{{Short description|Canadian-American children's author and critic (1912–1996)}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | name = Eleanor Cameron | image = 1965 eleanor cameron with leonard wibberley.jpg | caption = Cameron and Leonard Wibberley in 1965 | birth_name = Eleanor Frances Butler | birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|3|23}} | birth_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|10|11|1912|3|23}} | death_place = Monterey, California, U.S. | occupation = Writer, librarian | genre = Children's literature | period = 1950–1996 <!--late activity is uncertain--> }}
'''Eleanor Frances (Butler) Cameron''' (March 23, 1912 – October 11, 1996) was a children's author and critic. She published 20 books in her lifetime, including ''The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet'' (1954) and its sequels, a collection of critical essays called ''The Green and Burning Tree'' (1969), and ''The Court of the Stone Children'' (1973), which won the U.S. National Book Award in category Children's Books.<ref name=nba1974> [https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1974 "National Book Awards – 1974"]. National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-27.</ref>
==Biography== Cameron was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada on March 23, 1912. Her family moved to South Charleston, Ohio when she was three years old, and then to Berkeley, California, when she was six.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eleanorcameron.com/timeline.html | title=Timeline of Eleanor Cameron's Life |publisher=EleanorCameron.com |archive-date=2022-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401085756/http://www.eleanorcameron.com/timeline.html |access-date=2023-01-28 }}</ref> A few years later, her parents divorced. At age 16, she moved with her mother and stepfather to Los Angeles. Cameron studied at UCLA and the Art Center School of Los Angeles. She joined the Los Angeles Public Library in 1930 and later worked as a research librarian for the Los Angeles Board of Education and two different advertising companies. She married Ian Cameron, a printmaker and publisher, in 1934 and the couple had a son, David, in 1944.<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/15/arts/eleanor-f-cameron-84-children-s-author.html | title=Eleanor F. Cameron, 84, Children's Author| newspaper=The New York Times| date=October 15, 1996 |access-date=2011-10-28 }}</ref>
Cameron's first published book, ''The Unheard Music'' (1950), was partially based on her experience as a librarian and was positively received by critics, though it didn't sell particularly well. Cameron did not turn to writing children's books until eight-year-old David asked her to write a space story featuring him as the main character.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oldchildrensbooks.com/collectors-corner/authors/eleanor-cameron |title=Eleanor Cameron |work=Old Children's Books |publisher=Suzanne and Truman Price |archive-date=2021-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625135936/http://www.oldchildrensbooks.com/collectors-corner/authors/eleanor-cameron |access-date=2023-01-28 }}</ref> That book, ''The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet'' (1954), proved to be very popular, spawning four sequels and two short stories over the following 13 years.
With the success of the Mushroom Planet books, Cameron focused on writing for children. Between 1959 and 1988 she produced 12 additional children's novels, including ''The Court of the Stone Children'' (1973) and the semi-autobiographical five book Julia Redfern series (1971–1988).
In addition to her fiction work, Cameron wrote two books of criticism and reflection on children's literature. The first, ''The Green and Burning Tree'', was released in 1969 and led to an increased profile for Cameron in the world of children's literature. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s Cameron worked as a traveling speaker and contributor to publications such as ''The Horn Book Magazine'', ''Wilson Library Bulletin'', and Children's Literature in Education. She was also a member of the founding editorial board for the children's magazine Cricket, which debuted in 1973. Her second book of essays, ''The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books'', came out in 1993. It is her final published book.
