Holman, Felice

Felice Holman was born October 24, 1919 in New York City. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1941 and later worked as an advertising copywriter. Felice Holman married Herbert Valen in 1941 and some of the experiences of their daughter Nanine Elisabeth Valen would serve as the model for her first book Elisabeth, The Bird Watcher published in 1963. During the 1960s, she published two more "Elisabeth" stories and wrote some humorous books for children. In 1970, she published her first book for poetry for children At the Top of My Voice. Critics praised the poems for their "originality, humor and point." She continued to write humorous stories for young readers including The Escape of the Giant Hogstalk (1974) that critics called filled "with giggles interspersed with horse laughs all the way." In the 1970s, she also began writing realistic fiction for young adults. Her book Slake's Limbo(1974), the story of a boy who lives in a cave below Grand Central Station was lauded for its "authenticity of detail" and as "remarkably taut" and "convincing." In 1975, she co-wrote The Drac: French Tales of Dragons and Demons, a collection of French legends with her daughter Nanine Valen. Throughout her long and prolific career, Felice Holman has received several honors including a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award best book for young adult's citation and an American Library Association notable book citation for Slake's Limbo in 1978. Biographical Sources: Something About the Author, vol. 82, pp. 104-108; and Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, 3rd ed., pp. 464-465.

From the description of Felice Holman Papers 1962-1986. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 462884720

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