Lloyd Alexander is a towering figure in young adult literature. His fiction has won awards, garnered critical praise, and earned a large audience, but he did not come by his fame and popularity easily. He labored for many years and endured frequent rejections before achieving success in 1964 with The Book of Three, his second novel for young adults; on the strength of its lyrical prose, complex characters, and well-structured plot, Alexander became almost overnight one of the foremost writers for young people.

Alexander was born in Philadelphia on January 30, 1924, to Edna Chudley Alexander and Alan Audley Alexander, a stockbroker. His early and avid reading of mythology and folktales may have inspired such noted books as The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen (1991) and The Arkadians (1995; see separate entry), novels that derive their plots, philosophy, intellectual content, and poetic imaginings from the ancient cultures of China...