From late 1967 until her death, Cameron made her home in Pebble Beach, California. She died in hospice in Monterey, California, on October 11, 1996, at the age of 84.<ref name=NYT/>
==''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' controversy== From October 1972 to October 1973 a controversy started by Cameron concerning Roald Dahl's ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' embroiled the pages of ''The Horn Book Magazine''.<ref name=archive.hbook.com>{{cite web |url=http://archive.hbook.com/history/magazine/camerondahl.asp |title=Eleanor Cameron vs. Roald Dahl |accessdate=2012-03-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524165519/http://archive.hbook.com/history/magazine/camerondahl.asp |archivedate=2012-05-24 |publisher=archive.HBook.com }} <br>Virtual History Exhibit: from the ''Horn Book'' archive, articles and letters published October 1972 to October 1973.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.metafilter.com/85868/Eleanor-Cameron-vs-Roald-Dahl | title=Eleanor Cameron vs. Roald Dahl |date=October 15, 2009 |publisher=MetaFilter.com; posted by ocherdraco }} Confirmed 2023-01-28.</ref> In a three-part essay entitled "McLuhan, Youth and Literature" Cameron criticized the controversial theories of media theorist Marshall McLuhan.<ref name=archive.hbook.com/> In part one she described Dahl's book as "one of the most tasteless books ever written for children" and described it as "sadistic" and "phony".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/1970s/oct72_cameron.asp |title=McLuhan, Youth, and Literature: Part I |accessdate=2012-03-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426023057/http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/1970s/oct72_cameron.asp |archivedate=2013-04-26 |author=Eleanor Cameron |date=October 1972 |work=Horn Book |publisher=archive.HBook.com }}</ref> She was especially chagrined by its use as a classroom read-aloud. Dahl replied in the February 1973 issue of ''Horn Book''. He wrote that Cameron was entitled to her opinion about his book, but that she had attacked his character as well. He also scoffed at her recommendation that teachers find better literature to share with their students: "I would dearly like to see Ms. Cameron trying to read ''Little Women'', or ''Robinson Crusoe'' for that matter to a class of today's children. This lady is completely out of touch with reality. She would be howled out of the classroom."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/1970s/feb73_dahl.asp |title="Charlie and the Chocolate Factory": A Reply |accessdate=2014-01-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018034909/http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/1970s/feb73_dahl.asp |archivedate=2013-10-18 |author=Roald Dahl |date=February 1973 |work=Horn Book |publisher=archive.HBook.com }}</ref>
Elsewhere in her essay, Cameron decried the Oompa-Loompas, who were portrayed as abused, half-naked, African pygmy slaves. The pictures and descriptions of the Oompa-Loompas in ''Charlie'' were revised by Dahl and his publisher Knopf for the 1973 edition to make the characters into dwarves from Loompaland, whom Willy Wonka adores.<ref name="archive.hbook.com"/> The brief amount of time between the criticism and the publication of the revised edition of ''Charlie'' makes it likely that the changes had already been put in motion by the time the essay was published.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/1156777 |title=Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Versions and Changes |author=Dominic Cheetham |publisher=Academia.edu |date= }} PDF. No date. Confirmed 2023-01-28. <!-- More bibliographic data may be available to Academia.edu subscribers. --><br> "The changes actually made in the text [and illustrations] are discussed in relation to changes which were not made, and this provides a way of analysing the political sensitivities of Dahl, his publishers and his critics." – Abstract</ref>
==Legacy==
Beside winning the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Cameron's won the 1972 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for ''A Room Made of Windows'', was one National Book Award runner-up in 1976 for ''To the Green Mountains'', and received the Kerlan Award in 1985 for her body of work.
Since 1992 Super-Con-Duck-Tivity has presented the Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades, one of its three annual Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction, to the author of an English-language novel written for elementary school children (grades 2 to 6). It is funded largely by DucKon, a yearly science fiction convention in the Chicago region.<ref>[http://www.goldenduck.org/ "Golden Duck Awards"]. Super-Con-Duck-Tivity (goldenduck.com). Retrieved 2013-11-23.</ref>
== Bibliography == ===Fiction=== ====Mushroom Planet series==== *''The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet'' (1954) *''Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet'' (1956) *''Mr. Bass's Planetoid'' (1958) *''A Mystery for Mr. Bass'' (1960) *''Jewels from the Moon and the Meteor That Couldn't Stay'' (1964) *''Time and Mr. Bass'' (1967)
====Julia Redfern==== *''A Room Made of Windows'' (1971) *''Julia and the Hand of God'' (1977) *''That Julia Redfern'' (1982) *''Julia's Magic'' (1984) *''The Private Worlds of Julia Redfern'' (1988)
