Born on February 2, 1899, in Harlan County, Kentucky, Rebecca Caudill was an award-winning children's author. Both of her parents, George and Susan, were teachers. Graduating from Wesleyan College in Macon Georgia in 1920, Rebecca received her masters degree from Vanderbilt University in 1922.
From 1920-21, Ms. Caudill taught history and English at Sumner County High School, in Portland, Tennessee. Later, she taught English at Collegio Bennett, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for two years. She also worked as an editor in Nashville, Tennessee, for Methodist Publishing House. She married James Ayers in 1931, with whom she had two children.
Caudill and her family lived in Urbana, Illinois, where she was active in her community. She published her first children's book in 1943, entitled Barrie and Daughter. It was chosen as a Junior Literary Guild Selection. She eventually published 18 books for children, one book of children's verse, and three other titles which include My Appalachia: A Reminiscence. Her books are remembered for their authentic characters and settings, and for the way they evoke the lives of pioneers during the eighteenth-and nineteenth-century in America.
She received many awards and honors for her work. Her book Tree of Freedom, was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal in 1950. A Pocket Full of Crickets, illustrated by Evaline Ness, was named a Caldecott Medal Honor Book. Rebecca Caudill's novels reflect her Appalachia background, which inspired her writing.
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