Illana Katz

Illana Katz (born 1946) is an American author, lecturer, and founder of Real Life Storybooks, a publisher of special needs storybooks for children. Motivated by the late 1980s news that her son Seth had autism, Katz began to educate herself about autism, including researching into the life of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. After writing Joey and Sam: A Heartwarming Storybook About Autism, a Family, and a Brother's Love in 1993, circumstances led Katz to write Sarah, a 1994 book about child molestation. By 1995 Katz and her collaborator, UCLA professor Edward Ritvo, had gathered enough material to write their 1995 book, In a World of His Own: A Storybook About Albert Einstein, in which they concluded that Einstein did have autism. Katz continues to work in the special needs profession.

History In the late 1980s, Katz's son Seth (b. 1986) Katz equated the autism diagnosis with death, "You suffer the death of your expectations for your child." The book, entitled "Joey and Sam: A Heartwarming Storybook About Autism, a Family, and a Brother's Love" and published in 1993, was focused on explaining autism to 4- to 8-year-olds. The 800 number was one number off from another that led to a nationwide hot line designed to prevent child abuse. Katz often received misdialed child abuse calls.

Additional autism efforts Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, the subject of Katz's 1995 book, "In a World of His Own: A Storybook About Albert Einstein." While addressing issues of child abuse, Katz continued in her efforts to address child disabilities. In March 1994, Katz explained the motivation behind her efforts:"With my books, I'm trying to prevent kids from making fun of children with disabilities, being cruel because they don't know any better. That's why I'm writing. Not only to teach children about the disabilities or the diseases, but to help them grow up to be better, more caring people. Lord knows, we could use all we can get. Is it naive on my part? Probably. Am I going to try anyway? Of course." In their research, Katz and Ritvo discovered that Einstein's parents had been very worried about him when he was a baby. Katz is married to David Katz