Pelagie Doane Hoffner (April 11, 1906 – December 9, 1966) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books.

Early life and education

Doane was born in

Ambler, Pennsylvania Ambler is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. History Lenape The historical territ ...

Palmyra, New Jersey Palmyra is a borough in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,438, an increase of 40 (+0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 7,398, which in turn reflected an in ...

(sources vary), the daughter of Warren Finney Doane and Pelagie Judith Plasschaert Doane. Her father was an editor. She went to art school in Philadelphia. "For many generations there has been a Pelagie in the family," explained one profile, about her unusual given name.

Career

Doane was a prolific illustrator of children's books from the 1930s into the 1960s, especially known for her work on books with Christian themes, and on

Margaret Sutton Margaret Sutton (January 22, 1903 - June 21, 2001) was the pen name of Rachel Beebe, an American author and teacher who is famous as being the author of the Judy Bolton Series of mystery books, 38 volumes published between 1932 and 1967. In a ...

's Judy Bolton mysteries. She also wrote books for children, again often on religious subjects. "Children are people, so I paint up to their level, not down," she explained about her work. ''A Small Child's Bible'' (1946), with seventy stories written and illustrated by Doane, was described as "a standard" in 1960. "Here is a book that both child and parent can read together with pleasure," remarked a 1952 reviewer about her ''A Book of Nature'', a child's guide to flora and fauna common in the northeastern United States.

Publications

As illustrator

* Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton * Melody Lane series by

Lilian Garis Lilian C. Garis, born Lilian C. McNamara (20 October 1873 – 19 April 1954), was an American author who wrote hundreds of books of juvenile fiction between around 1915 and the early 1940s. Prior to this, she was the first female reporter for the ...

* Magic Makers series by Margaret Sutton * ''Mary Paxson: Her Book'' (1931) * ''Pinocchio Put-Together Book'' (1937), with

Carlo Collodi Carlo Lorenzini (; 24 November 1826 – 26 October 1890), better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi ( ; ), was an Italian author, humourist, and journalist, widely known for his fairy tale novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio''. Early lif ...

and

Christopher Rule Christopher Rule (November 23, 1894 – April 1983) was an American comic book artist active from the 1940s through at least 1960, and best known as the first regular Marvel Comics inker for comics artist Jack Kirby during the period fans and hist ...

* ''

Mother Goose Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...

'' (1940) * ''Did You Ever?'' (1940) by Elizabeth Honness * ''Belinda Balloon and the Big Wind'' (1940) by Elizabeth Honness * ''Favorite Nursery Songs'' (1941) * ''Two Bridgets'' (1941) by Cynthia Hathaway * ''Trailer Trio'' (1942) by Emma Atkins Jacobs * ''Polly Peters'' (1942) by Jane Quigg * ''

A Child's Garden of Verses ''A Child's Garden of Verses'' is an 1885 volume of 64 poems for children by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It has been reprinted many times, often in illustrated versions, and is considered to be one of the most influential child ...

'' (1942) by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

* ''Tell Me About God'' (1943) by

Mary Alice Jones Mary Alice Jones (1898–1980) was an author of religious books for children. Biography Mary Alice Jones was born in Dallas, Texas in 1898. She was involved in religion from an early age, joining the Methodist Church at age 10. She receiv ...

* ''Singing with Peter and Patsy'' (1944) by Ann Sterling Boesel * ''More Silver Pennies'' (1945) by Blanche Jennings Thompson * ''Tell Me About Jesus'' (1946) by Mary Alice Jones * ''The Child's Book of Prayers'' (1947) * ''A Small Child's Book of Verse'' (1948) * ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'' (1958) by

Johanna Spyri Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur i ...

* ''

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates ''Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates'' (full title: ''Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland'') is a children's novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherland ...

'' (1961) by

Mary Mapes Dodge Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge (January 26, 1831 – August 21, 1905) was an American children's author and editor, best known for her novel '' Hans Brinker''. She was the recognized leader in juvenile literature for almost a third of the nineteen ...

* ''

Heidi's Children ''Heidi's Children'' (''Heidi et ses enfants'') is a 1939 novel, the second of four sequel novels to Johanna Spyri's original ''Heidi'' series, written by Spyri's French and English translator, Charles Tritten. It was originally published in Fren ...

'' (1964) by

Charles Tritten Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

* ''Fairy Elves'' (1964) by

Robin Palmer Robin Palmer (born Richard Robert Palmer; April 7, 1930 – August 20, 2010) was an American political activist, television host and producer, and convicted member of the Weather Underground. Biography Robin Palmer was born in Harlem on April 7, ...

As author or editor

* ''Littlest Ones'' (1940) * ''A Small Child's Bible'' (1946), "published in both Catholic and Protestant editions" * ''A Book of Nature'' (1952) * ''The Boy Jesus'' (1953) * ''Bible Children: Stories from the Old Testament'' (1954) * ''Poems of Praise'' (1957) * ''The Story of Moses'' (1958) * ''St. Francis'' (1960)

As Dorothy Hoffner

* ''Cooking Step by Step'' (1947)

Personal life

Doane married Warren Earl Hoffner in the 1930s. They lived in

Glendola, New Jersey Glendola is an unincorporated community located within Wall Township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United ...

after 1948. Her husband died in 1958, and she died in 1966, at the age of 60, in

Belmar, New Jersey Belmar is a Borough (New Jersey), borough located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 5,907, an increase of 113 ...

. There is a box of her illustrations from three book projects at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

References

External links

Pelagie Doane at askART

Pelagie Doane at IFSDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doane, Pelagie 1906 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American illustrators People from Ambler, Pennsylvania American people of Belgian descent