Etta Blaisdell McDonald

Etta Blaisdell McDonald was an American author identified in library records as Etta Blaisdell McDonald (1872–1963). She also appears under the name Etta Austin Blaisdell, which helps explain why her books and catalog entries are sometimes listed in slightly different ways.

She is especially associated with children’s reading books and educational literature. Catalog and library sources connect her with titles such as Betty in Canada, Boris in Russia, Gerda in Sweden, Rafael in Italy, Hassan in Egypt, Kathleen in Ireland, and Umé San in Japan, many of them written with Julia Dalrymple. She also worked on readers such as The Child Life Fifth Reader and other schoolbooks, including collaborations with Mary Frances Blaisdell.

Taken together, these books suggest a writer interested in helping children learn about the wider world through accessible stories. Many of her works remained well enough known to be preserved by major digital libraries and Project Gutenberg, which points to a long afterlife in classrooms, libraries, and public-domain collections.