Albert, Louise 1928-

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ALBERT, Louise 1928-

Personal

Born May 20, 1928, in White Plains, NY; daughter of Benjamin Leopold (an electrical engineer) and Esther (a psychotherapist and writer; maiden name, Pfeffer) Spitzer; married Floyd Albert (a manufacturer of dental education aids), April 15, 1951; children: Elizabeth, David, Alice. Education: Cornell University, B.A. (honors), 1949; University of Michigan, M.A., 1950. Politics: "Liberal/Radical–if that means anything." Hobbies and other interests: Reading (adult and juvenile fiction), music.

Addresses

Home— 35 Park Rd., Scarsdale, NY 10583. Agent— Richard Huttner, 330 East 33rd St., New York, NY 10016.

Career

Elementary school teacher in Poughkeepsie, NY, 1950-52, and White Plains, NY 1952-53; private remedial reading teacher, 1953-60; writer, 1968—.

Member

Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Phi Beta Kappa.

Writings

But I'm Ready to Go, Bradbury Press (Scarsdale, NY), 1976.

Less than Perfect, Holiday House (New York, NY), 2003.

Sidelights

Louise Albert is the author of the novels But I'm Ready to Go and, more recently, Less than Perfect, the latter a story about a fifteen-year-old girl named Laura Gould, who is attempting to deal with her mother's diagnosis of breast cancer while also starting a new romantic relationship with a neighborhood boy. School Library Journal reviewer Roxanne Myers Spencer commented that in her story of how tragedy affects a well-to-do suburban New York family "Albert creates believable situations, and . . . portrays typical adolescent reactions realistically." While noting that the character of Laura did not seem altogether believable, Spencer went on to praise the novel for treating a serious family illness "candidly and sensitively." More impressed with the novel was a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who wrote of Less than Perfect that, "With great insight, the author develops Laura's fear and suppressed anger as her mother undergoes a mastectomy, and readers who have shared some of Laura's experiences are likeliest to appreciate Albert's knowing portrayal."

Albert once told Something about the Author: "I write out of my own experience and deep emotional needs. Although [I write] . . . fiction with characters and events made up, . . . my imagination, so far, is fueled by the deepest and most tragic parts of my life. . . . Writing helps me, and I hope others, learn to accept and understand and go beyond these things in life."