Clara Dillingham Pierson

Clara Dillingham Pierson (1868–1952) was an American children's author born in Coldwater, Michigan. She worked as a kindergarten teacher, an experience that shaped how she wrote for young readers. Between 1897 and 1902 she published the "Among the People" series of animal story collections, including Among the Forest People, Among the Farmyard People, Among the Meadow People, Among the Pond People, and Among the Night People, as well as Dooryard Stories and Tales of a Poultry Farm; seven of her works are held in this collection. Her stories rest on solid natural history and combine animal habits with gentle moral teaching, in a warm tone that avoids preachiness. Public information about her life is limited, but through this series she earned a place in early twentieth-century American nature writing for children.