Children's author who wrote nearly two dozen books and won the Newbery Medal for her 1951 work, Ginger Pye. Her other works include The Moffats, The Hundred Dresses, and Pinky Pye.
She worked as a children's librarian in New Haven, Connecticut and later won a scholarship to the Pratt Institute's library school. She published the first book in her popular Moffats series in 1941.
She had an early hit with The Moffats, a book that told the story of four children who lived in a small Connecticut town around the turn of the 20th century.
She grew up in West Haven, Connecticut as one of four children. She married librarian Rice Estes, and the couple had a daughter named Helena.
Kevin Henkes was another Newbery Medal winner (for his children's book, Olive's Ocean).