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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: All Eyes on Alexandra
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Levine, Anna Yaphe
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://annalevine.org
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Israel
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LAST VOLUME: SATA 278
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Montréal, Québec, Canada; immigrated to Israel, c. 1982; married; husband a university professor; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Attended McGill University; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, B.A. and M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Teaches middle school in Mevasseret Zion, Israel, and at Reuben Academy for Music and Dance, Jerusalem, Israel.
AVOCATIONS:Biking and running, reading poetry, exploring archaeological sites, travel.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Authors Guild, Authors League of America.
AWARDS:Books for the Teen Age citation, New York Public Library, 2000, for Running on Eggs; Magazine Merit Award second place, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), 2006, for short story; Magazine Merit Award first place, 2006, for poem; Sydney Taylor Award Honor designation, Association of Jewish Libraries, 2009, for Freefall; Sydney Taylor Award Notable Books for Younger Readers selection, 2009, for Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig; Magazine Merit Award Honor selection, 2009, for short story.
RELIGION: Jewish.WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories and poems to periodicals, including Cicada, Cricket, Spider, and Highlights for Children.
SIDELIGHTS
A Canadian-born writer and educator who now makes her home in Israel, Anna Levine is the author of the young-adult novels Running on Eggs and Freefall as well as of a series of faith-themed picture books that includes Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig. “I am a strong believer of the power that literature can have as a way of crossing cultural and linguistic borders,” Levine told Amy Bowllan in a School Library Journal online interview. “As writers, if we can envision and create worlds in which people co-exist then we can plant the seeds of change.”
Levine immigrated to Israel at the age of twenty, just before the 1982 Lebanon War, and her way of life was radically changed. In an interview on the HarperCollins Web site, she recalled that the kibbutz where she lived “was so close to the border with Lebanon, if we hit a home run, we couldn’t retrieve the ball. My husband, boyfriend then, was called for military duty soon after we met. While he spent the month of August in Lebanon as a medic, I worked with the children on the kibbutz, trying to keep them entertained inside the bomb shelters.” When the Second Lebanon War erupted in 2006, Levine was living in Jerusalem with her husband and two grown sons, both of whom also served their country. “I guess for me writing is a reflection of my personal life,” she told Through the Wardrobe online interviewer Janet Fox. “I have two boys in the army. My husband is a professor at the Hebrew University. My experiences, my life and my family all find their way into my books.”
In her debut novel Running on Eggs, Levine focuses on the relationship between a Jewish girl and her Arab schoolmate. Living on a kibbutz, thirteen-year-old Karen has been raised to distrust the Palestinians who live in a nearby village, but she forms a strong bond with Palestinian Yasmine when they both join the school track team. When Yasmine is forced to leave the squad, the two friends continue to train together in secret, until they are spotted by Yasmine’s suspicious brother. Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, offered praise for Running on Eggs, stating that “Levine knows the place, and she dramatizes the arguments with complexity through Karen’s personal experience.” A Publishers Weekly contributor praised the work as a “realistic story [that] offers a peaceful resolution of its potentially volatile conflicts,” judging Running on Eggs “a timely and sympathetic treatment” of a compelling issue.
In Freefall, a coming-of-age tale, Levine chronicles a young woman’s experiences entering the Israel Defense Forces. Determined to serve in an elite women’s combat unit, eighteen-year-old Abigail Jacobs finds herself challenged physically and mentally by an arduous boot-camp experience in the desert. She then turns to Noah, a fellow soldier and the older brother of her best friend, for support and comfort. A number of critics noted the absence of politics in Freefall, Horn Book contributor Elissa Gershowitz writing that “the characters spend most of their time away from the battlefield.” As Rachel Kamin maintained in her School Library Journal review, Levine’s novel “could easily take place in any war-torn country where military service is a way of life for young people.”
A budding archaeologist is the focus of Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig. When Jodie’s father gives her the opportunity to join him on an excursion to Modi’in, where Judah Maccabee fought against the Syrians, the youngster makes a surprising discovery while investigating a small cave. “Levine provides an intriguing alternative to conventional retellings of the Hanukkah tale,” wrote a contributor in Kirkus Reviews, reviewing the picture book.
In Jodie’s Passover Adventure Jodie’s latest discovery is the ancient underground aqua route mentioned in the Book of Kings. Although she is eager to show Hezekiah’s Tunnel to visiting cousin Zach when he arrives for the family’s Passover picnic, her father reminds her about a special clue to be found at the halfway point. A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that Jodie’s Passover Adventure brings readers along “to a place where the past and the present converge in exciting new ways,” while Heidi Estrin wrote in School Library Journal that, unlike most children’s picture books that give a tour of the Holy Land, Levine’s “in-depth look at a single site is welcome.”
