Coatsworth, Elizabeth (1893 - 1986)

Genre: Children's Literature, Non-Fiction, Poetry

Coatsworth, born in Buffalo, NY and a graduate of Vassar (BA 1915) and Columbia (MA 1916), was the wife of Henry Beston (married 1929) and lived with him in Hingham, MA, then for decades on a farm in Nobleboro; she's buried in the cemetery on Chimney Farm. Their daughter -- Kate Barnes -- was Maine's first poet laureate.

Coatsworth traveled widely, spending time in England, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Morocco, Japan, China, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Yucatan. She incorporated her travel memories into her writing.

Selected Bibliography

Juvenile Works

  • The Cat and the Captain (1927)
  • Toutou in Bondage (1929)
  • The Boy With the Parrot (1929)
  • Away Goes Sally (1934)
  • Sword of the Wilderness (1936)
  • Alice-All-By-Herself (1937)
  • Five Bushel Farm (1939) companion to Away Goes Sally
  • Houseboat Summer (1942)
  • Thief Island (1943)
  • The Little Haymakers (1949), the story of a boy and his pair of oxen
  • The Captain's Daughter (1950)
  • The Enchanted: An Incredible Tale (1951)
  • Dollar for Luck (1951)
  • Silky: An Incredible Tale (1953)
  • Door to the North, A Saga of 14th Century America (1952)
  • Giant Book of Cat Stories (1953)
  • Old Whirlwind: A Davy Crockett Story (1953/1964)
  • Mountain Bride (1954)
  • The Last Fort, A Story of the French Voyageurs (1958)
  • The Peaceable Kingdom and Other Poems (1958)
  • The Nobel Doll (1961)
  • Bob Bodden and the Goodship Rover (1968)
  • The White Room: An Incredible Tale (1958)
  • The Sailing Hatrack (1972)
  • Marra's World (1975)
  • The Cat Who Went To Heaven (1930) 1931 Newbery Award

Adult Works

  • Here I Stay: A Maine Novel (1938)
  • Maine Memories: Vignettes of Life around Damariscotta (1944)
  • Personal Geography: Almost an Autobiography (1976)
  • Maine Ways (1945)

Poetry

  • Country Poems (1942)
  • Summer Green (1948)
  • Fox Footprints (1923)
  • Atlas and Beyond (1924)
  • Compass Rose (1929)
  • Country Poems (1942)
  • Summer Green (1948)
  • Sung under the Silver Umbrella: Poems for Young Children (1935)

Selected Resources