Erick Berry
Evangel Allena Champlin Best, better known by her pen name Erick Berry, was an American author, illustrator and editor.
Berry was born on January 4, 1892, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was married at least twice, the second time to fellow writer Herbert Best. She derived her pen name from her interest in Eric Pape and the surname of her first husband. Berry died in February 1974 at the age of 82.
Career
Berry published many children's books from the 1930s to the 60s, and worked as an author, illustrator, and editor. Perhaps the most popular book she wrote was 1933's Winged Girl of Knossos, which she also illustrated. It won a Newbery Honor in 1934. In that year, Anne Dempster Kyle's The Apprentice of Florence, illustrated by Berry, won the same award. She also illustrated several of her husband Best's works, one of which, Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes, also won a Newbery Honor. She also edited at least one publication, Walter and Marion Havighurst's 1949 children's historical novel Song of the Pines.
As author
As sole author
Girls in Africa: 1928 Penny-whistle: 1930 Humbo the Hippo and Little-Boy-Bumbo: 1932 Winged Girl of Knossos: 1933 Cynthia Steps Out: 1937Homespun: 1937 Honey of the Nile: 1938 Hudson Frontier: 1942 Sybil Ludington's Ride: 1952 Hay-Foot, Straw-Foot: 1954 Green Door to the Sea: 1955 Horses for the General: 1956 The Land and People of Finland: 1959The Land and People of Iceland: 1959The Four Londons of William Hogarth: 1964You Have Got to Go Out: The Story of the United States Coast Guard: 1964Mr. Arctic: An Account of Vilhjalmur Stefansson: 1966The Springing of the Rice: A Story of Thailand: 1966 When Wagon Trains Rolled to Santa Fe: 1966 The Magic Banana and Other Polynesian Tales: 1968 A World Explorer: Fridtjof Nansen: 1969
Concertina Farm: 1943Men Who Changed the Map: 1968The Polynesian Triangle: 1968
As illustrator
Books by Herbert Best
Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes: 1930Tal of the Four Tribes: 1938Gunsmith's Boy: 1942The Long Portage: A Story of Ticonderoga and Lord Howe: 1948Not Without Danger: 1951The Columbus Cannon: 1954Underwater Warriors: Story of the American Frogmen: 1967
Books by other authors
Pinky Pup and The Empty Elephant - Dixie Willson: 1928 This Side of Jordan - Roark Bradford: 1929 and 1930 Bee of the Cactus Country — Nora Archibald Smith: 1932The Apprentice of Florence — Anne Dempster Kyle: 1933Araminta — Eva Knox Evans: 1935Jerome Anthony — Eva Knox Evans: 1936The Polynesian Triangle — Eleanor Weakley Nolen: 1938Key Corner — Eva Knox Evans: 1938The Pilgrim Goose — Keith Robertson: 1956
As editor
Song of the Pines — Walter and Marion Havighurst: 1949