Howard Jeffrey Gottesfeld (born 1956) is an American novelist, playwright, and screen and television writer.
Gottesfeld is an author of children's literature. Together with ex-wife Cherie Bennett, he has written under the pen name Zoey Dean, including How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls which was developed into the series Privileged. Gottesfeld has also written freelance for numerous magazines and newspapers and continues to publish essays on subjects such as the effect of the Gaza conflict on American-Jewish family relations, Confederate flag, immigration policy, and trends in young adult fiction. For television, he has written for such shows as Smallville and The Young and the Restless.
Gottesfeld has won a Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window, while his No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon's Battle for Women's Rights in Japan was named the Freeman Book AwardâÂÂs best picture book. Food for Hope: How John van Hengel Invented Food Banks for the Hungry won the Christopher Award. In addition, his play WorldâÂÂs Strongest Librarian won the American Alliance for Theatre and EducationâÂÂs Distinguished Play Award.
Gottesfeld grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, attended Teaneck High School, Colby College, and then the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Gottesfeld has written freelance for numerous magazines and newspapers, and continues to publish essays on such subjects as trends in young adult fiction, the effect of the Gaza conflict on American Jewish family relations, Confederate flag, immigration policy, and trends in young adult fiction
His fiction ranges from elementary age children to adult. For television, he has written for such shows as Smallville and The Young and the Restless. Together with Cherie Bennett, he has written under the pen name Zoey Dean. Under the Zoey Dean pen name, Gottesfeld and Bennett wrote The A-List series of books (developed by the same publishing group as Gossip Girl), and How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls, which was developed into the series Privileged. His credits also include novelizations for DawsonâÂÂs Creek, Smallville and for the WWE.
His first picture book was The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank's Window, published by Random House/Knopf in March, 2016. It received starred reviews in Booklist and School Library Journal. His 2020 children's book, No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon's Battle for Women's Rights in Japan, documents the life and activism of Beate Sirota Gordon. It is the winner of the 2020 NCTA Freeman Award, for the best children's book about Asia. It was also a runner-up finalist for the 2020 National Jewish Book Award. His March, 2021 picture book, with illustrations by Matt Tavares, is Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, published by Candlewick Press. It received a number of starred reviews, as well as praise from the Wall Street Journal. It is about the origins of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its Tomb Guards. Food for Hope: How John van Hengel Invented Food Banks for the Hungry, illustrated by Michelle Laurentia Agatha and printed in 2023, was a spring showcase selection for the ChildrenâÂÂs Book Council, winner of the Goddard Riverside ChildrenâÂÂs Book Council Youth Prize for Social Justice award, the Christophers Award and recipient of the bronze medal of the Independent Publishers Association (IPPY) for ChildrenâÂÂs Picture Book (All Ages).
Gottesfeld, who did not serve in the armed forces, remarked that he saw himself as an "imperfect messenger" with regards to writing about the United States military, which he called "the greatest fighting force for good the world has ever known". GottesfeldâÂÂs Honor Flight will be released in 2026, an illustrated book about the Honor Flight organization, illustrated by Matt Tavares. In addition, We All Serve, an illustrated book about how the children of service families, known as military brats, all serve in their own way, illustrated by TeMika Grooms, will be released the same year. He has spoken to various groups about his work, including a nationally broadcast program into schools for the National Archive in 2021.
The Young and the Restless (hired by Lynn Marie Latham)
Girls Got Game: 2006
Smallville: 2001 - 2002
Books
Plays