NEW YORK—Ellen Levine, a prolific and highly regarded author and activist whose children's books told stories of slaves, immigrants and the fight for social justice, has died. She was 73.
Levine died May 26 in New York after being diagnosed with lung cancer 19 months earlier, according to Scholastic Inc. Her beloved spouse and partner of 40 years, Anne Koedt, whom she married last fall, was at her side.
She was the author of fiction and non-fiction for children, young readers and adults that focused on important social issues and historical periods. Her rigorous research and devotion to accuracy made her stories compelling.
Her books included "Henry's Freedom Box," the true story of a slave who mailed himself to freedom; "Darkness Over Denmark" details the rescue of Jews by the Danes in World War II; "A Fence Away from Freedom" details the internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s; "Freedom's Children, a profile of young black civil rights activists in the 1960s; "I Hate English," about a Chinese girl struggling to learn English, has become a resource for ESL teachers. Her most recent novel, "In Trouble," the story of two pregnant girls in the l950's, reflects her profound belief that the right to choose abortion is an individual choice, and that whatever one's ultimate decision, it must be viewed with compassion and respect.
She also worked on documentaries for CBS television. A native of New York, she was an undergraduate at Brandeis University and received a law degree from New York University.