Laura E. Richards



Laura Elizabeth Richards (February 27, 1850 - January 14, 1943) was an American poet, biographer, and children's writer. A children's poem for which she is known is the nonsense verse Eletelephony.

Life
She was born Laura Elizabeth Howe, in Boston, Massachusetts, to a high-profile family. Her mother was poet Julia Ward Howe, famous for writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Her father was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. Samuel Gridley Howe's famous pupil Laura Bridgman was Laura's namesake.

In 1871, Laura married Henry Richards. He would accept a management position in 1876 at his family's paper mill at Gardiner, Maine, where the couple moved with their three children.

During her life, she wrote over 90 books, including children's, biographies, poetry, and others.

Recognition
In 1917, Richards won a Pulitzer Prize for Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, a biography, which she co-authored with her sister, Maud Howe Elliott.

Her children's book Tirra Lirra won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1959.

Laura E. Richards School is a Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 2 school attended by students in Gardiner and South Gardiner, Maine.

Publications

 * Sketches and Scraps (1881)
 * Baby Ways (1881)
 * Beauty and the Beast (retelling, 1886)
 * Four Feet, Two Feet, and No Feet (1886)
 * Hop o' My Thumb (retelling, 1886)
 * Kaspar Kroak's Kaleidoscope (1886)
 * L.E.R. (privately printed, 1886)
 * Tell-Tale from Hill and Dale (1886)
 * Toto's Merry Winter (1887)
 * Julia Ward Howe Birthday-Book (1889)
 * Glimpses of the French Court (1893)
 * When I Was Your Age (1893)
 * Five Minute Stories (1895)
 * Jim of Hellas, or In Durance Vile (1895)
 * Isla Heron (1896)
 * "Some Say" and Neighbors in Cyrus (1896)
 * The Social Possibilities of a Country Town (1897)
 * Love and Rocks (1898)
 * Chop-Chin and the Golden Dragon (1899)


 * The Golden-Breasted Kootoo (1899)
 * Sundown Songs (1899)
 * For Tommy and Other Stories (1900)
 * Snow-White, or The House in the Wood (1900)
 * Geoffrey Strong (1901)
 * The Hurdy-Gurdy (1902)
 * More Five Minute Stories (1903)
 * The Armstrongs (1905)
 * The Piccolo (1906)
 * The Silver Crown, Another Book of Fables (1906)
 * At Gregory's House (1907)
 * Grandmother, the Story of a Life that Never was Lived (1907)
 * Ten Ghost Stories (1907)
 * The Pig Brother, and Other Fables and Stories (1908)
 * The Wooing of Calvin Parks (1908)
 * A Happy Little Time (1910)
 * Up to Calvin's (1910)
 * On Board the Mary Sands (1911)
 * Jolly Jingles (1912)
 * Miss Jimmy (1913)
 * The Little Master (1913)
 * Three Minute Stories (1914)
 * The Pig Brother Play-Book (1915)
 * Fairy Operettas (1916)
 * Pippin, a Wandering Flame. New York & London: D. Appleton, 1917.
 * A Daughter of Jehu (1918)
 * To Arms! Songs of the Great War (1918)
 * Honor Bright: A Story for Girls (1920)
 * In Blessed Cyrus (1921)
 * The Squire (1923)
 * Acting Charades (1924)
 * Seven Oriental Operettas (1924)
 * Honor Bright's New Adventure (1925)
 * Tirra Lirra: New Rhymes and Old (1932)
 * Merry-Go-Round: New Rhymes and Old (1935)
 * E. A. R. (1936)
 * Please! Rhymes of Protest (1936)
 * Harry in England (1937)
 * I Have a Song to Sing You (1938)
 * The Hottentot and Other Ditties (1939)
 * What Shall the Children Read (1939)
 * Laura E. Richards and Gardiner (a compilation of poems and articles, 1939)

Biographies

 * Florence Nightingale: Angel of the Crimea (1909)
 * Two Noble Lives: Samuel Gridley Howe and Julia Ward Howe (1911)
 * Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910 (with Maude Howe Elliott).
 * Elizabeth Fry, the Angel of the Prisons (1916)
 * [*Tirra Lirra: New Rhymes and Old (1932)
 * Merry-Go-Round: New Rhymes and Old (1935)
 * E. A. R. (1936)
 * Please! Rhymes of Protest (1936)
 * Harry in England (1937)
 * I Have a Song to Sing You (1938)
 * The Hottentot and Other Ditties (1939)
 * What Shall the Children Read (1939)
 * Laura E. Richards and Gardiner (a compilation of poems and articles, 1939)
 * [Abigail Adams and Her Times]. New York & London: D. Appleton, 1917.
 * Joan of Arc (1919)
 * Laura Bridgman: The Story of an Opened Door (1928)
 * Stepping Westward (1931)

Children's poetry

 * In My Nursery: A Book of Verse. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1890.

Children's prose

 * Baby's Rhyme Book (1878)
 * Babyhood: Rhymes and Stories, Pictures and Silhouettes for Our Little Ones (1878)
 * Baby's Story Book (1878)
 * Five Mice in a Mouse Trap. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1880.
 * The Little Tyrant (1880)
 * Our Baby's Favorite (1881)
 * The Joyous Story of Toto. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885.
 * Quicksilver Sue (1899)
 * The Green Satin Gown (illustrated by Etheldred D. Barry). 1903.
 * Captain January. 1890.
 * Narcissa, or the Road to Rome. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1894.
 * Nautilus. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1895.
 * The Golden Windows: A book of fables for young and old. Boston: Little, Brown, 1908.
 * Star Bright (Captain January sequel, 1927)


 * The Hildegarde Series
 * Queen Hildegarde. Boston: Page Co., 1889.
 * Hildegarde's Holiday, Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1891.
 * Hildegarde's Home. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1892.
 * Hildegarde's Neighbors (1895)
 * Hildegarde's Harvest. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1897.
 * The Melody Series
 * Melody: The story of a child. (1893)
 * Marie (1894)
 * Bethsada Pool (1895)
 * Rosin the Beau (1898)
 * The Margaret Series
 * Three Margarets (1897)
 * Margaret Montfort. Boston: Dana Estes, 1898.
 * Peggy (illustrated by Etheldred B. Barry}. Boston: Dana Estes, 1899.
 * Rita (illustrated by Etheldred B. Barry). Boston: Dana Estes, 1900.
 * Fernley House (illustrated by Etheldred B. Barry). Boston: Dana Estes, 1901.
 * The Merryweathers (illustrated by Julia Ward Richards). Boston: Dana Estes, 1904.
 * The "Mrs. Tree" series
 * Mrs. Tree. Boston: Dana Estes, 1902.
 * The Tree in the City (1903)
 * Mrs. Tree's Will. Boston, Dana Estes, 1905.

Edited

 * Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe (Vol. I: 1906, Vol. II: 1909)