Eleanor Butler Cameron was born March 23, 1912, in Canada. She has lived in California most of her life, where she attended the University of California and the Art Center School in Los Angeles. Cameron has worked in advertising and as a research librarian, and has written since childhood. In 1950 she published her first novel, for adults, The Unheard of Music. Since then she has written sixteen novels for children and young adults and has authored numerous articles, as well as a critical work on children's literature.

Her earlier novels for young people— including The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet and its sequels—are imaginative, adventurous fantasies. In her later novels, including The Court of the Stone Children, she makes use of her own experiences and actual places, while retaining the magical quality of her earlier work.

Cameron's novels are widely admired for...