Eleanor Frances Lattimore

Who was Eleanor Frances Lattimore?

Eleanor Frances Lattimore was an American author and illustrator born in what was called the American Compound in Shanghai and raised in China where her father, David Lattimore, taught English at a Chinese government university. She was the sister of poet and classics translator Richmond Lattimore and China expert Owen Lattimore.

Lattimore came to the United States in 1920 after her father became a professor of Chinese Studies at Dartmouth College. She studied art in Oakland, California, Boston, and New York City and worked for several years as a freelance artist. But she became known as the author and illustrator of more than fifty popular children's books. A number of her stories are based on her experiences growing up in China. Her first book, Little Pear, is considered a children's classic.