Sylvia Cassedy

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

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

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

Children's and young adult fiction

  • 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

Poetry

  • 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

  • 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

  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.