Ilene Cooper facts for kids

Ilene Cooper (born March 10, 1948) is an American author and reviewer of books for young people. She has written many popular children's books and helps decide which books are best for kids to read.

Early Life and Education

Ilene Cooper was born in Chicago, a big city in the United States. She went to Sullivan High School there. After high school, she studied radio and television at the Missouri School of Journalism. This is where people learn how to work in news and entertainment.

After working at a TV station called WGN-TV for several years, Ilene decided to go back to school. She attended Rosary College and earned a special degree called a Master of Science in Library Science. This degree helped her become an expert in libraries and books.

Career Highlights

Ilene Cooper started her career as a children's librarian at the Winnetka Public Library. This means she helped kids find exciting books to read and organized library events for them.

Today, she is the children's books editor at a magazine called Booklist. This magazine helps librarians and teachers choose good books for their collections. Ilene reads many new books and decides which ones are worth recommending. She has also written many of her own children's books. Some of her books talk about important ideas like fairness for everyone and how governments work.

Mentoring Young Authors

Ilene Cooper is known for helping new writers. For example, the famous author John Green worked at Booklist in the mid-2000s. Ilene was his mentor, which means she guided and advised him.

Before John Green's book Looking for Alaska was published, he shared a draft with Ilene. She remembered thinking that "He had a voice you could tell was quite original." This meant she could tell he had a unique way of writing. She decided to work with him and has even called herself his "fairy godmother" because she helped him so much. Looking for Alaska later won a big award called the Michael L. Printz Award.

Awards and Recognition

Ilene Cooper has won several awards for her work. In 2002–2003, she received a National Jewish Book Award for her book Jewish Holidays All Year Round. This award recognized her excellent writing in children's literature.

In 2007, she won the Illinois Reading Council Prairie State Award for Excellence in Writing for Children. This award celebrates authors who write outstanding books for young readers in Illinois.