Hitty, Her First Hundred Years – Rachel Field 1931

Hitty, Her First Hundred Years is a children’s novel written by Rachel Field and published in 1929. It won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children’s literature in 1930. The book is told from the point of view of an inanimate doll named Hitty (short for Mehitabel), who was constructed in the 1820s and has since traveled around the world, through many different owners.

Illustrator:
Dorothy Pulis Lathrop was born in Albany, New York, April 16, 1891. During a prolific career spanning from 1919 to 1967, she used her artistic skills as an illustrator of other authors’ children’s fictional literature: more than 38 books were published with her illustrations. Lathrop wrote and illustrated nine children’s books and several topical nonfiction books. She was also an accomplished printmaker. Much of her work was devoted to the beauty and importance of animals.

In 1929, Lathrop illustrated Rachel Field’s successful children’s novel, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, the fictional story of a doll, which won the Newbery Medal, awarded by the American Library Association for the best children’s novel of the year.