Pelagie Doane

Pelagie Doane Hoffner was an American illustrator and writer of children's books.

Early life and education

Doane was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania or Palmyra, New Jersey, the daughter of Warren Finney Doane and Pelagie Judith Plasschaert Doane. Her father was an editor. She went to art school in Philadelphia. "For many generations there has been a Pelagie in the family," explained one profile, about her unusual given name.

Career

Doane was a prolific illustrator of children's books from the 1930s into the 1960s, especially known for her work on books with Christian themes, and on Margaret Sutton's Judy Bolton mysteries. She also wrote books for children, again often on religious subjects. "Children are people, so I paint up to their level, not down," she explained about her work.
A Small Child's Bible, with seventy stories written and illustrated by Doane, was described as "a standard" in 1960. "Here is a book that both child and parent can read together with pleasure," remarked a 1952 reviewer about her A Book of Nature, a child's guide to flora and fauna common in the northeastern United States.

Publications

As illustrator

Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton
Melody Lane series by Lilian Garis
Magic Makers series by Margaret SuttonMary Paxson: Her Book Pinocchio Put-Together Book, with Carlo Collodi and Christopher RuleMother Goose Did You Ever? by Elizabeth HonnessBelinda Balloon and the Big Wind by Elizabeth HonnessFavorite Nursery Songs Two Bridgets by Cynthia HathawayTrailer Trio by Emma Atkins JacobsPolly Peters by Jane QuiggA Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis StevensonTell Me About God by Mary Alice JonesSinging with Peter and Patsy by Ann Sterling BoeselMore Silver Pennies by Blanche Jennings ThompsonTell Me About Jesus by Mary Alice JonesThe Child's Book of Prayers A Small Child's Book of Verse Heidi by Johanna SpyriHans Brinker, or The [Silver Skates] by Mary Mapes DodgeHeidi's Children by Charles TrittenFairy Elves by Robin Palmer

As author or editor

Littlest Ones A Small Child's Bible, "published in both Catholic and Protestant editions"A Book of Nature The Boy Jesus Bible Children: Stories from the Old Testament Poems of Praise The Story of Moses

''St. Francis''

As Dorothy Hoffner

''Cooking Step by Step''

Personal life

Doane married Warren Earl Hoffner in the 1930s. They lived in Glendola, New Jersey after 1948. Her husband died in 1958, and she died in 1966, at the age of 60, in Belmar, New Jersey. There is a box of her illustrations from three book projects at the University of Minnesota.