De Angeli: Artist committed to family

  The life's work of writer and illustrator Marguerite Lofft De Angeli reflects her life-long commitment to children and family.
    Born March 14, 1889 in Lapeer, Michigan, De Angeli first picked up a pastel crayon when she was just a toddler. Later in life, she recalled the experience as one of wonder and excitement as she tried each of the colors in turn. That sense of delight never left her, though she didn't begin her career as an illustrator until much later in her life.
    De Angeli's family moved from Lapeer to Pennsylvania when she was 13 years old, but she often returned to Michigan and wrote about her childhood in the autobiographical Butter at the Old Price and Copper Toed Boots.
    A talented contralto, she was at the very beginning of a promising professional music career when she met John Daily De Angeli while traveling in Toronto. They married and, at age 21, De Angeli gave up her career and settled with her new husband in New Jersey.
    The couple had six children, one of whom died in childhood, and De Angeli's life revolved around her dedication to family.
    Still, a family friend encouraged her to continue developing her artistic talents and helped her secure a contract to illustrate children's materials, magazines and eventually children's books written by well-known authors of her time.
    Perhaps inspired by these successful women, De Angeli began writing her own children's books, starting in 1935. Her works illustrated the lives of children from diverse backgrounds and were of such quality and impact, she earned the Newberry Medal, the Newberry Honor Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, the Caldecott Honor Medal, the New York Herald Tribune's Book Festival Award and the Regina Medal.
    Her children's books often touched on deeper themes. For instance, De Angeli is considered the first author to address the issue of racial prejudice in children's literature, with her book Bright April, published in 1946.
    In addition, her books inspired a collector to suggest a line of dolls be created to represent the characters De Angeli created. Hedwig Ryglewicz designed intricately and accuratedly detailed costumes for the figures, which came to be known as Hedwig Dolls.
    De Angeli was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1984, having published her last book in 1981, at the age of 91.
    She died June 16, 1987, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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