Dietz, Lew (1907 - 1977)

Genre: Children's Literature, Non-Fiction

Dietz, born in Pittsburgh, a graduate of New York University and a long-time resident of Rockport, lived in Maine for more than 40 years. During his early working years, he was a foreign correspondent in Paris and a copywriter in New York. In his middle years he gained recognition for his many magazine articles on fishing and hunting for Coast Fisherman, Outdoors Maine, and Down East, which he helped establish. In the 1950s he published the popular Jeff White series in which the action was also focused on hunting and fishing.

Selected Bibliography

Non-Fiction

  • Andre The Seal (1975), the story of a Rockport Harbor orphan seal whose feeding times became a local tourist attraction for many summers. The book was the source for the film 'Andre' (1995).
  • Night Train at Wiscasset Station: An Unforgettable Portrait of Maine and Its People, which is considered one of the classic Maine books. The book combines Dietz's words with Kosti Ruohomaa's (1914-1961) black and white photographs of ordinary rural and fishing industry Mainers.
  • The Story of Boothbay c1937, Camden Hills. An Informal History of the Camden-Rockport Region (1947)
  • The Allagash (1968), originally published as part of the Rivers of America' series
  • Touch of Wildness; a Maine Woods Journal (1970).

The Jeff White Series

  • Jeff White: Young Woodsman (c1949)
  • Jeff White: Young Guide (1951)
  • Jeff White, Young Trapper (1951)
  • Jeff White, Young Lumberjack (1952)
  • Jeff White: Forest Fire Fighter (1954)

Other Juvenile Titles

  • Pines for the King's Navy (1955)
  • Full Fathom Five (1958), illustrated by his wife artist Denny Winters
  • Wilderness River (1961)
  • The Savage Summer (1964), also illustrated by Denny Winter
  • The Year of the Big Cat (1970)

Selected Resources