Levy, Janice

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Levy, Janice

Personal

Married; children: two children. Education: Attended college.

Addresses

Home—Merrick, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Flashlight Press, 3709 13th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11218. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Writer and educator. Has worked as an English-as-a-second-language teacher and a Spanish teacher.

Member

Authors Guild, Authors League of America.

Awards, Honors

Three-time winner of Writer's Digest competition for Best Literary Short Story; Best Foreign Picture Book award (Japan), for Totally Uncool.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

The Spirit of Tío Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story/El espíritu de tío Fernando: una historia de la día de los muertos, Spanish translation by Teresa Mlawer, illustrated by Morella Fuenmayor, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 1995.

Abuelito Eats with His Fingers, illustrated by Layne Johnson, Eakin Press (Austin, TX), 1998.

Totally Uncool, illustrated by Chris Monroe, Carolrhoda Books (Minneapolis, MN), 1999.

The Man Who Lived in a Hat, illustrated by Dave Brown, Hampton Roads (Charlottesville, VA), 2000.

Finding the Right Spot: When Kids Can't Live with Their Parents, illustrated by Whitney Martin, Magination Press (Washington, DC), 2004.

Alley Oops, illustrated by Cynthia Decker, Flashlight Press (Brooklyn, NY), 2005.

Cinco de Mayo: Let's Celebrate Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2007.

Remembering Abuelito, Albert Whitman (Morton Grove, IL), 2007.

Also author of Are We There Yet???, a CD for children. Contributor to periodicals, including Glimmer Train, Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly, Quarterly West, Chatta-hoochee Review, New York Stories, Mid-America Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Hawaii Review, Prism International, Rosebud, and Sun.

Levy's books have been translated into Spanish and Japanese.

Sidelights

"I never wanted to be a writer," Janice Levy explained on her home page. Noting that her big dream while growing up was to play centerfield with the New York Yankees, she admitted she is "still waiting for the call, but in the meantime," she added, writing is, for Levy, "something to keep me busy." She has indeed kept busy, penning books for young readers along with short stories for adults. Her picture book Finding the Right Spot: When Kids Can't Live with Their Parents, narrated by a child whose parents are unable to take care of her due to personal shortcomings, has been featured on the television show Reading Rainbow.

As a former English-as-a-second language and Spanish teacher, Levy draws on her own knowledge of Mexican and Mexican-American culture to write such titles as the bilingual The Spirit of Tío Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story/El espíritu de tío Fernando: una historia de la día de los muertos, and Abuelito Eats with His Fingers. The former explores the Mexican holiday from the point of view of young Nando, who wonders how his late uncle's spirit will seek out and recognize the family. "The warm, well-told story … will be welcomed as a picture book featuring a child's celebration of the Day of the Dead," wrote Booklist reviewer Annie Ayers.

Totally Uncool and Finding the Right Spot help young readers understand what it is like to be part of an unconventional family. In Totally Uncool, the narrator complains about Dad's new girlfriend, but then is able to point out several reasons why the woman is not re-ally that bad. Booklist reviewer GraceAnne A. DeCan-dido complimented Levy's "canny, pitch-perfect child's voice" and considered the tale "a very fine snapshot of a complicated but common family situation." Finding the Right Spot is about what it is like when, for some reason, children cannot live with their own parents and have to be cared for by someone else. The book also features a question-and-answer section written by social workers and psychologists that helps children in similar situations learn to cope.

The universal situation of bullying is the focus of Alley Oops, but with a twist: the story is told from the point of view of the bully rather than the victim. When the bully's father finds out what his son is doing, he has a long talk with the boy, and describes how he used to be a bully himself. Dad encourages his son to stop bullying and instead attempt to befriend the boy who he has tormented. The story "may be useful to help initiate discussion on this important topic," wrote Jennifer Ralston in a review for School Library Journal, while a critic for Small Press Bookwatch considered the book "entertaining and superbly written."

Levy explained her attitude about her writing to Sue Reichard in an online interview for Suite101.com. "As I write for children, I pretend I am a child," she commented. "When I write for adults, I am still a child, I just now have bigger parts." "Writing for kids is like breaking bread (crumbs) with an army of ants, sitting squished between two Samurai wrestlers on a seventeen-hour flight …," the author continued. "Writing for adults is easier; it spreads out like peanut butter, there's more room for my 'stuff.'"

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 1995, Annie Ayres, review of The Spirit of Tío Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story/El espíritu de tío Fernando: una historia de la día de los muertos, p. 565; February 15, 1999, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Totally Uncool, p. 1075.

New York Times Book Review, August 15, 1999, review of Totally Uncool, p. 24.

Publishers Weekly, December 21, 1998, review of Totally Uncool, p. 67; February 5, 2001, review of Totally Uncool, p. 90.

School Library Journal, November, 1995, Maria Redburn, review of The Spirit of Tío Fernando, p. 77; September, 1999, Ruth Semrau, review of Abuelito Eats with His Fingers, p. 192; August, 2005, Jennifer Ralston, review of Alley Oops, p. 99.

Skipping Stones, January-February, 1997, review of The Spirit of Tío Fernando, p. 31.

Small Press Bookwatch, September, 2005, review of Alley Oops.