Ilene Cooper (born March 10, 1948) is an American author and reviewer of children's books.

Early life and education

Cooper was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she graduated from Sullivan High School. She later attended the

Missouri School of Journalism The Missouri School of Journalism, housed under the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, Columbia, is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in of journalis ...

, where she majored in radio and television. After working at

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

for several years, she enrolled in

Rosary College Dominican University (DU), known from 1922 to 1997 as Rosary College, is a private Catholic university in River Forest, Illinois, United States. Affiliated with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees, certific ...

, where she received her

Master of Science in Library Science The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) is the master's degree that combines two interdisciplinary academic disciplines. Library science is applied information science and a subfield of information science. This degree focuses on inf ...

Career

Cooper began her career as a children's librarian at the Winnetka Public Library. She is the children's books editor at the book review magazine ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

''. She has also written numerous children's books about feminism and politics. In the mid-2000s,

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

was working at ''Booklist'', where he was mentored by Cooper, when his book ''

Looking for Alaska ''Looking for Alaska'' is a 2005 Young adult literature, young adult novel by American author John Green. Based on his time at the private Indian Springs School, Green wrote the novel in order to create meaningful young adult fiction. While he d ...

'' won the

Michael L. Printz Award The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by ''Booklist'' magazine; administered by the ALA's ...

. During this time, Green gave a draft copy of ''Looking for Alaska'' to Cooper, before the book was published; Cooper later recalled that after reading this draft, she thought that "He had a voice you could tell was quite original," and decided she would work with him. She has also described herself as Green's "fairy godmother". In 2002–2003, Cooper won a

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

in the Children Literature category for ''Jewish Holidays All Year Round''. In 2007, she won the

Illinois Reading Council Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash and Ohio rivers to its south. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-la ...

Prairie State Award for Excellence in Writing for Children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Ilene 1948 births Living people 21st-century American librarians 21st-century American women librarians American children's writers Writers from Chicago University of Missouri alumni Rosary College alumni American librarians