====Redwood Cove==== *''The Terrible Churnadryne'' (1959) *''The Mysterious Christmas Shell'' (1961)
====Stand-alone adult novel==== *''The Unheard Music'' (1950)
====Stand-alone children's novels==== *''The Beast with the Magical Horn'' (1963) *''A Spell is Cast'' (1964) *''The Court of the Stone Children'' (1973) *''To the Green Mountains'' (1975) *''Beyond Silence'' (1980)
===Nonfiction=== ====Books==== *''The Green and Burning Tree: On the Writing and Enjoyment of Children's Books'' (1969) *''The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books'' (1993)
====Articles, essays, and reviews==== '''Source:'''<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eleanorcameron.com/other-published-work.html | title=Other Published Essays, Articles, and Reviews |publisher=EleanorCameron.com |archive-date= 2022-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331105113/http://www.eleanorcameron.com/other-published-work.html |access-date=2023-01-28}}</ref>
* "Write a Story for Me!" ''Wilson Library Bulletin'' 31: 8 (April 1957) * "The Unforgettable Glimpse". ''Wilson Library Bulletin'' 37 (Oct 1962) * "Unicorn". [poem] ''Horn Book'' 39 (Oct 1963) * "Of Style and the Stylist". ''Horn Book'' 40 (Feb 1964) * "The Dearest Freshness Deep Down Things". ''Horn Book'' 40 (Oct 1964) * "Why Not for Children?" ''Horn Book'' 42 (Feb 1966) * "The Owl Service: A Study". ''Wilson Library Bulletin'' 44: 4 (Dec 1969) * "The Art of Elizabeth Enright". ''Horn Book'' 45 (Dec 1969) and 46 (Feb 1970) * "The Power of Private Vision". ''San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle'' circa November 1970 * "The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder". ''The New York Times Book Review'', March 28, 1971 * "High Fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea". ''Horn Book'' 47 (April 1971) * "Cameron Books Based on Pacific Grove". ''The Pacific Grove Tribune and Pebble Beach Green Sheet'', March 17, 1971 * "At Her Back She Always Heard: A Sound of Chariots by Mollie Hunter". ''The New York Times Book Review'', November 5, 1972 * "McLuhan, Youth, and Literature", ''Horn Book'' 48 (Oct 1972, Dec 1972) and 49 (Feb 1973) * "Greenwitch". ''The New York Times'', May 4, 1974: 43 * "A Question of Taste". ''Children's Literature in Education'', Vol. 7, Issue 2 (June 1976) * "Of Dreams, Art, and the Unconscious". ''The Openhearted Audience: Ten Authors Talk About Writing for Children''. Virginia Haviland, ed., 1980 * "A Branch of the Tree: Children's Literature as World Literature". ''Prelude: Mini-Seminars on Using Books Creatively'', Series 4, Children's Book Council, 1979. Sound recording. * "Art and Morality" ''Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Conference of the Children's Literature Association''. Priscilla A. Ord, ed., March 1980 * "A Response to Perry Nodelman's 'Beyond Explanation'" ''Children's Literature'' 12, Francelia Butler, ed. Modern Language Association, 1980 * "Fantasy, Science Fiction and the Mushroom Planet Books". ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'' 6 (Winter 1981) * "One Woman as Writer and Feminist", ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'' 7 (Winter 1982) * "The Inmost Secret". ''Horn Book'' 59 (Feb 1983) * "A Second Look: Gone-Away Lake". ''Horn Book'' 60: 5 (Sep/Oct 1984) * "''A Gathering of Gargoyles'' by Meredith Ann Pierce". ''The New York Times Book Review'', December 30, 1984 * "The Eternal Moment". ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'' 9 (Winter 1984) * "With Winkled Brow and Cool Fresh Eye". ''Horn Book'' 61 (May/June 1985) and 61 (July/August 1985) * "A Writer's Journey". ''Innocence and Experience: Essays and Conversation on Children's Literature''. Barbara Harrison and Gregory Maguire, eds. Lothrop Lee & Shepard Books, 1987 * "Books Remembered: Eleanor Cameron". ''The Children's Book Council'' 41 (Jan–Aug 1987) * "Afterword". ''Charlotte Sometimes'' by Penelope Farmer. Dell Yearling, 1987 *''When I Was a Child''. Barbara Rosen, ed. Children's Literature Association, 1992 * "A Discussion of Peter Dickinson's Eva". ''Horn Book'' 70: 3 (May/June 1994) * "A Child Besotted with Words". ''Books that Invite Talk, Wonder, and Play with Language''. Janice Kristo and Amy McClure, eds. National Council of Teachers of English, 1996
==References== <!-- Obituary reportedly Los Angeles Times, Oct. 15, 1997 --> {{reflist |25em}}
==External links== * {{IBList |type=author|id=2601|name=Eleanor Cameron}} * {{ISFDB name|1508}} * {{LCAuth|n80007688|Eleanor Cameron|27|}} * [https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/E/Eleanor-Cameron ''Eleanor Cameron: Dimensions of Amazement'' by Paul V. Allen] at University Press of Mississippi (Feb 2018 publication, 978-1496814487)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Eleanor}} Category:20th-century American women novelists Category:20th-century Canadian women novelists Category:20th-century American essayists Category:American women children's writers Category:American children's writers Category:Canadian women children's writers Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers Category:Canadian women science fiction and fantasy writers Category:Writers from Monterey County, California Category:National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Category:People from Pebble Beach, California Category:1912 births Category:1996 deaths