Sylvia Lieberman "Grandma Sylvia" |
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Sylvia Lieberman (‘Grandma Sylvia’) is a native New Yorker who has long been devoted to nurturing and educating children. As a mother herself, she was a leader of Brownie and Girl Scout troops, as well as class mother and PTA president. A perpetual student, Sylvia has taken courses in such subjects as children’s literature, publicity, journalism, voice-over technique, script writing, Japanese sumi painting, advertising, fashion writing, merchandising, and film seminars at The New School and New York University. Even when she worked during the day, and donated time
to charities, she continued her education in the evening. After raising
her daughter, now media psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman, Sylvia was
a docent at the Museum of Natural History, guiding groups of schoolchildren
around the exhibits. She also volunteered at the Y, teaching kids about
such topics as immigration and family values. |
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How Archibald's Swiss Cheese Mountain was Born | ||
Grandma
Sylvia wrote Archibald's Swiss Cheese Mountain over
25 years ago, when she was taking a two-year course called, "Writing
for the Juvenile Reader", at Queens College in New York City. The
professor's assignment was to write a story that would appeal to young
children. Imagine Grandma Sylvia's surprise when the manuscript she
turned in came back with the professor's words scrawled across the top,
"See me after class! This is publishable material!" Although
the professor gave her a list of potential publishers, Archibald did
not see the light of day until now, because unfortunately, just then,
Sylvia's father died and she abandoned her manuscript and her dreams
at the same time. |