Caroline Dale Snedeker

Caroline Dale Snedeker née Parke (March 3, 1871 – January 22, 1956) was an American writer, primarily of children's historical novels. Two of her books, Downright Dencey and The Forgotten Daughter, were runners-up for the Newbery Medal. On occasion she used the pen name Caroline Dale Owen.

Personal life Caroline Dale Parke was born on March 23, 1871, in New Harmony, Indiana, to Nina Dale (Owen) and Charles Augustus Parke, a banker. Her great-grandfather was Robert Owen, one of Britain's first social reformers and industrialists. Her grandfather was David Dale Owen, a geologist for the United States Geological Survey and the first state geologist for the states of Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas.

Parke grew up near Mount Vernon, Indiana, in a family with three sisters (Ada Owen, Anna Crawford, and Nina Dale) and a brother (Julius Leonard).

Snedeker's first book, The Coward of Thermopylae, appeared for adults in 1911. It gained popularity in 1912 when it was reissued for young adults and re-titled The Spartan. The great response to these novels sparked requests for a children's version. In 1924 Snedeker published Theras and His Town (1924). Theras is an eleven-year-old boy who moves from Athens to Sparta where he experiences a brutal life under Spartan control and attempts to escape back to Athens. The Forgotten Daughter (1933) is set in Ancient Rome and is a Newbery Honor Book.

Snedeker also wrote novels based on American history. The best known is Downright Dencey, a 1928 Newbery Honor Book, The Spartan (Doubleday, 1912) – reissue of The Coward of Thermopylae by imprint Country Life Press with decorations by Leon V. Solon, Seth Way: A Romance of the New Harmony Community (Houghton Mifflin, 1917) – as by Caroline Dale Owen (Mrs. Charles H. Snedeker), The Perilous Seat (Doubleday, 1923) Theras and His Town, illus. Mary Haring (Doubleday, 1924); 1961 edition illus. Dimitris Davis Downright Dencey, illus. Maginel Wright Barney (Doubleday, 1927) The Beckoning Road, illus. Manning de Villeneuve Lee (Doubleday, 1929) – sequel to Downright Dencey The Black Arrowhead: Legends of Long Island, illus. M.V. Lee (Doubleday, 1929) The Forgotten Daughter, illus. Dorothy P. Lathrop (Doubleday, 1933) Uncharted Ways, illus. M.V. Lee (Doubleday, 1935) – Authors note: "Margaret Stevenson in these pages is an attempted copy of Mary Dyer" (1611–1660), The White Isle, illus. Fritz Kredel (Doubleday, 1940) Luke's Quest (Doubleday, 1947) A Triumph for Flavius, illus. Cedric Rogers (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1955) Lysis Goes to the Play, illus. Reisie Lonette (Lothrop, 1962)

Nonfiction

Snedeker's two non-fiction books in the LC online catalog both carry the Library of Congress Subject Heading "New Harmony (Ind.)—History".

The Town of the Fearless, by Snedeker "with pictorial supplement and illustrations by Manning de V. Lee" and 6-page bibliography (Doubleday, 1931), The Diaries of Donald MacDonald, 1824–1826, ed. and introduced by Snedeker (Indiana Historical Society, 1942),

Two of her novels also feature New Harmony, Indiana: Seth Way and the sequel to Downright Dencey, The Beckoning Road.