author
Reba Paeff Mirsky
1902–1966
A gifted musician who moved easily into writing, she brought curiosity, travel, and a strong ear for storytelling to children’s books. Best known for her Nomusa novels, she wrote stories that opened a window onto Zulu life for young readers.
1 Audiobook
Thirty-one brothers and sisters
by Reba Paeff Mirsky
About the author
Born in Boston in 1902, she built her early life around music and went on to become both a classical musician and a writer for children. Reliable sources agree that she was an American author and musician, and that she later earned a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953.
Her best-known books center on the fictional Zulu girl Nomusa, including Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters (1952), Seven Grandmothers (1955), and Nomusa and the New Magic (1962). Those books helped define her place in mid-20th-century children’s literature, blending an interest in other cultures with an accessible, story-first style.
She died in 1966. While detailed biographical material is limited in the sources I could confirm here, the picture that emerges is of a writer who brought a musician’s discipline and feeling for rhythm into books meant to spark young readers’ imaginations.