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Books Absolutely Lucy, The Golden Rule, Lucy on the Loose, Look at Lucy!, A Woman in the House (a Similar Gabi Swiatkowska, Tanya Lee Stone, Marc Aronson, Ellen Levine, Wilborn Hampton | ||
Ilene Cooper (born March 10, 1948) is an American author and reviewer of children's books.
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Early life and education
Cooper was born in Chicago, where she graduated from Sullivan High School. She later attended the Missouri School of Journalism, where she majored in radio and television. After working at WGN-TV for several years, she enrolled in Rosary College, where she received her Master of Science in Library Science.
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. She has also written numerous children's books about feminism and politics. In the mid-2000s, when his book Looking for Alaska won the Michael L. Printz Award, John Green was working at Booklist, where he was mentored by Cooper. 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". Cooper has also said that while she was working with Green, “He was a horrible slob, and he didn’t do his job all that well." In 2007, she won the Prairie State Award from the Illinois Reading Council.