WHITCHER, Susan (Godsil) 1952-

PERSONAL: Born January 29, 1952, in Tokyo, Japan; daughter of Augustus R. (a management consultant) and Anne (an artist; maiden name, Cleveland) White; married John Lee Whitcher (an engineer), 1980; children: Ursula Anne, Susannah Mattson. Education: Portland State University, B.A., 1974; attended University College (London, England), 1974-75; Warburg Institute (London, England), M.Phil, 1977; Ph.D. studies at Johns Hopkins University. Politics: Liberal. Religion: "Non-aligned."

ADDRESSES: Home and offıce—4260 Reed St., West Linn, OR 97068. Agent—Emilie Jacobson, Curtis Brown, Ltd.

CAREER: Writer. Whitcher informed: "I don't think I've ever had a job that could be dignified by the term 'career.' For two or three years I taught Renaissance intellectual history/literature at Johns Hopkins, but only as a graduate student teaching assistant. Other work experience includes: teaching night school, selling tourist trinkets in London, running a small English-language school in Sicily for one year, 'exotic' dancing in nightclubs, manning a domestic violence hotline, and freelance garden design."

MEMBER: Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

WRITINGS:

Moonfall (picture book), illustrated by Barbara Lehman, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1993.

Real Mummies Don't Bleed: Friendly Tales forOctober Nights (short stories), Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1993.

Something for Everyone (picture book), illustrated by Barbara Lehman, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1995.

Enchanter's Glass (novel), Harcourt Brace (New York, NY), 1995.

The Key to the Cupboard (picture book), illustrated by Andrew Glass, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1997.

The Fool Reversed, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2000.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel, Stealing.

SIDELIGHTS: Susan Whitcher writes books for young people in which fantastical elements are employed in a straightforward, almost deadpan, manner that is often found enchanting by reviewers and commentators. In her first effort, Moonfall, a girl is certain that the moon is falling from the sky, despite her parents' reassuring explanations. Two weeks after the moon has disappeared from the sky, however, Sylvie's suspicions are borne out when she finds it in her neighbor's garden and "goes about saving the moon in a sensible, magical fashion," according to Janice Del Negro in a Booklist review. Critics singled out Whitcher's poetic text for special praise; although the author refuses to define the moon's qualities consistently, "children will not be stalled by the dreamlike vagaries of this debut author's text," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Indeed, Whitcher's "whimsical fantasy," when combined with Barbara Lehman's effective illustrations, yields a book that is "destined to become a read-aloud favorite in many a household," Susan Scheps predicted in School Library Journal.

For her next book, Whitcher again paired magical elements with deliberately ordinary language in a collection of stories for young readers called Real Mummies Don't Bleed: Friendly Tales for October Nights. Each story is set during the time of Halloween and features contemporary American children encountering humorous and/or frightening elements from the supernatural world. A critic for Kirkus Reviews commended the "original sense of the bizarre" displayed by the author in these "five fresh, witty tales."

In Something for Everyone, Whitcher paired up with illustrator Lehman for a second picture book, this time to tell the story of great-aunt Elsie Applebaum, who abruptly decides to retire, leaving behind a motley collection of memorabilia for her unpleasant relatives to sort through. Only Elsie's young friend, Tilda, knows what to do with the odd assortment of objects and promptly fashions them into a magic traveling machine and flies off to join Elsie. "Whitcher has poetic sensibility . . . that she never overuses," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic. School Library Journal contributor Barbara Kiefer commented favorably on the way Lehman's humorous illustrations enhance the author's text, making this "an agreeable book that children should find entertaining."

Whitcher is also the author of a novel for young people titled Enchanter's Glass, in which an unpopular and unhappy girl finds a piece of glass that alters her perspective and leads her into a world of fantastic adventures. "Whitcher has a gift for characterization and the deft turn of phrase," maintained a Fantasy & Science Fiction contributor, who added: "Enchanter's Glass is a delight from start to finish; lyrical, with a touch of Alice in Wonderland absurdity and a compassionate heart."

The Fool Reversed is a novel for older teens with mature subject matter. Fifteen-year-old Anna begins a relationship with a poet almost twice her age and soon finds herself in very adult situations. A teenaged boy named Dylan helps her to maintain some stability as her older lover seeks to manipulate her. School Library Journal correspondent Francisca Goldsmith maintained that Whitcher's writing "is cohesive, well constructed, and compelling," adding poignancy to a "disturbing novel." A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that Whitcher "has hit her stride with this probing, acutely observed novel." The same reviewer commended The Fool Reversed for its "memorable scenes and insights."

Explaining how she began her career as a writer, Whitcher once commented: "As a child, I yearned for magical adventures. Later, I thought time travel might be good enough, especially if as a side effect it could make me slimmer and not need glasses. When I grew up I got contact lenses and studied history.

"I'm not saying I missed out altogether on adventures. I met a man with a huge mustache and a greasy black motorcycle. Together we traveled around Europe. We had children. I looked forward to a cutthroat university career.

"At university, I asked the school's health services to refer me to a counselor for depression. One day the counselor chided me for indulging in what she called 'magical thinking.' Magical thinking. I carried the phrase home with me like a gift."

"That's when I began to write stories. Halfway through writing Enchanter's Glass I suddenly realized why magical adventures don't just happen: not because they don't exist, but because you have to make them."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 1993, Janice Del Negro, review of Moonfall, p. 1978; September 1, 1997, Susan Dove Lempke, review of The Key to the Cupboard, p. 136.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, June, 1997, review of Enchanter's Glass, pp. 26-28.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 1993, review of RealMummies Don't Bleed: Friendly Stories for October Nights, p. 1082; October 1, 1995, review of Something for Everyone, p. 1438.

New York Times Book Review, October 26, 1997, Lisa Shea, review of The Key to the Cupboard, p. 47.

Publishers Weekly, June 14, 1993, review of Moonfall, p. 69; September 20, 1993, review of Real Mummies Don't Bleed, p. 31; March 6, 2000, review of The Fool Reversed, p. 112.

School Library Journal, October, 1993, p. 114; November, 1995, Barbara Kiefer, review of Something for Everyone, pp. 84-85; March, 2000, Francisca Goldsmith, review of The Fool Reversed, p. 243.*