation of Twelve Shots: Outstanding Short Stories about Guns. Mazer invited young people to write stories about the way guns are present in people's lives. "The result is a varied, involving collection with stories by familiar writers such as Walter Dean Meters, Chris Lynch, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Richard Peck," observed Helen Rosenberg in Booklist. Rosenberg also noted, "Some stories are serious and subtly antigun, others are hilarious."

A twelve-year-old boy with Down's syndrome narrates The Wild Kid. When Sammy gets lost in the woods, he is kidnapped by Kevin, a juvenile delinquent. Kitty Flynn in Horn Book described the book as both "harrowing and touching." She added that "Mazer manages to portray both the victim and the victimizer as sympathetic." Kevin finally makes an anonymous call to the police and then disappears back into the woods. Booklist's John Peters remarked, "Kevin's sudden disappearance makes a stimulating loose end that may, paradoxically, strengthen readers' responses to this survival-story-with-a-difference."

Mazer once told CA:"I felt—I've always felt—that I write and even speak with difficulty. I think I am a writer not because this was something I did well—an inborn talent—but for the opposite reason, because I did it so poorly. I was like the child suffering from polio who determines to become a runner.

"Everything I've done as a writer I've done despite the feeling that I have no natural talent. I've never felt articulate or fluent, rarely felt that flow of language. When I think of the origins of these feelings, I wonder if this may be physical, some form of dyslexia. My mother, despite strenuous efforts, never learned to read or write with fluency and my brother seemed to have the same problem in school."

The author added: "When I started writing I had no idea I would find myself writing for young readers. My agent suggested I do something in this area, and I discovered that I liked writing about this time of life. Adolescence for me was so intense, so filled with joy, pain, expectations, hope, despair, energy, that though those years are far behind me they remain real to me, and have a vividness and clarity that events much closer to me in time do not have. To my surprise I discovered a thirteen-year-old voice inside me.

"In writing for the young you can't allow yourself the diversions, the long descriptions, philosophical ruminations, endless dialogues of other fictions. You have to rivet the interest of your reader rapidly. I don't expect my reader to be any more patient than I am.

"A greater danger, though, is to oversimplify, to write down, to fudge on emotion, and development, and the realistic working out of the story. Good children's fiction is finally no different than good adult fiction. It needs fully shaped characters, conflict, and development. It has form, a beginning, middle and end.

"I'm interested in character, in those parts of people that are hidden, misunderstood, areas of deprivation, longing, separation and isolation. I write out of the memory of those feelings in myself. When I feel the conflict in the character, the disparate feelings, then I begin to feel the truth of the character, the inner tension, the opposing emotions, that inform the book as well."

For an earlier published interview, see entry in Contemporary Authors, Volume 97-100.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Butler, Francelia, editor, Children's Literature Review, Volume 4, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1975, p. 206.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 16, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.

Lystad, Mary, Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1994.

Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Kenneth L. Donelson, Literature for Today's Young Adults, Scott, Foresman (Glenview, IL), 1985.

Reed, Arthea J. S., Presenting Harry Mazer, Twayne (New York, NY), 1996.

Something about the Author Autobiography Series, Volume 11, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1991.

periodicals

Booklist, January 15, 1992, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 933; November 15, 1991, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 74; June 15, 1992, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Bright Days, Stupid Nights, p. 1826; October 1, 1992, review of Cave under the City, p. 341; November 15, 1993, Chris Sherman, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 614; March 15, 1994, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 1358; April 15, 1994, audio book review of The Last Mission, p. 1548; March 15, 1997, Ilene Cooper, review of The Dog in the Freezer: Three Novellas, p. 1236; August, 1997, Helen Rosenberg, review of Twelve Shots: Outstanding Short Stories about Guns, p. 1899; August, 1998, John Peters, review of The Wild Kid, p. 2007; April 1, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor, p. 1481.

