author
Katharine Ellis Barrett
1879–1961
A Vassar-educated American writer for young readers, she is best remembered for spirited early-1900s stories like the Wide-Awake Girls books and the mountain adventure Girls in the High Sierras. Her work blends energy, independence, and a clear affection for the places and communities she wrote about.
1 Audiobook
The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted
by Katharine Ellis Barrett
About the author
Katharine Ellis Barrett was an American author born in Charles City, Iowa, on May 31, 1879. Library of Congress authority data identifies her under several forms of her name, including Katharine Ellis Barrett and Katharine Ruth Ellis, and notes that she died in Los Angeles, California, on July 14, 1961.
She studied at Vassar College, earning a bachelor's degree in 1901, and later graduated from the Wisconsin Library School in 1912. Before and after her marriage to writer and traveler Robert Le Moyne Barrett, she published books for young readers, including titles in the Wide-Awake Girls series and the 1924 novel Girls in the High Sierras.
Her books suggest a writer drawn to lively, capable young heroines and to settings with a strong sense of place. Though she is not widely known today, her fiction still survives through library catalogs and public-domain editions, where new readers can discover her upbeat, adventurous style.