Edith B. (Edith Bertha) Ordway

Born in 1877 and dying in 1944, Edith Bertha Ordway was an American author and illustrator whose work was aimed largely at younger readers. She wrote adventure fiction as well as instructional books, and her career shows a strong interest in education, craft, and everyday creativity.

Her best-known titles include The Voyage of the Aurora, an adventure novel, and practical books such as The Beginner's Book of Things to Make and Handicraft for Handy Girls. That mix of storytelling and making gives her work a distinctive feel: imaginative, energetic, and closely tied to the idea that books can entertain while also teaching useful skills.

Reliable biographical detail about her personal life appears to be limited in the sources available online, so it is safest to remember her through the books themselves. Together, they suggest a writer who wanted young readers not just to observe the world, but to explore it and build something with their own hands.