Eleanor Rosenfeld Estes was born on May 9, 1906, in West Haven, Connecticut, to Louis and Caroline Gewecke Rosenfeld. Her father died when Estes was a child, and her mother worked as a dressmaker. Estes has credited her parents with instilling in her a love of books. She has cited as another important early influence her mother's skill at dramatic storytelling and her extensive repertoire of folktales, songs, and anecdotes. Estes always wanted to be a writer, although she never set out to write for young adults.

Her own childhood provided an appropriate storehouse of ideas and experiences. Estes and her sister and two brothers were raised in West Haven, which she has described as a "perfect town to grow up in," because it offered an appealing mix of small town and country life. West Haven appears in the Moffat books and in Ginger Pye as...