Gertrude Chandler Warner was born on April 16, 1890. She is an especially dear author to me because it was one of her books that I recall being the first pleasure read that I deeply enjoyed. I was about 10 or 11 years old, I think, and I checked out Surprise Island (one of the Boxcar Children series) from my school's library. I remember wishing that I could frolic along with the children in that book while I enjoyed reading about their adventure. I re-read Surprise Island in 2007, just for the fun of it. While I could certainly see that it was written for children (and it was also apparent that the book was written in the 1940s, which was actually a delightful change of pace), it was a joy to go back in time a little bit.

Labels: Authors, Birthdays, Children's Fiction