Dorothy Whitehill

Dorothy Whitehill was an American writer of children’s fiction whose books were published in the early 20th century. The works that are easiest to confirm today include Polly's First Year at Boarding School (1916), Polly's Senior Year at Boarding School (1917), Polly Sees the World at War (1918), Janet, a Twin (1920), Phyllis, a Twin (1920), The Twins in the South (1920), and The Twins in the West (1920).

Her fiction centers on girls’ friendships, school life, family bonds, and light adventure. Surviving catalogs and library records also connect her with several series, including the Polly Pendleton, Page Twins, and Joyce Payton books, showing a career built around warm, fast-moving stories for young readers.

Reliable biographical detail about her life is surprisingly scarce in the sources now easy to access online, so it is safer to let the books speak for her. What is clear is that her stories remained popular enough to be preserved by Project Gutenberg, library catalogs, and readers’ databases, giving her a lasting place in classic girls’ fiction.