Sylvia Cassedy (January 29, 1930 – April 6, 1989) was an American novelist and poet, who is best known for her

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

and

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

Life

Cassedy was born January 29, 1930, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She graduated from Brooklyn College, and worked as a primary and secondary school teacher. Cassedy is known for her young adult novels. 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. 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''. Cassedy died April 6, 1989, in

Manhasset, NY Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 a ...

. Her collected papers are held by the University of Minnesota.

Awards

Cassedy's book ''Lucie Babbidge's House'' was named an honor book (runner-up) for the

Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the boo ...

of the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman ...

in 2009.

Selected works

Children's and young adult fiction

* '' Behind the Attic Wall'' (HarperCollins, 1985). * ''M.E. and Morton'' (HarperCollins, 1987). * ''Lucie Babbidge's House'' (HarperCollins, 1989). * ''The Best Cat Suit of All'' (Dial Books, 1991). Illustrated by Rosekrans Hoffman.

Instructional

* ''In Your Own Words: A Beginner's Guide to Writing'' (Doubleday, 1979).

Poetry

* ''Roomrimes: Poems'' (Crowell, 1987). Illustrated by Michele Chessare. * ''Zoomrimes: Poems about Things that Go'' (HarperCollins, 1993). Illustrated by Michele Chessare.

Translation

* ''Red Dragonfly on my Shoulder'', with Kunihiro Suetake (HarperCollins, 1992). Illustrated by

Molly Bang Molly Garrett Bang (born December 29, 1943) is an American illustrator. For her illustration of children's books she has been a runner-up for the American Caldecott Medal three times and for the British Greenaway Medal once. Announced June 2015, ...

.
Revised and retitled from ''Birds, Frogs, and Moonlight'' by the same authors (Doubleday, 1967). Illustrated by Vo-Dinh. * ''Moon-Uncle, Moon-Uncle'', with Parvathi Thampi (Doubleday, 1972). Illustrated by

Susanne Suba Susanne Suba (1913–2012) was a Hungarian-born watercolorist and illustrator, active in the United States. Early life Suba was born ''Zsuzsanna Suba'' in Budapest, Hungary, on December 13, 1913, to May Edwards Suba, a pianist of Brooklyn, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassedy, Sylvia 1930 births 1989 deaths American women children's writers American children's writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers Writers from Brooklyn Brooklyn College alumni