Hazel Hutchins Wilson (1898 - 1992)

Genre: Children's Literature

Hazel Wilson was born in Portland on 8 April 1898. She lived on Munjoy Hill, just a few streets away from the Portland Observatory and attended Portland schools.

The Hill, as it is known in Portland, is the location of The Surprise of Their Lives, published in 1957. Wilson graduated from Bates College in 1919 and the following year earned a Master of Library Science from Simmons College. She returned to Portland where she was employed as the librarian at Portland High School from 1920 to 1923. Later, she was a librarian at the Northeast Missouri Teachers College (1923-1926), the American Library in Paris (1926-1928), and at Bradford Academy (1928-1929), and was supervisor of Denver school libraries in 1929 and 1930. Although her library career ended when she married, Wilson's knowledge of children and books helped her create characters and plots that make her books appealing to both child and adult readers. She was also a book reviewer for publications in the Washington, D.C., area and was a lecturer at George Washington University from 1956 to 1967. She died in Bethesda, Maryland on 20 Aug. 1992.

Wilson's first book, The Red Dory was published in 1939, with a new edition released in 1959. Like many of her books, it was set in Maine. Other books with Maine locations are The Owen Boys (1947), Island Summer (1949), Thad Owen (1950), Tall Ships (1950), and His Indian Brother (1955), as well as the previously mentioned The Surprise of Their Lives (1957).

Her son Jerry's childhood experiences were the inspiration for Wilson's "Herbert" series, which include Herbert (1950), Herbert Again (1951), More Fun With Herbert (1954), Herbert's Homework (1960), Herbert's Space Trip (1965), and Herbert's Stilts (1972). Two other books influenced by her son's adventures are Jerry's Charge Account (1960) and The Three and Many Wishes of Jason Reid (1988).

Wilson also published non-fiction works such as The Story of Lafayette (1952), The Story of Mad Anthony Wayne (1953), The Little Marquise: Madame Lafayette (1957), The Seine, River of Paris (1962), Last Queen of Hawaii: Liliuokalani (1963), and The Years Between: Washington at Home at Mount Vernon, 1783-1789 (1969).

Bates College awarded Wilson an honorary Master of Arts in 1956. She earned The Ohioana Award for Island Summer, the Boys Club of America Junior Book Award for Thad Owen, and the Edison Award for His Indian Brother.


Last Update: 05/30/2007

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