author
Margaret Vandegrift
1845–1913
Best known for writing for young readers under the pen name Margaret Vandegrift, she published stories and verse that appeared in popular children’s magazines of the late 19th century. Her work has the warm, moral tone of its era, with a special gift for domestic scenes and childhood feeling.
1 Audiobook
Little Helpers
by Margaret Vandegrift
About the author
Margaret Vandegrift was the pen name of Margaret Thomson Janvier, an American writer of children’s literature and poetry. Sources found during this search identify her as born in the 1840s in New Orleans and note that she died in 1913. She also came from a literary family; her brother was the writer Thomas Allibone Janvier.
She wrote stories and verses for young readers and is associated with books such as Little Helpers, Little Bell and Other Stories for Boys and Girls, Doris and Theodora, and The Dead Doll and Other Verses. Some of her poems and stories were also published in well-known juvenile magazines, including St. Nicholas, Harper's Young People, The Youth's Companion, and Wide Awake.
Although not widely known today, her writing reflects a lively corner of 19th-century American children’s publishing. Under the name Margaret Vandegrift, she built a body of work centered on family life, sentiment, and the imaginative world of children.