author
Margaret Vandegrift
1845–1913
A late-19th-century American writer of poems and stories for children, she published under the pen name Margaret Vandegrift and became known for warm, imaginative books for young readers. Her work appeared in popular children's magazines before being gathered into books of verse and fiction.
1 Audiobook
Little Helpers
by Margaret Vandegrift
About the author
Born in New Orleans in 1845, Margaret Thomson Janvier wrote under the pseudonym Margaret Vandegrift. She was part of a literary family and was the sister of writer Thomas Allibone Janvier. Her poems and stories were aimed at children, with a style that mixed playfulness, sentiment, and everyday feeling.
Her work appeared in magazines such as St. Nicholas, Harper's Young People, The Youth's Companion, and Wide Awake. She also published books including The Dead Doll, and Other Verses and Little Helpers, building a reputation as a writer who understood the emotional world of young readers.
Vandegrift died in 1913. Though not as widely remembered today as some of her contemporaries, her poems and tales still offer a clear glimpse of American children's literature in the late 1800s.