Levine published All Eyes on Alexandra in 2018. Alexandra Crane’s crane family wishes that she would not be so adventurous and prone to break the routine of what is expected of her. When Alexandra indicates that she smells snow, the elder Saba agrees with her assessment and orders the family to undertake their annual migration to Africa with a pit stop in Israel along the way. The crane family starts to prepare for the long flight, preening themselves for the arduous but anticipated journey. Despite Alexandra’s family continuing to fret over her adventurous nature, she repeatedly shows that her curiosity and intelligence are more than helpful for the group’s wellbeing.
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews took note of the “graceful text and exquisite … captivating … artwork” in this “appealing book.” The same reviewer called All Eyes on Alexandra “a good choice before nap time or bedtime or as a complement to units on migration.” Reviewing the book on the Jewish Book Council website, Ellen G. Cole observed that “realistic drawings support the warm dialogue, descriptive text, and scientific information.” Cole said that All Eyes on Alexandra is “recommended for readers age 4 to 7.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2000, Hazel Rochman, review of Running on Eggs, p. 906; November 1, 2008, Kay Weisman, review of Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig, p. 46.
Horn Book, January 1, 2009, Elissa Gershowitz, review of Freefall, p. 95.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2008, review of Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig; January 15, 2012, review of Jodie’s Passover Adventure; June 15, 2018, review of All Eyes on Alexandra.
Kliatt, November 1, 2008, Claire Rosser, review of Freefall, p. 14.
Publishers Weekly, December 20, 1999, review of Running on Eggs, p. 81; February 20, 2012, review of Jodie’s Passover Adventure, p. 171.
School Library Journal, October 1, 2008, Teri Markson, review of Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig, p. 95; January 1, 2009, Rachel Kamin, review of Freefall, p. 108; May 1, 2012, Heidi Estrin, review of Jodie’s Passover Adventure, p. 77.
ONLINE
Anna Levine website, http://www.annalevine.org (October 7, 2014).
HarperCollins Children’s Books website, http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/ (January 1, 2010), interview with Levine.
Jewish Book Council website, https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/ (September 16, 2018), Ellen G. Cole, review of All Eyes on Alexandra.
School Library Journal Online, http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/ (September 29, 2009), Amy Bowllan, “Writers against Racism: Anna Levine.”
Through the Wardrobe blog, http://kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com/ (November 9, 2009), Janet Fox, interview with Levine.
My author photo was taken at the Ramon crater in the Negev, Israel. The crater is 40km long, shaped like a heart and is a great place for a writer to be inspired. I'm smiling now, but the bike ride wasn't easy. My books are all set in Israel and inspired by the people, the land, the culture and climate.
Anna Levine has lived in Israel for more than twenty years, having emigrated there on her own when she was eighteen. She is the mother of two sons—both of whom are serving in the Israeli Army. Aggie's experiences in the novel are partly based on the author's time spent in underground bomb shelters after rockets hit her kibbutz.
Levine, Anna: ALL EYES ON ALEXANDRA
Kirkus Reviews. (June 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Levine, Anna ALL EYES ON ALEXANDRA Kar-Ben (Children's Fiction) $17.99 8, 1 ISBN: 978-1-5124-4439-1
Readers learn some nature facts as they follow intrepid Alexandra Crane and her feathered companions on a migratory trip to Israel.
The art is captivating: representational, tempera-and-colored-pencil images that include a thin stripe of red ink to outline each graceful crane. Every illustration is a beautiful complement to the text, whether showing international city skylines, vivid natural wonders, a brightly painted cable car, or a threatening eagle. The simple plot's protagonist is identifiable from the rest by what appears to be a thin, bright-red ribbon adorning her neck. The text begins with this bold-lettered sentence: "Alexandra Crane had her head in the clouds." Several members of Alexandra's immediate and extended family express concerns over the young female's tendency to favor adventure over regimen. However, right after this discussion, Alexandra sniffs the air and reports that she smells snow. The Crane family cheers when the older Saba Crane agrees that this is the signal for the birds to begin their annual flight to Africa, via Israel. The text uses gentle humor as it describes the flock's preparatory preening. During the trip, family members continue to express concerns over Alexandra's adventurous nature, and her intelligence and curiosity continue to help the flock. The ending, although sweet, is a flat repetition of the oft-repeated theme. Nonetheless, graceful text and exquisite artwork combine to create an appealing book.
A good choice before nap time or bedtime or as a complement to units on migration. (author's note about Israel's Hula Valley) (Picture book. 3-6)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Levine, Anna: ALL EYES ON ALEXANDRA." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A543008978/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=edebe984. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A543008978