Author Information

Margaret de Angeli

Marguerite Lofft was born in Lapeer, Michigan on March 14, 1889.
In 1908 she met her future husband, John Daily de Angeli and married him two years later.
In 1922 she was hired to illustrate school papers for Presbyterian and Baptist schools. Her success with illustrating led her to try her own book.
It would be thirteen years later, in 1935, that she published her first book, Ted and Nina Go to the Grocery Store.
When The Door in the Wall won a Newbery Medal in 1950, she was overwhelmed "This honor was so far beyond my wildest dream that I could hardly keep my feet on the ground."
In 1971 she composed her autobiography, Butter at the Old Price.
In 1979, the Governer of Michigan declared her 90th birthday to be Marguerite de Angeli Day. Two years later, the public library was renamed Marguerite de Angeli Branch Library.
Marguerite de Angeli died on June 16, 1987 after a long and illustrious career as a children's author and illustrator.