No Age Limits On Creativity

“Through my writing, I have made new friends and continued to learn about this world of ours in all its wonder, with all its challenges.”– Sonia LevitinSonia Levitin, a German American novelist, artist, producer, Holocaust survivor, and author of plays, essays and over 40 novels and picture books for young adults and children was born on this date in 1934.  Among her best known works are Adam's War, Journey To America, and Who Owns The Moon.A great role model for the young adult audience she strives to reach, her semi-autobiographical works have a somewhat common theme of courageous main characters who are faced with difficult challenges and who must "take charge" in order to overcome obstacles.  “I’ve come to realize I am always writing my own life story, blending personal experience with research and, of course, imagination...I write for young people because I remember my own youth so well.” While writing is her forte' (she has won many major awards including The Edgar Allen Poe and American Library Association Award for Young Adult Literature) she has recently unveiled a new creative talent – as a painter.      Her expressionist paintings have earned great critical acclaim and at age 84 she continues to show that creativity has no age limits, on either end of the spectrum.  “When I was only eleven years old, I decided to become a writer,” she said.   “I told this ambition in a letter to Laura Ingalls Wilder, (and) the die was cast.  How could I go back on my word?”   And she never did.