David Binney Putnam

Born in 1913, David Binney Putnam was an American writer and aviator who became famous very young for books based on his own travels. He was the son of publisher George Palmer Putnam, and his early adventures inspired titles including David Goes Voyaging and David Goes to Greenland.

Those books introduced young readers to sea travel, exploration, and distant landscapes through an unusually direct perspective: a child writing from experience. His work stood out for turning expedition life into accessible adventure, and several of his books have remained available through public-domain and library collections.

Putnam later served as an aviator as well as a writer. He died in 1992, but he is still remembered for the rare achievement of becoming a published adventure author while still a boy.