Author. A writer of both fiction and nonfiction children’s books, she received a 1986 Newbery Honor for her work “Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun” (1985). Born into a Jewish family, she was raised in Brooklyn and received her Bachelor of Arts from Adelphi University. She began her career as a freelance writer with CBS and NBC Radio and later worked as a talent scout with Simon and Schuster Publications. After marrying in 1945, she spent the next two decades raising her family, prior to returning to Simon and Schuster as an executive editor during the mid 1970s. In 1975, she published her first children’s novel “Firefighters” and went on to pen more than two dozen books. (bio by: C.S.)