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Jenny's Penny
Musical
BIOS
Wishful Penny
Set
Presentations
"Classroom
Teacher as Theater Director"
"Lost In The Library"
Classroom Plays
Jennifer J. Young
Photo ©2008 by
David Limburg
(Author/Co-Founder of See The Wish)
Jennifer J. Young lives with her family in New York’s Hudson River Valley where she works as a writer, tutor, and life coach. Previously, Jennifer spent four years as the director of product development for an educational toy company. Leading up to her work in the toy industry, she spent over a decade as a life skills educator for foster care teens, creating programs that used team initiatives, counseling, video production, and workshops to prepare the teens for transition into adulthood. Jennifer led outdoor adventure programs and completed Outward Bound of NYC Youth Worker Trainings. Jennifer spoke nationally at social work and education conferences on the topic of "Instilling Self-Esteem in At-Risk Youths." As a consultant for New York State’s Department of Children & Family Services, she led advanced-training support groups for foster parents. She also taught ESL and acculturation to adult refugees seeking U.S. asylum and to Vietnamese refugee minors. Jennifer holds a BA in English from the University of Connecticut.
Jennifer’s combination of English, adventure training, and life skills education has given her the ideal background for writing a chapter book that follows a seemingly ordinary one-cent coin’s journey into the world of people where it has adventures, makes coin friends, and learns many life lessons. “The Wishful Penny” is her first published book, originally published in hardcover in 2003 by Teach-nology Publications, an educational press, and now available in paperback as the revised Lincoln Penny's 100th Birthday Edition from Wishful Penny Books!
I.
Gloria Young
About the Illustrator
Irene Gloria Young is the illustrator of “The Wishful Penny - Adventures of a One-Cent Coin” written by her daughter. A graduate of Pratt Institute’s prestigious School of Art and Design in Brooklyn, New York, Gloria majored in illustration and developed her talents in painting and sculpting. Before becoming a full-time wife and mother, Gloria worked for Pratt & Whitney designing portraits of company executives for display. A certified real estate agent for several years, Gloria also contributed architectural house drawings to realtor publications. Her oil paintings have been displayed at a New Milford restaurant gallery and a Connecticut museum’s gifted student show. Gloria is a longtime resident of Connecticut, and currently lives in New Milford.
246 Main Street
Cold Spring, NY 10516
845-797-9183
Contact:
january@seethewish.com
Photo ©2008 by Daniel Akselrad
(Composer/Author/Co-Founder of See The Wish)
As an educator, composer, actress, director, and compulsive non-profit volunteer for over two decades, January Akselrad has had an eclectic array of life experiences and professions which have allowed her to bring to her work a clear understanding of what inspires and motivates.
For eight of those years, January worked to build an elementary school curriculum-based theater program at a New York City private school; a program which has now been duplicated by other schools. This was based on her belief that “what children learn through theater they never forget.” By bringing together the information, verbalization and physical ‘ownership’ of a character, either fictional or historical, January believes that a child has a visceral experience of ‘self’ that cannot be duplicated in any other genre. Combining her experience in education, theater and music, January has written over 125 curriculum, literature and ethics-based plays and musicals which serve to educate and empower children and young adults. January has compiled her knowledge of putting on a classroom play with elementary school students in her new primer for teachers, "Classroom Teacher as Theater Director".
January attended Hunter College and the Julliard School and holds a degree in music and composition. Her own performance credits include singing opera, cabaret and musical theater in countless venues such as off-Broadway and cabaret theaters in New York, and children’s theaters around the world. She has sung the national anthem in Giant’s Stadium, opera at Cami Hall in New York City, and worked at Club Med years ago, helping to create some of their programming. Her musical diversity extends beyond vocals to playing instruments as well, including flute, piano, guitar, clarinet, oboe, and cello - some of which she has also taught.
In the non-profit arena, January has directed or performed many of her plays and musicals as benefits to raise money and consciousness. She has produced and scored promotional videos for philanthropic institutions. She has led leadership trainings and educational seminars for community organizations. Most recently, January held the position of President of the YM-YWHA in Riverdale, NY. She will say that her greatest influence, inspiration and support have come from her husband and three children.
From Seuss to Shakespeare, January Akselrad believes that a child’s relationship with literature is a precious experience. “The Wishful Penny” by Jennifer Jo Young resonated with January, not only as a charming piece of children’s literature and a perfect foundation for a musical but also as an opportunity to use musical theater as a vehicle for teaching children about identity, self-worth and personal power.