Marjorie Allee (née Hill; born June 2, 1890, in Carthage, Indiana – died April 30, 1945, in Chicago)^[1] was an American author.

Early life

She was born in Carthage, Indiana to William B. Hill and Anna (Elliott) Hill^[2] and grew up on a farm in a Quaker community.^[1]

After attending Earlham College, she returned to teach in the one-room school she had attended herself. The next year, she attended the University of Chicago, intending to become a writer,^[1] and graduated in 1911 with a Ph.B.^[2] In 1912, she married zoologist Warder Clyde Allee.^[1] Throughout his career, she would assist Allee in the preparation of his scientific publications, occasionally serving as co-author.^[3]: 6

Career

Her first book, a collaboration with Warder Allee, was Jungle Island (1925), a nonfiction children's book describing the flora and fauna of Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal^[1] inspired by their stay at the Barro Colorado Island Laboratory in the winter of 1924.^[3]: 9

Other, similarly themed books by Allee were Jane's Island (1931), a novel about scientific exploration at Woods Hole, Massachusetts which was a Newbery Honor book, and Ann's Surprising Summer (1933), a novel about biologists working to preserve the dune country of northern Indiana.^[1]

Allee wrote six historical novels about Quaker families confronting the changes of mid-19th century America. Three of them, Judith Lankester (1930), A House of Her Own (1934), and Off to Philadelphia (1936), were about the struggles of the widow Charity Lankester and her eight daughters. More contemporary works by Allen include The Great Tradition (1937), a novel about women studying in a biology laboratory at the University of Chicago which was a serious contrast with the frivolous activities usually depicted in college novels, and The House (1944), a work about relationships between people of different ages, races, and social backgrounds which received the Children's Book Award (now the Josette Frank Award) from the Child Study Association of America.^[1]