Rebecca Caudill Ayars (February 2, 1899 – October 2, 1985) was an American writer of children's literature. More than twenty of her books were published. ''

Tree of Freedom In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are us ...

'' (Viking, 1949) was a Newbery Honor Book in 1950. ''A Pocketful of Cricket'' (Holt, 1964), illustrated by Evaline Ness, was a Caldecott Honor Book.

Life

Caudill was one of eleven children in the family of Susan and George Caudill of Harlan County, Kentucky. She was born in Poor Fork, now Cumberland, Kentucky. She graduated from Wesleyan College in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

, and then taught English and history 1920–21 at Sumner County High School, Portland, Tennessee. In 1922 she received her master's degree in International Relations from Vanderbilt University. She taught English as a second language (ESL) in Brazil for two years and then returned to Tennessee where she worked briefly as an editor for Abingdon Press, the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

publishing house in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. She moved to Chicago for a job in a publishing house, and she married James Sterling Ayars in 1931. They moved to Urbana, Illinois in 1937 with their two children. Caudill's first book, ''Barrie and Daughter'' (Viking, 1943), came from memories of her childhood in the hill country of Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of her children's books brought alive the pioneer era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, evoking the culture of

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

she loved. She wrote in her memoir: "Doors in the houses of my Appalachia were never locked against friend or stranger. The people found their pleasures in the simple things of life. They possessed a kind of profound wisdom, characteristic of those who live close to Nature, who walk in step with Nature's rhythm, and who depend on Nature for life itself."

Activism

She was the co-founder of th
Champaign-Urbana Peace Council
created the hospitality program for international students at Wesleyan College; and served on the boards of trustees for the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County and the Urbana Free Library in Illinois. She also taught many writing workshops.

Bibliography

Many of these works are translated into at least five other languages besides English. * Barrie and Daughter (1943) * Happy Little Family (1947) * Schoolhouse in the Woods (1949) * Tree Of Freedom (1949) * Up and Down the River (1951) * Florence Nightingale (1953) * Saturday Cousins (1953) * The House of the Fifers (1954) * Susan Cornish (1955) * Schoolroom in the Parlor (1959) * Time for Lissa (1959) * Higgins and the Great Big Scare (1960) * The Best-loved Doll (1962) * A Pocketful of Cricket (1964) * The Far-off Land (1964) * A Certain Small Shepherd (1965) * The High Cost of Writing (1965) * Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley? (1966) * My Appalachia: a reminiscence (1966) * Come Along (1969) * Contrary Jenkins (1969) * Rebecca Caudill (1969) * The World of Rebecca Caudill (1970) * Somebody Go and Bang a Drum (1974) * Wind, Sand and Sky (1976) * From Hardshell Baptist to Quaker (1979) * The Joyous Land: a play for childhood and youth week (n.d.) See th
Scholastics.com
website for a list of Caudill's books by interest level, genre/theme and grade level equivalency.

Awards and honors

In the fall of 1963, the University of Kentucky, Southeast Center honored her with Rebecca Caudill Day. Harlan County's first community library was located in Cumberland, Kentucky, and in 1965 it was named th
Rebecca Caudill Public Library
in her honor.

Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame

Rebecca Caudill was inducted into The Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame at an induction ceremony on Thursday, January 23, 2014, at the Carnegie Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Caudill was the Kentucky Hall of Fame's first children's author.

Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award

The Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
RCYRBA
is named in honor of Caudill and her contributions to children's literature. The schoolchildren in her adopted state of Illinois, Grade 4 to Grade 8, vote each year for their favorite of twenty nominees.

References

External links

AppLit

Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award

at Champaign Public Library

(2005) by Champaign Public Library * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caudill, Rebecca 1899 births 1985 deaths Writers from Kentucky American children's writers Wesleyan College alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Appalachian writers People from Cumberland, Kentucky Newbery Honor winners Place of death missing American women children's writers Kentucky women writers 20th-century American women American expatriates in Brazil