By Nava Atlas | On January 5, 2018 | Updated April 22, 2023 | Comments (0)
Frances Hodgson Burnett (November 24, 1849 – October 29, 1924) was born in Cheetham, England. She emigrated to the U.S. with her mother and siblings when she was in her teens, and started publishing stories in magazines to help support her family.
Burnett is best remembered as the author of The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy, though her prolific output went far beyond these now-classic works.
Victorian literature often had a rags-to-riches theme, or vice versa. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s own life reflected that theme. When she was born in England in 1840, she was one of five children in a household headed by a prosperous tradesman. He died when she was three, and the family’s fortunes plummeted.
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By Nava Atlas | On January 2, 2018 | Updated September 30, 2025 | Comments (4)
Beatrix Potter (July 28, 1866 – December 22, 1943) was a British author and illustrator of beloved children’s books populated by animals. Some of the best known are Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, and Jemima Puddleduck.
Her inspiration came from the natural world that surrounded her as a child, from which sprang an imagination that delights young readers to this day.
Beatrix was the daughter of conservative upper class parents, raised in a fine South Kensington home. As was typical for girls of her class, was educated at home by governesses. One of her only companions was her brother, Bertram, who was six years younger than she. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On December 16, 2017 | Updated August 20, 2022 | Comments (0)
Lois Lenski (October 14, 1893 – September 11, 1974), American children’s book author and illustrator, was best known for realistic depictions of childhood in regional settings around the United States.
A Newbery Medal-winner, she secured a respected place in children’s literature for both her writing and art. She published nearly one hundred books in her career (as well as posthumously, starting with Skipping Village and Jack Horner’s Pie: A Book of Nursery Rhymes, both released in 1927.
Born in Springfield, Ohio, she was the daughter of a Lutheran minister, and with family, moved to a small village that was to be her home for the duration of her childhood. Growing up in this setting would eventually have a profound influence on her calling as a writer and illustrator. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On December 9, 2017 | Updated June 13, 2026 | Comments (0)
Margaret Rumer Godden (December 10, 1907 – November 8, 1998) was a novelist and memoirist born in Eastbourne, Sussex (England) and raised mainly in India at the height of colonial rule.
Her life was as dramatic and colorful as the stories she so skillfully wrote. Rumer Godden and her sisters spent an idyllic childhood in the Bengal region, now actually part of Bangladesh. (photo at right courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer. She was sent to Britain to be educated, as was the custom at the time, and traveled back and forth from England to India frequently. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On November 29, 2017 | Updated August 20, 2022 | Comments (0)
Anita Loos (April 26, 1889 – August 18, 1981) was an American author, playwright, and screenwriter, best known for Gentleman Prefer Blondes. She was born Corinne Anita Loos in what is today Mount Shasta, California.
The story of her actual childhood seemed like a scenario fit for screen treatment. A curious girl, she tagged along with her father, a dissolute alcoholic, whose company included others of his proclivity, prostitutes, and others who resided in San Francisco’s underbelly.
Anita performed on stage from an early age in her father’s stock theatre company, on occasion becoming the sole support of the family. She disliked the work, however, knowing that what she really wanted was to be a writer. Read More→
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