Book Report, November-December, 1989, Mary I. Purucker, review of Heartbeat, p. 45; March-April, 1991, Catherine M. Andronik, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 45; January-February, 1993, Rebecca A. T. Neuhedel, review of Bright Days, Stupid Nights, p. 48; May-June, 1994, Theresa Snow, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 45; September-October, 1997, Mary R. Oran, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 44; September-October, 1997, Judith M. Garner, review of Presenting Harry Mazer, p. 65.

Books for Keeps, November, 1992, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 25.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 1997, Elizabeth Bush, review of Twelve Shots, p. 61; March 15, 1998, review of Twelve Shots, p. 1226; November, 1998, review of The Wild Kid, p. 108.

Catholic Library World, September, 1999, review of Twelve Shots, p. 29.

Children's Book Review Service, November, 1997, review of Twelve Shots, p. 36; September, 1998, review of The Wild Kid, p. 11.

Children's Bookwatch, March, 1991, p. 3; March, 1994, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 3.

Emergency Librarian, May, 1997, review of The Last Mission, p. 10; November, 1997, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 51; January, 1998, review of Twelve Shots, p. 50.

English Journal, May, 1980, Alleen Pace Nilsen, review of The Last Mission, p. 93; November, 1980, G. Robert Carlsen, review of The Last Mission, p. 88; April, 1982, Dick Abrahamson, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 81; February, 1994, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 81; December 1996, John W. Conner and Kathleen M. Tessmer, review of When the Phone Rang, p. 60; February, 1988, Judith M. Beckman and Elizabeth A. Belden, review of The Girl of His Dreams, p. 85; November, 1992, Tom Romano, "Authors' Insights: Turning Teenagers into Readers and Writers," p. 96; February, 1997, "Mazers Share Life, Writing with ALAN Breakfast Audience," p. 100.

Horn Book, February, 1980, Paul Heins, review of The Last Mission, p. 63; June, 1981, Ann A. Flowers, review of The Island Keeper, p. 311; February, 1982, Karen M. Klockner, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 53; March-April, 1987, Hanna B. Zeiger, review of Cave under the City, p. 211; March-April, 1988, Margaret A. Bush, review of The Girl of his Dreams, p. 209; July-August, 1988, Nancy Vasilakis, review of City Lights, p. 502; September-October, 1998, Kitty Flynn, review of The Wild Kid, p. 611; September-October, 1989, Nancy Vasilakis, review of Heartbeat, p. 630.

Horn Book Guide, spring, 1994, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 88; spring, 1998, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 77; spring, 1998, review of Twelve Shots, p. 158; spring, 1999, review of The Wild Kid, p. 71; fall 2001, review of A Boy at War p. 324.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, May, 1997, review of When the Phone Rang, p. 669; December, 1997, review of Twelve Shots, p. 321.

Junior Bookshelf, February, 1992, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 39.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1974; January 1, 1980; May 15, 1985; September 15, 1985; December 1, 1993, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 1526; March 15, 1997, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 466; July 1, 1997, review of Twelve Shots, p. 1033; July 15, 1998, review of The Wild Kid, p. 1038; April 15, 2001, review of A Boy at War, p. 589.

Kliatt, November, 1992, audio book review of The Last Mission, p. 58; July, 1995, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 9; November, 1998, review of Twelve Shots, p. 22; April 1, 2001, review of A Boy at War, p. 12.

Los Angeles Times, March 12, 1988, Marianne Gingher, "A Boy Who Runs Meets a Girl Anxious to Catch Up"; June 10, 2001, review of A Boy at War p. 16.

New Statesman and Society, February 23, 1990, John Yandell, review of The Girl of his Dreams, p. 35.

New York Times, March 15, 1981, review of The Last Mission, p. 35; September 13, 1981, Feenie Ziner, review of The Island Keeper, p. 50; November 15, 1981, Paxton Davis, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 69; July 18, 1982, review of The Island Keeper, p. 27.

