Mabel Leigh Hunt

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Mabel Leigh Hunt was an American writer of children’s books. She was born November 1, 1892, in Coatesville, Indiana, to a Quaker family. Her parents were Tilghman Hunt and Amanda Harvey Hunt. She grew up in Greencastle, Indiana, and moved with her family to Plainfield when she was ten. After her father died, she and her mother moved to Indianapolis, where she lived for most of her life.

She finished Shortridge High School and studied at DePauw University from 1910 to 1912, later attending Western Reserve University Library School in 1923–1924. From 1926 to 1938 she worked as a children's librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library. Her first book, Lucinda, A Little Girl of 1860, appeared in 1934 while she was still a librarian; she left the job in 1938 to write full-time.

Hunt was just over five feet tall, with brown eyes and brown hair. Her favorite activities were reading, cooking, friends, and travel. Many of her stories are set in Indiana and reflect Quaker themes from her mother’s childhood. Two of her books won Newbery Honors: Have You Seen Tom Thumb? in 1943 and Better Known as Johnny Appleseed in 1951.

Mabel Leigh Hunt died September 3, 1971, in Indianapolis.