Mind the Animals
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 4/8/2002
He's been a pediatrician for 30 years; now he's a bestselling author. Mel Levine, whose A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed debuts at #5 on the nonfiction list, has been described as a cross between Dr. Spock and Dr. Dolittle. He lives on a farm in rural North Carolina, where he raises some 240 geese, along with numerous peacocks, swans, pheasants, cats, dogs and donkeys. (He wears a signature geese tie at his media appearances.) According to Simon & Schuster assistant publicity director Tracey Guest, "His life is a celebration of the kind of creativity and uniqueness he encourages parents and educators to foster in children." This uniqueness is evidently striking a responsive chord: Oprah.com reported close to two million page views--"about double the average daily traffic"--on March 27, when Levine spent a full hour with the talk-show host. Also on the 27th, PBS aired Misunderstood Minds, a documentary on which Levine was one of the featured experts. He's been interviewed on Today and also has done more than 30 radio interviews on stations across the country.
With reporting by Dick Donahue