New York Times Book Review, August 12, 1973, Cathleen Burns Elmer, review of Snow Bound, p. 8; August 12, 1973, review of A Boy at War, p. 24; November 17, 1974; December 2, 1979, Paxton Davis, review of The Last Mission, p. 41; March 15, 1981, review of The Last Mission, p. 86; September 13, 1981, Feenie Ziner, review of The Island Keeper, p. 50; November 15, 1981, Paxton Davis, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 69; July 18, 1982, review of The Island Keeper, p. 27; June 1, 1997, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 36.

Publishers Weekly, May 31, 1985, review of Hey Kid! Does She Love Me? p. 57; November 1, 1985, review of When the Phone Rang, p. 65; December 12, 1986, Diane Roback, review of Cave under the City, p. 56; August 14, 1987, Diane Roback, review of The Girl of His Dreams, p. 232; March 18, 1988, Kimberly Olson Fakih and Diane Roback, review of City Lights, p. 89; May 19, 1989, Kimberly Olson Fakih and Diane Roback review of Heartbeat, p. 86; August 10, 1990, Diane Roback, Richard Donahue, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 446; June 22, 1992, review of Bright Days, Stupid Nights, p. 63; November 8, 1993, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 79; July, 1995, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 9; February 10, 1997, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 84; August 17, 1998, review of The Wild Kid, p. 73; May 7, 2001, review of A Boy at War, p. 247.

School Librarian, November, 1991, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 153.

School Library Journal, December, 1978, Robert Unsworth, review of The War on Villa Street, p. 62; April, 1981, Lorraine Douglas, review of The Island Keeper, p. 142; October, 1981, Kay Webb O'Connell, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 152; August, 1983, review of I Love You, Stupid!, p. 485; November, 1985, Cynthia K. Leibold, review of When the Phone Rang, p. 100; December, 1986, Christine Behrmann, review of Cave under the City, pp. 105-106; January, 1988, Libby K. White, review of The Girl of his Dreams, p. 86; May, 1988, Robert E. Unsworth, review of City Lights, p. 110; October, 1988, Carol A. Edwards, review of The Wild Kid, p. 140; June, 1989, Trish Ebbatson, review of Heartbeat, p. 124; September, 1980; September, 1990, Kathryn Harris, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 255; April, 1992, Carolyn Noah, review of Cave under the City, p. 42; July, 1992, Cindy Darling Codell, review of Bright Days, Stupid Nights, p. 90; July, 1997, Darcy Schild, review of The Dog in the Freezer, p. 96; November, 1993, Lucinda Snyder White-hurst, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 125; September, 1997, Tom S. Hurlburt, review of Twelve Shots, p. 221; December, 1998, review of The Wild Kid, p. 26; May, 2001, William McLoughlin, review of A Boy at War, p. 156.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 1983, Kenneth L. Donelson, "Searchers and Doers: Heroes in Five Harry Mazer Novels," pp. 19-21; October, 1984; February, 1991, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 354; February, 1992, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 408; December, 1993, review of City Lights, p. 278; April, 1994, Ruth E. Dishnow, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 29; June, 1994, review of Who Is Eddie Leonard?, p. 72; August, 1997, review of Twelve Shots, p. 190; April, 1998, review of Twelve Shots, p. 40; February, 1999, review of The Wild Kid, p. 437; June, 2001, review of A Boy at War p. 124; February, 2002, review of A Boy at War, p. 409.

Washington Post Book World, July 10, 1977.

Wilson Library Bulletin, March, 1985, Patty Campbell, review of Hey Kid! Does She Love Me?, p. 485; February, 1986, Patty Campbell, review of When the Phone Rang, p. 46; November, 1986, Patty Campbell, review of Cave under the City, p. 50; October, 1988, Cathi MacRae, review of City Lights, p. 80; September, 1989, Jeff Blair, review of Heartbeat, p. S8; May, 1991, review of Someone's Mother Is Missing, p. 65.