Children's and adult novels and short fiction, fantasy
Spouse
John Dailey de Angeli, a violinist, known as Dai
Illustration and signature of Marguerite de Angeli
Marguerite de Angeli (March 14, 1889 – June 16, 1987) was an Americanwriter and illustrator of children's books including the 1950 Newbery Award winning book The Door in the Wall. She wrote and illustrated twenty-eight of her own books, and illustrated more than three dozen books and numerous magazine stories and articles for other authors.
Early life
De Angeli was born Marguerite Lofft in Lapeer, Michigan,[1] one of six children.
Her father, George Shadrach Lofft, was a photographer and illustrator; her mother was Ruby Adele Tuttle Lofft.[2] Her grandfather was the town blacksmith.[1] In 1902, her family moved to West Philadelphia, where she spent her most formative years. She entered high school in 1904, but a year later, at age fifteen, began to sing professionally as contralto in a Presbyterian choir for $1 a week.[citation needed] She soon withdrew from high school for more musical training.[2]
Personal life
In 1908, she met John Dailey de Angeli, a violinist, known as Dai. They were married in Toronto on April 12, 1910. The first of their six children, John Shadrach de Angeli, was born one year later. After living in many locations in the American and Canadian West, they settled in the Philadelphia suburb of Collingswood, New Jersey.[3] There, in 1921, Marguerite started to study drawing under her mentor, Maurice Bower. In 1922, Marguerite began illustrating a Sunday School paper and was soon doing illustrations for magazines such as The Country Gentleman, Ladies' Home Journal, and The American Girl, besides illustrating books for authors including Helen Ferris, Elsie Singmaster, Cornelia Meigs, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Her last child, Maurice Bower de Angeli, was born in 1928, seven years before the 1935 publication of her first book, Ted and Nina Go to the Grocery Store. The de Angeli family moved frequently, returning to Pennsylvania and living north of Philadelphia in Jenkintown, west of Philadelphia in the Manoa neighborhood of Havertown, on Carpenter Lane in Germantown, Philadelphia, on Panama Street[4] in Center City, Philadelphia, in an apartment near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and in a cottage in Green Lane, Pennsylvania. They also maintained a summer cabin on Money Island in Toms River, New Jersey.[5] Marguerite's husband died in 1969, eight months before their 60th wedding anniversary.
Later years
In 1971, two years after her husband died, de Angeli published her autobiography, Butter at the Old Price.[2] Her last work, Friendship and Other Poems, was published in 1981 when she was 92 years old. She died at the age of 98 on June 16, 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was survived by her 3 of her 4 sons: Arthur, Harry and Maurice; daughter, Nina Kuhn; 13 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.[citation needed]
Her work explored and depicted the traditions and rich cultural diversity of common people more frequently overlooked – a semi-autobiographical Great Depression family, African American children experiencing the sting of racial prejudice, Polish mine workers aspiring to life beyond the Pennsylvania coal mines, the physically handicapped, colonial Mennonites, the Amish, nineteenth-century Quakers supporting the underground railroad, immigrants, and other traditional or ethnic peoples. De Angeli's books carry an underlying message that we are really all the same, and that all of us deserve tolerance, care, consideration, and respect.
Awards
Marguerite deAngeli Library
De Angeli's 1946 story, Bright April, was the first children's book to address the divisive issue of racial prejudice. The book won the Spring Book Festival.[6]
Henner's Lydia (1936) A story about a young Amish girl set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Petite Suzanne (1937) A story filled with folkways and customs of daily life as experienced by a Gaspé Peninsula French-Canadian girl named Suzanne.
Copper-Toed Boots (1938) A portrayal of the mid-nineteenth century rural life of the author's father in Lapeer, Michigan.
Skippack School (1939) Subtitled "Being the Story of Eli Shrawder and of one Christopher Dock, Schoolmaster about the year 1750". A story about school-master and humanist Christopher Dock at the Mennonite School near Skippack, Pennsylvania during the 1700s.
