Hunt, Mabel Leigh

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HUNT, Mabel Leigh

Born 1 November 1892, Coatesville, Indiana; died 3 September 1971, Indianapolis, Indiana

Daughter of Tighlman and Amanda Harvey Hunt

Daughter of a smalltown doctor, Mabel Leigh Hunt enjoyed a happy childhood as one of eight children in a closely knit, book-loving Quaker family. She invented her first story when she was about three years old and throughout her childhood cherished the ambition of becoming an author. While Hunt was in high school, her father died and the family moved to Indianapolis, which remained her home for the rest of her life. After study at DePauw University and training in library science at Western Reserve University, Hunt served as a librarian until 1938, when she decided to devote herself full time to writing.

Although she was in her forties when she wrote her first book, Hunt published 30 volumes for juvenile readers and contributed numerous stories, articles, and poems to magazines and anthologies. Have You Seen Tom Thumb? (1942) and Better Known As Johnny Appleseed (1950) were Newbery Medal honor books, while Billy Button's Butter'd Biscuit (1941) and The Peddler's Clock (1943) received awards in the New York Herald Tribune's children's book festivals.

Hunt wrote for juvenile readers of various ages, but children from eight to twelve years old were her favorite audience. She aptly described her books as "pleasant stories of family relationships, ideal, yet real." She usually pictured a stable, affectionate family with four or five children surrounded by grandparents, cousins, and friends. Stories that drew upon her Quaker background were special favorites. Hunt's books reveal her interest in nursery rhymes, folk songs, and poetry.

Lucinda, a Little Girl of 1860 (1934), Hunt's first novel, is based on her mother's Quaker childhood in central Indiana. Routine activities of the farm family are punctuated by events of the Civil War and by the arrival of a runaway slave, a fugitive soldier, and an elderly man who is searching for the grave of his little sister who died while the family was moving northward in a covered wagon.

Her father's childhood in North Carolina provided background material for Benjie's Hat (1938), the tale of a lively Quaker boy whose thrifty family expects him to wear hand-me-down headgear. Tomorrow Will Be Bright (1958) recounts the adventures of a Quaker girl whose family moves from North Carolina to Ohio sometime before 1860. In each of these preemancipation stories, Hunt pictures free blacks living as part of the Quaker community.

Conversations with her "own private fairy" who visited Hunt during childhood illnesses may have been the inspiration for the delightful but imaginary playmate of the heroine of Sibby Botherbox (1945). In John of Pudding Lane (1941), a printer in Boston collects and publishes the nursery rhymes with which Grandmother Goose entertains his children. Benjamin Franklin appears as a minor character. Ladycake Farm (1952) depicts the struggles and successes of a contemporary black family that moves from the city to a small farm and overcomes initial prejudice to gain acceptance in the new community.

For older readers, Hunt wrote narrative biographies of Tom Thumb, the famous midget, and John Chapman, Better Known as Johnny Appleseed, as well as three novels. Beggar's Daughter (1963), Hunt's only historical novel with a British setting, records the life of Quakers living under the threat of persecution, loss of property, and imprisonment during the reigns of Charles II and James II. Their religious faith, simplistic practices, and hard work set them apart from the excitement and violence of village activities as well as from the comfortable, leisured existence of the landed gentry.

Hunt's work shows careful research, exacting craftsmanship, and a sincere respect and affection for both her material and her audience.

Other Works:

The Boy Who Had No Birthday (1935). Little Girl with Seven Names (1936). Susan, Beware! (1937). Little Grey Gown (1939). Michel's Island (1940). Corn Belt Billy (1942). Peter Piper's Pickled Peppers (1942). Young Man of the House (1944). Double Birthday Present (1947). Such a Kind World (1947). Matilda's Buttons (1948). Wonderful Baker (1950). The Sixty-Ninth Grandchild (1951). Singing Among Strangers (1954). Miss Jellytot's Visit (1955). Stars for Cristy (1956). Cristy at Skippinghills (1958). Cupola House (1961). Johnny-Up and Johnny-Down (1962).