I don't think you could find an eleven-year-old girl now who has not heard of Ella." Foreign rights were sold and a film option followed as well as speaking engagements with schools and adults. New book contracts also were in the works. Suddenly Levine, who had spent the better part of a decade trying to get the ear and eye of editors, was in control of her career. But success has not gone to Levine's head. She still takes writing classes at the New School, still confers with her writing group that helped her during the lean years of rejections, still finds time to volunteer at the local middle school in her home in New York's Hudson Valley teaching kids the skills of creative writing. Unlike the protagonist of a fairy tale, Levine knows her good luck is not simply the matter of fortune, but of years of hard work.
Growing Up in the Big Apple
Born and raised in New York City, Levine has only fond memories of her urban youth. "Manhattan was a great place to grow up," Levine told AAYA. "You could have independence from parents at a much younger age than kids in the suburbs who have to be driven everywhere they go.
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