The Lewin household had a number of exotic pets, such as an iguana, a rhesus monkey, a chimpanzee, and a lion.

He graduated from LHS in 1952, and in 1956 earned a BFA degree from Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, where he met his wife, Betsy Reilly.

In order to finance his education at Pratt, Lewin took on a part-time career as a teenage professional wrestler alongside his brothers.

His wrestling career lasted for 26 years, and it inspired him to record his experience by writing I Was a Teenaged Professional Wrestler.

[4] One Green Apple tells the story of a young girl who has just immigrated to America from an Arab country and her discovery that her differences are what makes her special.