Alice Lightner Hopf (1904-1988) was an American writer who wrote young adult science fiction under the name of A. M. Lightner and youth nature books under the name of Alice Hopf. Two of her non-fiction works received awards from the National Science Teachers Association: Biography of a Rhino (1972) and Misunderstood Animals (1973).
Alice Lightner Hopf | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 11, 1904 Detroit, Michigan |
| Died | February 3, 1988 (aged 83) Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Vassar College |
Biography
editAlice Martha Lightner was born on October 14, 1904, in Detroit, Michigan to Frances (née McGraw) and Clarence Ashley Lightner.[1] Her father was an attorney, who was a founder of the Detroit Public Library[2] and her mother was a playwright. After graduating from Vassar College in 1927,[1] she moved to New York and worked as a secretary, writing in her spare time.[2] In 1935, she married Ernest Hopf, an artist originally from Germany.[3] She and Ernest had one child, Christopher.[4]
She was a naturalist and prolific science fiction writer during the New Wave.[5][4] As other women writers did at the time, her pseudonym for her fictional works used only initials, as publishers feared boys would not read works written by women. Her juvenile fiction was published in the name of A. M. Lightner. She also published children's non-fiction books under the name of Alice L. Hopf[6] on topics in natural history and entomology, and was a member of several New York-based scientific societies.[2][7] Her non-fiction works, Biography of a Rhino and Misunderstood Animals received awards from the National Science Teachers Association in 1972 and 1973, respectively.[1][2]
She died on February 3, 1988, at her home in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania.[4] She was survived by her husband, Ernest, their son, Christopher and daughter-in-law, C.C.[4]
Bibliography
editSeries: Rock of Three Planets:
Novels:
- Doctor to the Galaxy (1965)
- The Galactic Troubadours (1965)[10][11]
- The Space Plague (1965)[12]
- The Space Olympics (1967)
- Wild Traveler (1967)
- The Day of the Drones (1969), a novel noted for its reversal of gender and race roles.[13][14]
- The Walking Zoo of Darwin Dingle (1969)
- The Thursday Toads (1971)
- Gods Or Demons? (1973)[15]
- Star Dog (1973)
- The Space Gypsies (1974)
- Star Circus (1977)[16]
Non-fiction:
- Monarch Butterflies (Cromwell, 1965)[17]
- Pigs Wild and Tame (Holiday House, 1971)
- Biography of a Rhino (Putnam, 1972)
- Misunderstood Animals (McGraw-Hill, 1973)
- Wild Cousins of the Dog (Putnam, 1973)
- Biography of an Ant (Putnam, 1974)
- Biography of an Armadillo (Putnam, 1975)
- Wild Cousins of the Cat (Putnam, 1975)
- Biography of an American Reindeer (Putnam, 1976)
- Wild Cousins of the Horse (Putnam, 1977)
- Biography of a Giraffe (Putnam, 1978)
- Animal and Plant Life Spans (Holiday House, 1978)
- Nature's Pretenders (Putnam, 1979)[18]
- Biography of a Snowy Owl (Putnam, 1979)
- Whose House Is It? (Dodd Mead, 1980)
- Strange Sex Lives in the Animal Kingdom (McGraw-Hill, 1981)
- Biography of a Komodo Dragon (Putnam, 1981)
- Chickens and Their Wild Relatives (Dodd Mead, 1982)
- Hyenas (Dodd Mead, 1983)
- Bats (Dodd Mead, 1985)
References
edit- ^ a b c Reginald, Menville & Burgess 2010, p. 977.
- ^ a b c d Commire 1989, p. 47.
- ^ "Two Weddings are Announced". The Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. April 30, 1935. p. 12. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Alice Lightner Hopf, Author, 83". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
- ^ Davin, Eric Leif (2005-12-12). Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books. pp. 391. ISBN 9780739112670.
- ^ Nilsen, Alleen Pace (April 1974). "Jane Sits Home While Tarzan Swings—Unrealism in Teenage Books". Arizona English Bulletin. 16 (3): 29–30. ISSN 0004-1483. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ^ Ward & Marquardt 1979, p. 133.
- ^ "The Rock of Three Planets", Kirkus Reviews, 1963
- ^ "The Space Ark", Kirkus Reviews, 1967
- ^ Hintz, Carrie; Ostry, Elaine (2013-10-11). Utopian and Dystopian Writing for Children and Young Adults. Routledge. p. 214. ISBN 9781135373436.
- ^ "The Galactic Troubadours", Kirkus Reviews, 1965
- ^ "The Space Plague", Kirkus Reviews, 1966
- ^ Moylan, Tom; Baccolini, Raffaella (2003). Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Psychology Press. pp. 31–34. ISBN 9780415966139.
- ^ "The Day of the Drones", Kirkus Reviews, 1968
- ^ "Gods or Demons?", Kirkus Reviews, 1973
- ^ "Star Circus", Kirkus Reviews, 1977
- ^ "Monarch Butterflies". Kirkus Reviews. October 15, 1965. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
- ^ "Nature's Pretenders". Kirkus Reviews. July 24, 1979. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
Bibliography
edit- Commire, Anne, ed. (1989). "Hopf, Alice (Martha) L(ightner) 1904-1988". Something about the author. Vol. 55. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research. p. 47. ISBN 0-8103-2265-X.
- Reginald, Robert; Menville, Douglas; Burgess, Mary A., eds. (2010). "A. M. Lightner". Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature: A Checklist, 1700-1974. Vol. 2: Contemporary Science Fiction Authors. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company. p. 977. ISBN 978-0-941028-77-6.
- Ward, Martha E; Marquardt, Dorothy A. (1979). Authors of Books for Young People: Supplement to the second edition. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1159-6.