A Summer Day with Ted and Nina (1940)
Thee, Hannah! (1940) A story about a young Quaker girl meeting an escaped slave in pre-Civil War Philadelphia.
Elin's Amerika (1941) A story about the earliest Swedish settlers in the Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania.
Up the Hill (1942) Story of a young mine worker from a Pennsylvania mining town who aspires to an art career; describes immigrant Polish customs, food, language, music, and daily life.
Yonie Wondernose (1944) Caldecott Honor book, a story about a curious Amish boy, younger brother to Lydia of Henner's Lydia.
Turkey for Christmas (1944) Semi-autobiographical account describing the Lofft family's first Christmas in Philadelphia after moving there in 1902.
Jared's Island (1947) Story of a Scottish boy named Jared Craig who in the early 1700s shipwrecks on New Jersey's Barnegat Shoals, is rescued by a Quaker, but runs away to live with Indians.
The Door in the Wall (1950) Newbery Medal winner about a boy's courage during plague years in Medieval England; central character deals with a physical handicap.
Just Like David (1951) Jeffrey wants to be just like his older brother David; family moves from Pennsylvania to Ohio.
Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes (1954) De Angeli's second Caldecott Honor book.
Black Fox of Lorne (1956) Newbery Honor Book. Tenth-century Viking twins shipwreck on the Scottish coast and seek to avenge the death of their father; they encounter loyal clansmen at war, kindly shepherds, power-hungry lairds, and staunch crofters.
A Pocket Full of Posies: A Merry Mother Goose (1961) An abbreviated form of original Mother Goose book.
The Goose Girl (1964) Illustrated version of the Grimm story original.
Turkey for Christmas (1965) Christmas stories.
The Empty Barn (1966, coauthor Arthur C. de Angeli) Farm Life.
Fiddlestrings (1974) One of deAngeli's longer books, it is based on the boyhood of her husband John Daily de Angeli in the 1890s.
The Lion in the Box (1975) A Christmas story, a widowed mother, poverty, and an unexpected gift.
Whistle for the Crossing (1977) Published when the author was 88, the story of the first train to travel the new railroad tracks from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
Friendship and Other Poems (1981) A collection of poetry written by Marguerite de Angeli over many years and published when she was 92 years old.
As illustrator
The New Moon: The Story of Dick Martin's Courage, His Silver Sixpence and His Friends in the New World by Cornelia Meigs (1924)
Tiny Tots Picture Book by Marguerite de Angeli & others (1962)
Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Favorite Hymns (1963) An illustrated collection of de Angeli's favorite religious songs, many familiar to her from her early music career.
The Empty Barn by Arthur C. de Angeli (1966)
The Door in the Wall: A Play, by Arthur C. de Angeli (1968)
^Lyon, Nancy. "The Last Days of a Blue-Collar Resort", The New York Times, September 16, 1973. Accessed November 22, 2017. "Marguerite de Angeli, who summered on Money Island with her family for many years, in 1947 wrote Jared's Island, a book about a Scottish boy who is shipwrecked, rescued by an American sea captain and taken to Money Island."
^ abMarguerite de Angeli papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, rev. May 31, 2001; accessed 2022.11.26.
"Marguerite de Angeli." The Gale Literary Database: American Writers for Children. The Gale Group, 1983. Thomson Corporation. 21 Oct. 2001. <http://www.galenet.com>.
Van Atta, Burr. "Marguerite de Angeli, 98, Author of Children's Books." The Philadelphia Inquirer 18 Jun. 1987: C12.
Mahony, Berta A. (compiler). "Marguerite de Angeli" in "Illustrators of Children's Books 1744-1945" : Horn Book Inc. 1947, p 298
Further reading
Books about Marguerite de Angeli
Michigan's Marguerite de Angeli: The Story of Lapeer's Native by William Anderson (1987) Available at the Marguerite deAngeli Library in Lapeer, MI or online here.
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