Margaret Burnham

Margaret Burnham (1884–1971) was an American writer of children's literature. She is known for her four-book Girl Aviators series, published between 1911 and 1912: The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise, The Girl Aviators on Golden Wings, The Girl Aviators and the Phantom Airship, and The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly. Set in the early age of aviation, these novels follow young female pilots on adventures in the air, a theme that was fresh and closely tied to the excitement surrounding the newly emerging technology of flight, and they held some appeal for young readers. Public information about her life is limited: beyond her nationality and dates, little is recorded about her education, career, or the details of her writing, and some researchers suspect that Margaret Burnham may have been a pen name. Even so, the four books remain an interesting example of early twentieth-century American girls' adventure fiction and aviation-themed children's literature.