ABC Books by Ann



Author Review:

Wilma Pitchford Hays
1909 -

Wilma Pitchford Hays grew up hearing about her rich family history. In her words, "In my cradle I heard the folk songs of the Britons: English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh. Before I went to school I knew the Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln families." Her parents told her stories of how a grandfather served in the Revolutionary War with Daniel Boone and her great uncle who served with Abraham Lincoln's father, Tom, in a twelve man militia in Kentucky. As a child Mrs. Hays would beg her "Grandmother Pitchford" to tell stories of how her father hid from bushwhackers when she was growing up on the border between the North and South during the Civil War. Parts of these true stories are told in The Scarlet Badge and Abe Lincoln's Birthday.

Mrs. Hays family lived in many places while she was growing up: Nebraska, South Dakota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida. She loved travel and visited every estate except Alaska. This interest brought about seven books about true experiences in different regions of the country.

Another true story from Mrs. Hays family appears in Drummer Boy for Montcalm. This story came from her other grandmother, "Grandmother Lull," who lived with their family and would read to Wilma as she ironed or did other household chores. Gradmother Lull's great-grandfather was a drummer boy in the Battle for Quebec in 1759.

Mrs. Hays had written about a hundred aritcles, both fiction and non-fiction, for adult magazines when her husband, R. Vernon Hays, a superintendent of schools, asked her to write a book that would "give children the feel of having been at the Thanksgiving celebration." The result of this request was Pilgrim Thanksgiving, the first of eleven holiday books.

Mrs. Hays remarked that some of her best books were planned while walking along the beach and picking up shells. Her books are arranged in several series. I have tried to put them in the right series, but I haven't read all of them myself so please let me know if you have more information on any of these titles.

List of titles by AUTHOR:

Regional Titles:

  • Little Horse That Raced a Train
  • The Pup Who Became a Police Dog
  • That Burro Pinto Jack
  • The Hawaiian Way
  • The Goose That Was a Watchdog
  • Little Hawaiian Horse
  • Cape Cod Adventure

Holiday Books:

  • Pilgrim Thanksgiving
  • Easter Fires - (Our favorite because it happened near us!)
  • Christmas on the Mayflower
  • The Fourth of July Raid
  • May Day for Samoset
  • Patrick of Ireland
  • The Story of Valentine
  • Abe Lincoln's Birthday
  • George Washington's Birthday
  • Highland Halloween
  • The Open Gate: New Year's 1813

Other Titles:

  • The Apricot Tree
  • Biography of Governor William Bradford
  • Circus Mystery Girl
  • Drummer Boy for Montcalm
  • Eli Whitney and the Machine Age
  • Eli Whitney, Founder of Industry
  • Foods the Indians Gave Us
  • Freedom
  • The French are Coming
  • The Ghost at Penniman House
  • Little Hurrican Happy
  • Little Lone Coyote
  • Little Yellow Fur: Homesteading in 1913
  • The Long Blond Wig
  • Ma and Pa on the Oregon Trail
  • Mary's Star: A Tale of Orphans in Virginia
  • The Merriweather Lewis Mystery
  • Monsters and Oil Wells Don't Mix
  • Nako, Captive of Columbus
  • Naughty Little Pilgrim
  • Pilgrim to the Rescue
  • Pontiac: Lion in the Forest
  • Rebel Pilgrim: A Biography of Governor William Bradford
  • Rex, the Hero Dog
  • Samuel Morse and the Telegraph Wires
  • Samuel Morse and the Electronic Age
  • The Scarlet Badge
  • Siege! The Story of St. Augustine in 1702
  • Trouble at Otter Creek
  • Yellow Fur and Little Hawk

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Last Updated: January 23, 2004
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