Background

Dennis Haseley was born on June 28, 1950, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He is the son of Robert Carl Haseley, a sales executive, and Margaret (Boigner) Haseley, an account supervisor.

Education

Haseley attended the Oberlin College, obtaining Bachelor of Arts degree from it in 1972. While a student in high school and at Oberlin College, he renewed and developed his talent for writing, working with novelist and screenwriter William Goldman during a semester in New York City. Ten years later he received his Master of Social Work degree from the New York University. He also attended the New York University Psychoanalytic Institute.

Career

Beginning his career, Haseley worked variously as a professional fund raiser and a community organizer. He served at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services as a therapist, for 4 years from 1982. From that time he began to write books for children. Since 1984 Haseley has worked as a private practicioner in psychotherapy. He is in practice for more than thirty years. He is working with adults and older adolescents. In addition, Haseley has held the position as a training and supervising analyst on faculty at the New York University's Medical Center and the affiliated Psychoanalytic Institute.

Haseley has written extensively for children; his works include picture books, middle-grade novels, and a young adult novel. Known for their unusual and imaginative subject matter, symbolism, and lyrical prose, Haseley’s books have long captured the attention of reviewers. Among the most critically acclaimed are The Old Banjo, Ghost Catcher, and Shadows, the last published in 1991. Haseley’s first book for children, 1983’s The Scared One, is a prose poem picture book about the rites of passage of a timid young Native American boy who has been nicknamed the Scared One by his playmates. The Scared One has been translated into French and Spanish. Many of Haseley’s picture books deal with unusual subjects or are allegories. For example, The Kite Flier tells the tale of a man who is a stonemason by day and a kite maker by night. Shadows, a short novel written for middle-grade readers, deals with subtle ideas.

Achievements

• Haseley has helped many people to solve their psychological problems, using intensive therapy, psychoanalysis and other methods.
  
  Concerning his writings, the book The Old Banjo was named among New York Public Library’s Children’s Books, Child Study Association of America’s Children’s Books of the Year, and as a Pick of the Lists by American Booksellers, all in 1983. His book The Scared One was named Parents’ Choice Remarkable Book for Literature by Parents’ Choice Foundation, in 1983 as well. Haseley's The Kite Flier was chosen a Notable Book in the Field of Social Studies by the National Council for Social Studies, and as a Pick of the Lists by the American Booksellers, both in 1986, that same book was named among Child Study Association of America’s Children’s Books of the Year, in 1987. His Shadows was chosen as a Pick of the Lists by American Booksellers and was named one of the books of the year by the Library of Congress, both in 1991.
  
  The Old Banjo was adapted as a filmstrip with cassette by Random House (New York City) in 1986.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Amazing Thinking Machine

    (Set during the Great Depression, young Patrick finds that...)

    2002
  • Photographer Mole

    (Photographer Mole, believing that something is missing fr...)

    2004
  • A Story for Bear

    (When a young bear finds a scrap of an old letter, he is s...)

    2002
  • The Old Banjo

    (A hardworking farmer and his son succumb to the enchantme...)

  • The Skywriter

    (A SOARING FLIGHT OF FANCY lands one boy at the realizatio...)

    2008
  • The Invisible Moose

    (When the most beautiful moose in the forest is captured b...)

    2006
  • Kite Flier

    (A father sends his magnificent kites soaring through the ...)

    1986
  • The Soap Bandit

    (When Jesse spends the summer with his aunt in a clean whi...)

    1984
  • Twenty Heartbeats

    (A SIMPLE STORY LAYERED WITH MEANING; stunning layered art...)

    2008
  • The pirate who tried to capture the moon

    (A fierce pirate who tries to capture the moon learns that...)

    1983

Views

Quotations: “I often start a story—whether for a picture book or a novel—with an image or metaphor that captures me."

Membership

Haseley is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Authors Guild.

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  tennis, skiing, running

Connections

Haseley married Claudia Eleanore Lament, a child psychoanalyst, on October 12, 1986. They have a child Connor McMurray.

Father:

Robert Carl Haseley

He was a sales executive.

Mother:

Margaret (Boigner) Haseley

She was an account supervisor.

child:

Connor McMurray Haseley

Wife:

Claudia Eleanore Lament