Eleanor Youmans

Eleanor Youmans (September 7, 1876 – October 8, 1968) was an American author of children's novels, short stories, and poetry. She published a dozen novels through the Bobbs-Merrill Company. Her short stories appeared in The American Magazine, Child Life, and Junior Home. The subjects of her stories were often cats, dogs,

Early life and education Youmans was born Eleanor Elizabeth Williams in Maxville, Missouri, in Jefferson County, to Missouri Harbison Williams and Dr. Charles Williams. She had one sister, Edwina. When her mother died in 1881, Youmans and her sister moved to Pataskala, Ohio, to live with their grandfather, Stephen C. Williams, and two of their aunts. after she graduated from Normal School, in DeSoto, Missouri, in 1894. She then relocated back to Ohio, first residing with relatives in Celina, When her son, William, was 12-years-old, he encouraged his mother to write, saying "Mother, you don’t write. You just talk about writing.” She went on to publish a short story, "The Man Who Wanted a Dog That Would Kill" in the October 1921 issue of The American Magazine, followed by twelve children's novels with the Bobbs-Merrill Company as well as an omnibus reprint of the first three Skitter Cat stories in The Skitter Cat Book published in 1947. Her 1930 novel, Teddy Horse, was also published by the London publisher Elkin Mathews and Marrot in 1931. Youmans's books were endorsed by the American Library Association, and certified as part of the Ohio Teachers' Reading circle circuit. Her novel Mount Delightful (1944) won an Ohioana Award for Juvenile Literature in 1945.

Selected publications

Skitter Cat. 1925 Skitter Cat and Little Boy. 1926 Skitter Cat and Major. 1927 Skitter and Skeet. 1928 Teddy Horse: The Story of a Runaway Pony. 1930 Cinder: The Tale of a Black and Tan Toy Terrier. 1933 Little Dog Mack: The Story of a Wirehaired Terrier. 1936 Waif: The Story of Spe. 1937 The Great Adventures of Jack, Jock, and Funny. 1938 The Forest Road: Two Boys in the Ozarks. 1939 Timmy: The Dog That Was Different. 1941 Mount Delightful: The Story of Ellen Evans and Her Dog Taffy. 1944 The Skitter Cat Book. 1947