Editing Lloyd Alexander (section)

==Early life and education==
Alexander was born in [[Philadelphia]] on January 30, 1924, to Edna (née Chudley) and Alan Audley Alexander,<ref>[http://www.bookrags.com/shortguide-iron-ring/abouttheauthor.html Lloyd Alexander Biography]</ref> and grew up in [[Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania]], a section of [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania|Upper Darby]], just west of the city.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|pp=1-3}} He had an elder sister, Florence. His parents only read newspapers, but they did buy books "at the [[Salvation Army]] to fill up empty shelves".<ref name=wpost>{{cite news |last1=Bernstein |first1=Adam |title=Lloyd Alexander; Fantasy and Adventure Writer |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702371.html |access-date=23 June 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=18 May 2007}}</ref> He taught himself to read around age four and skipped grades one and two at a private Quaker school. He and his friends played war, using equipment from [[World War I]] in their games. After his father Alan, a stockbroker, bankrupted in the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], Alexander attended public school, where he skipped yet another grade, entering seventh grade at age nine.{{sfn|May|1991|pp=2-3}} Alexander read [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]], [[Mark Twain]] and myths, especially [[King Arthur]].<ref name=about1999/> In addition to being interested in art, at age thirteen, Alexander wanted to become an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest; however, his family could not afford to send him to divinity school.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|pp=3-4}}{{sfn|May|1991|p=3}} Passionate about writing, Alexander believed he could preach and worship God through his writing and his art.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=4}} In high school, he began writing romantic poetry modeled after the work of nineteenth-century poets and narrative short stories, but he failed to acquire interest from publishers.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|pp=5}} His parents found him a job as a bank messenger, which inspired a satire that would become his first book published fifteen years later, ''And Let the Credit Go'' (1955).<ref name=wpost/> He graduated at age sixteen in 1940 from [[Upper Darby High School]], where he was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 1995.<ref name="WoF">{{cite web | title = Wall of Fame| publisher = Upper Darby High School| url = http://www.udsd.k12.pa.us/alumni/wof_3.php?id=9| access-date =2011-12-24 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070821091630/http://www.udsd.k12.pa.us/alumni/wof_3.php?id=9 |archive-date=2007-08-21 }}</ref>

He attended [[West Chester University|West Chester State Teachers College]], which he left after only one term because he did not find the curriculum rigorous enough.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|pp=6-7}} After dropping out of college, Alexander worked for six months in the mailroom of the Atlantic Refining Company.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=7}} Alexander decided that adventure was a better school for a writer than college and enlisted in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] during [[World War II]]. He was too clumsy with artillery to be sent to the front, and the sight of blood made him faint, making him unfit to work as a medic. With no prior musical experience, he briefly played the cymbals in a marching band in Texas. Shortly after, he was transferred to serve as a chaplain's assistant. He had the opportunity to study the French language, politics, customs, and geography at [[Lafayette College]] through the army.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=8}}{{sfn|May|1991|p=5}} He was later moved to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, to receive specialized intelligence training in the United States Army Combat Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Corps. At Camp Ritchie, Alexander rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant.<ref>Cartwright, J. B., The Quiet Contingent: An Addendum on WWII: The Boys of Camp Ritchie, 2024; p. 489. {{ISBN|979-8-89379-322-2}}</ref> There he met war veterans, scholars, refugees, and members of the [[Cherokee]] tribe.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=9}}{{sfn|Ingram|1986|p=5}} He rose to be a [[staff sergeant]] in the corps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upperdarbysd.org/Page/4511|title=Alumni Wall of Fame|date=February 23, 2019|website=Upper Darby School District|access-date=2019-02-23}}</ref> 

Alexander was stationed in Wales and England briefly and then was assigned to the 7th Army in eastern France where he translated radio messages for six months.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=10}} His next assignment was the Paris office of the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) where he worked as a translator and an interpreter until the end of 1945.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=10}} After the war, Alexander attended the [[University of Paris]] where he studied French literature and was fascinated by the poetry of [[Paul Éluard]]. Alexander called Éluard on the phone and showed him his English translations of Éluard's work. Éluard immediately named Alexander his sole English translator.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=10}}{{sfn|May|1991|p=7}} Alexander also contacted [[Gertrude Stein]], who advised him that becoming a writer was a difficult and discouraging process.{{sfn|May|1991|p=7}} In Paris, he met Janine Denni, who had a young daughter named Madeleine. Alexander and Denni were married on January 8, 1946, and soon moved to Philadelphia.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=11}} The three moved into the attic of his parents' home where Alexander spent twelve hours a day translating Éluard's works and writing his own.{{sfn|Jacobs|Tunnell|1991|p=12}}