Klein, Rachel S. 1953-

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KLEIN, Rachel S. 1953-

PERSONAL: Born December 23, 1953, in Ann Arbor, MI; daughter of Lawrence R. (an economist) and Sonia (an economist; maiden name, Adelson) Klein; married Lyle C. Rexer, May 11, 1979; children: Raisa, Norah, Jonah. Education: University of Michigan, B.A., 1974, M.A., 1976. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: "The natural world."

ADDRESSES: Home—112 Park Pl., Brooklyn, NY 11217; fax: 718-230-0818.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Hopwood Awards, University of Michigan, 1972, 1977.

WRITINGS:

(With husband, Lyle Rexer) One-Hundred-Twenty-five Years of Expedition and Discovery: The American Museum of Natural History, Abrams (New York, NY), 1995.

Moonlight and Music (juvenile art book), illustrated by Gayleen Aiken, Abrams (New York, NY), 1997.

The Moth Diaries (juvenile novel), Counterpoint (Washington, DC), 2002.

Contributor of fiction to Chicago Review.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Princess of the Sands, for children, with illustrations by Gracia Alzamora; Legends of Good Women, short stories; a musical play for children, with music by Nancy Harrow.

SIDELIGHTS: Rachel S. Klein won two Hopwood Awards as a student at the University of Michigan, and went on to pen works of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. With her husband, Lyle C. Rexer, she wrote an account of the American Museum of Natural History titled One-Hundred-Twenty-five Years of Expedition and Discovery. Klein also wrote an art book for children, Moonlight and Music, with illustrations by Gayleen Aiken. Having published adult fiction in prestigious magazines such as the Chicago Review, Klein saw her first young adult novel, The Moth Diaries, hit bookstores in 2002.

The Moth Diaries features the diaries of an unnamed protagonist at a girls' school during the late 1960s or early 1970s, framed by a narration in the voice of the same protagonist as a mature woman reflecting upon her past. In the diaries, the narrator is a somewhat shy girl whose best friend, Lucy, is drawn away from her by another girl, Ernessa. After more than one girl at the school turns up dead, the narrator begins to speculate that Ernessa is a vampire and that Lucy is in serious danger. The reader, however, must determine how much of the diary is true and how much is the narrator's paranoia. The Moth Diaries met with positive reception from reviewers, including Kristine Huntley in Booklist, who explained that "the diary format … gives it immediacy, and a menacing atmosphere permeates it." On the other hand, Judith Wynn in the Boston Herald felt that the novel "is most engaging when it focuses on the everyday minutia of dorm life, its residents' shifting friendship alliances and adolescent food crazes." A Kirkus Reviews critic deemed it to be "a chilling debut, in the best gothic style."

Klein told CA: "My work is not limited to a category. Fiction, nonfiction, children's literature, dramatic writing are all forms in which I have found meaningful stories. In my writing for children, both stage plays and fiction, my mission is to provide an inner challenge. There is a battle going on for children's imaginations—a battle between marketers and therapists. I want to offer alternatives to the mass-produced packaging that both sides offer.

"Collaboration with other artists is essential. Moonlight and Music was a joint effort, with the self-taught artist Gayleen Aiken, to present to children and adults a visual and written record of her unique life and creative power. I am now working with the jazz composer Nancy Harrow on a musical for children, for which I adapted Waldemar Bonsels's classic novel The Adventures of Maya the Bee. This collaboration has also involved jazz musicians and puppet makers from the Theatre Bayh in Warsaw, Poland. In another ongoing project, the Peruvian artist Gracia Alzamora is illustrating The Princess of the Sands, a novel that I wrote for children. These projects have an appeal beyond children to adults who have not lost touch with their own childhood mythologies.

"In my adult fiction, my mission has been similar. I have tried, in a simple style, to rediscover depths of thought and feelings that others ignore. In this endeavor, I have been influenced by the great writers of this century: Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Hermann Broch, Maxim Gorky, Thomas Bernhardt, S. Y. Agnon, and Shusaku Endo, among others. They have all served as models of uncompromised prose writers and thinkers."