Estes, Eleanor (1906-1988), an American children’s author, became known for her stories about the Moffats and the Pyes, two families who live in the fictional town of Cranbury, Connecticut. The stories were inspired by Estes’s childhood in West Haven, Connecticut, during the early 1900’s. The stories have been praised for their sympathetic and understanding view of childhood and their vivid language, rounded characters, and convincing sense of place. Estes won the Newbery Medal in 1952 for Ginger Pye (1951). The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American children’s literature during the previous year.
In addition to Ginger Pye, Estes wrote about the Pye family in Pinky Pye (1958). The Moffat family appears in four novels—The Moffats (1941), The Middle Moffat (1942), Rufus M. (1943), and The Moffat Museum (1983). Estes’s stories were collected in The Sleeping Giant (1948). She also wrote one adult novel, The Echoing Green (1947).
Eleanor Rosenfeld was born on May 9, 1906, in West Haven. She married Rice Estes, a library administrator, in 1932. She died on July 15, 1988.
