Author picture

Eleanor Graham (1896–1984)

Author of The Children Who Lived in a Barn

23+ Works 488 Members 13 Reviews

About the Author

Works by Eleanor Graham

Associated Works

The Secret Garden (1911) — Editor, some editions — 34,948 copies
The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899) — Introduction, some editions — 1,771 copies
A Puffin Quartet of Poets (1958) — Editor, some editions — 66 copies
Eleanor Farjeon's Book: Stories, Verses, Plays (1600) — Editor — 45 copies
Secret Laughter (Puffin Books) (1969) — Editor — 24 copies
Poems (1906) — Editor — 22 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1896-01-09
Date of death
1984-03-08
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Walthamstow, London, England, UK
Place of death
London, England, UK
Places of residence
London, England, UK
Education
North London Collegiate School
Occupations
editor
children's book author
book reviewer
Awards and honors
Eleanor Farjeon Award (1973)
Short biography
Eleanor Graham was born in Walthamstow, England. Her father was the editor of the popular periodical Country Life. She became an editor for the publishing houses Heinemann and Methuen, as well as a reviewer of children's books at The Sunday Times and others. During World War II, she was the editor of Penguin's children's imprint Puffin Books.

She also wrote her own books, including
The Children Who Lived in a Barn (1938).

Members

Reviews

Includes favourites Naomi Mitchison's "Spring", and Dekker's "Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?". It is a familiar theme in poetry (eg: Bunyan's "He that is down needs fear no fall" and Pope's "Happy the man whose wish and care") but it does resonate with me. I’m far from being a minimalist (“Haven’t you got enough ornaments?” a friend once said half-jokingly), but I find there are lots of things I can quite happily do without. In the current time of coronavirus lockdown, that’s probably just as well.… (more)
 
Flagged
PollyMoore3 | 1 other review | May 17, 2020 |
An old-fashioned feelgood tale, set at the original time of writing, about a family of children who are forced to live in a barn after their parents disappear and the landlord throws them out. They make shift to look after themselves by cooking in a haybox, mending their own clothes, and doing odd jobs around the village, befriended by the schoolteacher and a local tramp, harassed by the District Visitor, who - aided by the respectable middle-class ladies of the village - plots to get them separated and sent to foster homes. It offers a stereotypical but informative and not over-romanticized view of life in rural England in the 1930s. MB 10-i-2018… (more)
 
Flagged
MyopicBookworm | 8 other reviews | Jan 10, 2018 |
The story is what it says -- a family of children (some of them old enough to make it fairly plausible) live on their own in a barn after their parents disappear, repelling the attempts of do-gooders to take them away, and living by the rule ""No begging, borrowing, scrounging or stealing." I suppose their self-reliance may be intended as a conservative moral lesson, but as a child I simply liked it as a story.
 
Flagged
antiquary | 8 other reviews | Feb 28, 2014 |

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James Marsh Cover artist

Statistics

Works
23
Also by
6
Members
488
Popularity
#50,613
Rating
4.1
Reviews
13
ISBNs
11

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