LeClaire Gowans Alger (May 20, 1898 – November 14, 1969) was an American writer better known under her pseudonym Sorche Nic Leodhas, or simply Sorche Leodhas. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, she was a sickly child, eventually being homeschooled. Alger was a known librarian, working from 1915 to 1966, while the imaginary Sorche was a storyteller. She sought out traditional Scottish tales that had never been written down before. She won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1962 and a Newbery Honor for Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland in 1963. Her 1965 children's picture book Always Room for One More, illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian, won the 1966 Caldecott Medal.

Awards

• Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1962
• Newbery Honor, 1963
• Caldecott Medal, 1966

Works

Most of Leodhas' works are in collections.

• Heather and Broom: Tales of the Scottish Highlands (1960), illustrated by Consuelo Joerns
• Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland (1962), illus. Evaline Ness
• All in the Morning Early (1963), illus. Evaline Ness
• Gaelic Ghosts: Tales of the Supernatural from Scotland (1964), illus. Nonny Hogrogian
• Ghosts Go Haunting (1965)
• Claymore and Kilt: Tales of Scottish Kings and Castles (1967), illus. Leo and Diane Dillon
• Sea-Spell and Moor-Magic: Tales of the Western Isles (1968), illus. Vera Bock
• By Loch and by Lin: Tales from Scottish Ballads (1969), illus. Vera Bock
• Twelve Great Black Cats and Other Eerie Scottish Tales (1971), illus. Vera Bock

Sources

• "Leclaire Alger – Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library". Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2022-07-12.