MONTVALE—When Ben Levin, a 19-year-old Montvale resident and 2022 graduate of Pascack Hills High School, was 10, he wrote a version of a Harry Potter story focused on his Jewish faith. He named the main character Gabriel Garnet, and it became his first full-fledged book.
Ever since, Levin has been working as a part-time author, in addition to attending school. According to his mother, Susan, Ben has a gift for storytelling, and his unique ability to be creative has allowed him to thrive in an area that he is passionate about.
“His storylines are original and his way of seeing things is original,” Susan says. “He just has a lot of natural talent and he just loves words and is so good with language.”
Levin, who tells Pascack Press, “Writing was something I had a lot of fun doing,” has devoted much of his time to writing stories in a variety of genres about a myriad of topics that he feels are important. Just last year, “In The Hole,” his first young-adult novel, was published and released as a story focusing on the issue of homelessness. In the 224-page book, David Kimball and his family lose their restaurant and are forced to live in a borrowed car.
“At religious school, my rabbi showed my class about children in Florida who were facing homelessness, and that is how I got the idea for the book,” he says. “Listening to those stories made me want to help raise awareness.”
“In the Hole” continues earning love from reviewers, and Levin has started writing a sequel.
Two reviews of particular note, via Levin’s website:
- Kate Duggan, executive director, Family Promise of Bergen County, Ridgewood: “Although the story is fiction, the emotions felt by David, the main character, and his family are spot on. Ben Levin conveys the shame and embarrassment felt by many families experiencing homelessness. More importantly, he astutely describes the hope that families in this difficult situation derive from the kindness and support of good friends and the community at large…”
- Franklin Headley, principal of VOICE Charter School, New York City: “Ben Levin’s young characters evince an authentic voice that can only come from such a young writer… Ben is a good writer because he is a good reader and has learned and observed how to set up relatable problems in a novel. … We see in this novel that even in the most challenging of situations, children and parents do not lose their humanity.”
Levin has long been an advocate for individuals facing houselessness through his writing, charitable work, and hosting events to raise awareness for the cause. He said this is a massive societal problem that has mattered to him since he was in eighth grade. He says he wants to eliminate the stigmas surrounding the issue.
Susan said she’s proud of her son for following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who has been a human rights advocate for decades and was a very active member of the National Homelessness Law Center, formerly the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, a nonprofit organization “that uses the power of the law to end and prevent homelessness through training, advocacy, impact litigation, and public education.”
“It jumped a generation with Ben really wanting to do something about this problem,” Susan said. ”He wants to make an impact and to make a difference by using writing as his tool.”
Another project that Levin has worked on is the “Nellie’s Friends” series of illustrated children’s books. The stories revolve around Nellie Adams, a girl who moves from New York to Illinois and is lonely at first, but has to find children to spend time with in her new community.
“Each book is about a new friend and every title is named after the friend,” Levin says. “Nellie and her friends do all sorts of fun things together, like spending time with their dogs, playing sports, and dancing.”
The first five stories have been released. Books six to 10 are set to come out next summer. An additional 34 books will hit the market over the next nine years under a publishing deal Levin signed with Jumpmaster Press of Alabaster, Ala. Levin is responsible for the plots and writing. Illustrations are by Indonesian freelancer Andi Triyanta, who goes by Gonmuki.
And in 2019 Levin published “Ollie and the Race,” “a grand adventure into a new world of fantasy and friendship.”
Working to inspire others
It happens that Levin was diagnosed with autism as a child and was mostly nonverbal until age 6. The National Institute of Mental Health explains autism spectrum disorder (ASD) “is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is described as a developmental disorder because symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life.”
“He’s learned how to try to inspire others who are either on the spectrum or want to advocate for neurodiversity. For a long time, he tells Pascack Press, he struggled to accept his diagnosis and went through phases where he tried to hide his reality from most people he came across.
But his attitude shifted amid the pandemic. In April 2021, a close relative helped him to “finally accept that autism is lifelong, and I shouldn’t have ever wanted to feel the way I was feeling in the first place.” Six weeks later he posted about this on Instagram, sharing his story, “and it was the best night of my life.”
He’s since parlayed his experiences, writing, and perspective into lectures (the Follow Your Dreams Lecture Series for grades 5-12); guest appearances at forums on changing the narrative on autism; and as a resource for publications and news outlets covering complex mental health and social issues.
He’s been interviewed on podcasts and for television, radio, and magazines.
Susan said she’s noticed a change in her son since his Instagram post, and certainly since he embraced his personal potential.. She said that he is now so much more accepting of himself and his neurodiversity, allowing him to thrive as an autistic person in society.
“Things like social skills, emotional regulation, executive functioning — these are just some of the typical qualities that will be challenges for him forever,” Susan says. “I still believe there are things that we can do to help him, but also, Ben is proud of the brain he has because it has enabled him to be Ben: a wonderful, accomplished, loving, compassionate, and caring person.”
Ben graduated from Pascack Hills last month, and will soon be attending Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, majoring in creative writing and living on campus. According to Susan, the students in the program traditionally have a tight-knit bond.
That sense of community was very important to Ben and his family as they chose a school, as was the support the university offers for students on the spectrum.
“The creative writing major is a community of people who hang out together and write together and are not overly competitive,” Susan says. They are all really there for each other, and that’s something that Ben has been dreaming about for years, so that was a big thing for us.”
Susan says she believes all of her son’s accomplishments as a writer, advocate, and student to be nothing short of remarkable.
She adds, “He inspires me to be so much better than I am. My other son, Jake, always says that Ben is the best of us. And I think that is true.”
For much more information visit Ben Levin’s website, https://benlevinauthor.com.