Levithan was born and raised in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey, to a family of Jewish background,[3] graduating in 1990 from Millburn High School.[4] At nineteen, Levithan received an internship at Scholastic Corporation where he began working on The Baby-Sitters Club series. Levithan still works for Scholastic as an editorial director. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a young-adult imprint of Scholastic Press focusing on new voices and new authors.[1] PUSH publishes edgier material for young adults and is where Patricia McCormick got her start with 2002's Cut.[5]
Three of Levithan's novels have been made into films. His first collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, was published in 2006 and adapted for the big screen in 2008. Levithan's 2012 novel of the same name was adapted into Every Day, a romantic fantasy drama, released in 2018. His second collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, was published in 2007 and adapted into a film of the same name in 2015.
In 2016, Levithan won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for The Realm of Possibility, Boy Meets Boy, Love Is the Higher Law, How They Met and Other Stories, Wide Awake, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.[7]
In 2024, an anthology of short stories Levithan contributed to, The Collectors: Stories, won the Michael L. Printz Award.[8]
Malcolm in the Middle Scrapbook: Malcolm's Family Album (2000), scrapbook
Journey Through the Lost Canyon (2000), guide
101 Ways to Get Away With Anything! (Malcolm in the Middle), or Malcolm's Really Useful Guide to Getting Away with Anything! (2002), guide
101 Ways to Stop Being Bored! (2003), guide
Anthologies and novels edited
You Are Here, This is Now: The Best Young Writers and Artists in America: A Push Anthology (2002)
Friends: Stories about New Friends, Old Friends and Unexpectedly True Friends, ed. with Ann M. Martin (2005)
When We Are, What We See: A Push Anthology (2005)
The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Other Identities, ed. with Billy Merrell (2006)
21 Proms, ed. with Daniel Ehrenhaft (2007)
We Are Quiet, We Are Loud: The best young writers and artists in America: a Push anthology (2008)
How to Say Goodbye in Robot, a novel by Natalie Standiford (2009)
^DeSisto, Danielle. "Author advocates for love, acceptance through books"Archived 2021-04-11 at the Wayback Machine, The Item of Millburn and Short Hills, June 14, 2016. Accessed March 8, 2021. "His career in literature began at age 19 as an intern for Scholastic, not long after graduating from Millburn High School in 1990."