Eleanor Estes was born on May 9, 1906, in New Haven, Connecticut. She grew up there, worked in the town library, and was eventually made head of it. In 1931 the Caroline M. Hewins scholarship for children's librarians was awarded to her, and she went to New York to study at the Pratt Institute library school. In 1932 she married Rice Estes, then a student and later a professor of library science.
She worked for the New York Public Library until 1940, when her first book was published (The Moffats). "I scarcely remember when I did not have the idea I wished to be a writer."
Estes was raised with books - her mother "had an inexhaustible supply of songs, stories, and anecdotes, fictitious and remembered ones, with which she entertained us as she went about her housework. She took a great joy in painting and drawing, and wrote quantities of light verse, to fit any special occasion, having had herself a wish to become a writer."
Estes wrote nineteen books for children, and one for adults. She died on July 15, 1988.
Books:
Alaska
The Coat Hanger Christmas Tree
The Curious Adventures of Jimmy McGee
Ginger Pye (1952 Newbery Award)
The Hundred Dresses
The Middle Moffat
The Moffats
The Moffat Museum
Pinky Pye
Rufus M
Wayne Estes: A Hero's Legacy
The Witch Family
thanks to:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/~degrum/findaids/estes.htm
http://www.edupaperback.org/authorbios/estesele.html
www.amazon.com