Charles Joseph Finger

Born in Willesden, England, on December 25, 1869, he was educated at King's College London and studied music in Germany before living a remarkably varied life. As a young man he traveled widely in South America and elsewhere, working a range of jobs and gathering the experiences that would later shape his fiction, travel writing, and retellings of traditional stories.

He eventually settled in the United States and became known as a prolific writer, as well as a musician who taught piano and directed an orchestra. His books often drew on the landscapes, legends, and adventures he had encountered abroad, giving his work an unusual mix of firsthand experience and storyteller's flair.

He is remembered most of all for Tales from Silver Lands, which received the 1925 Newbery Medal. That collection, inspired by stories from Central and South America, remains the clearest example of what made his writing distinctive: curiosity about the wider world, a feel for oral storytelling, and an ability to make faraway places feel immediate to young readers.