Rebecca Sophia Clarke was one of the first authors of the nineteenth century to abandon the moralistic, gloomy style favored by children's authors of that era. In her works the moral and religious elements are more subdued and her children break out of the rigid good-and-evil dichotomy of the earlier writers. Clarke's fictional children misbehave, fight, argue, are punished, and, in general, act more like real children than characters of other authors.

Born in Norridgewock, Maine, on 22 February 1833, Rebecca Clarke came from a well-established family which traced its lineage to pioneer settlers of the Massachusetts Colony and soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War. She was one of four daughters of Asa and Sophia Bates Clarke. Rebecca Clarke was educated in Norridgewock's public schools and privately tutored in Latin and Greek. A journal she kept as a child details daily events of attending school, church services, and evening...