Elizabeth Gordon

Educated in Maine’s public schools and later a student at the University of Minnesota, she first built a career in journalism. Reliable museum and library sources describe her as a pioneering female journalist who contributed to several newspapers and journals and served as editor of the Children’s Tribune in Minneapolis from 1901 to 1904.

She is best remembered for children’s books from the 1910s and early 1920s, including The Flower Children, Bird Children, The Butterfly Babies’ Book, The Tale of Johnny Mouse, and Buddy Jim. Many of these stories use personified plants, animals, and insects to make the natural world feel friendly, colorful, and close at hand.

Some biographical sources disagree on her exact birth year, but the dates 1866–1922 are commonly associated with her. No suitable confirmed portrait image could be verified from the sources I checked, so no profile image is included.