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Sylvia Cassedy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sylvia Cassedy
Born(1930-01-29)January 29, 1930
Brooklyn, NY
DiedApril 6, 1989(1989-04-06) (aged 59)
Manhasset, NY
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrooklyn College
GenreChildren's and young adult fiction

Sylvia Cassedy (January 29, 1930 – April 6, 1989) was an American novelist and poet, who is best known for her children's and young adult fiction.

Life

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Cassedy was born January 29, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York.[1] She graduated from Brooklyn College, and worked as a primary and secondary school teacher.[2]

Cassedy is known for her young adult novels.[1][2][3] Her three novels Behind the Attic Wall, M.E. and Morton, and Lucie Babbidge's House feature preadolescent girls as protagonists, who use fantasy and play to improve their circumstances.[2][4]

Besides her young adult novels, Cassedy wrote two volumes of poetry. She translated collections of poems from India and from Japan. Based on her teaching experience, she wrote a guide to creative writing In Your Own Words: a Beginner's Guide to Writing.[2]

Cassedy died April 6, 1989, in Manhasset, NY.[1] Her collected papers are held by the University of Minnesota.[5]

Awards

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Cassedy's book Lucie Babbidge's House was named an honor book (runner-up) for the Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association in 2009.[6]

Selected works

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Children's and young adult fiction

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  • Behind the Attic Wall (HarperCollins, 1985). ISBN 0380698439[7]
  • M.E. and Morton (HarperCollins, 1987). ISBN 069004562X[8]
  • Lucie Babbidge's House (HarperCollins, 1989). ISBN 038071812X[9]
  • The Best Cat Suit of All (Dial Books, 1991). Illustrated by Rosekrans Hoffman. ISBN 0803705166[10]

Instructional

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Poetry

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  • Roomrimes: Poems (Crowell, 1987). Illustrated by Michele Chessare. ISBN 0690044666[12]
  • Zoomrimes: Poems about Things that Go (HarperCollins, 1993). Illustrated by Michele Chessare. ISBN 0060226331[13]

Translation

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  • Red Dragonfly on my Shoulder, with Kunihiro Suetake (HarperCollins, 1992). Illustrated by Molly Bang. ISBN 0060226242[14]
    Revised and retitled from Birds, Frogs, and Moonlight by the same authors (Doubleday, 1967). Illustrated by Vo-Dinh.[2]
  • Moon-Uncle, Moon-Uncle, with Parvathi Thampi (Doubleday, 1972). Illustrated by Susanne Suba. ISBN 0385029632[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Cullinan, Bernice; Person, Diane, eds. (2005). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. New York: Continuum. p. 153. ISBN 0-8264-1778-7. OCLC 182537410.
  2. ^ a b c d e Silvey, Anita (1995). Children's Books and Their Creators. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 124–125. ISBN 0-395-65380-0. OCLC 32704771.
  3. ^ Townsend, John (1996). Written for Children: an Outline of English-Language Children's Literature. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press. pp. 270–271. ISBN 1-4617-3104-6. OCLC 820843482.
  4. ^ Wolf, Virginia (1990). "Playing and Reality in Sylvia Cassedy's Novels". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 1990 (1): 51–54. doi:10.1353/chq.1990.0004. ISSN 1553-1201. S2CID 143596768.
  5. ^ "Silvia Cassedy Papers". University of Minnesota Libraries. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  6. ^ "Phoenix Award". Children's Literature Association. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  7. ^ Reviews of Behind the Attic Wall:
  8. ^ "M.E. and Morton (Review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  9. ^ "Lucie Babbidge's House (Review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Reviews of The Best Cat Suit of All:
  11. ^ "In Your Own Words: A Beginner's Guide to Writing (Review)". Kirkus. August 1, 1979. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  12. ^ "Roomrimes: Poems (Review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  13. ^ "Zoomrimes: Poems about Things that Go (Review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  14. ^ Reviews of Red Dragonfly on my Shoulder:
  15. ^ "Moon-Uncle, Moon-Uncle: Rhymes from India (Review)". Kirkus. January 1, 1972. Retrieved October 3, 2021.