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Robin McKown

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Robin McKown
Born
Louise Clason

(1907-01-27)January 27, 1907
Denver or Boulder, Colorado
DiedAugust 1975(1975-08-00) (aged 68)
Beaver Dams, New York
OccupationAuthor
ParentGeorge Samuel Clason

Robin McKown (January 27, 1907 — August 1975) was an American writer of young adult literature, chiefly biography and fiction. During and after World War II, she was chair of an organization that helped the widows and orphans of men who had died fighting for the French Resistance. She received the Josette Frank Award for Janine in 1960.[1] The following year she received the Child Study Association Award for the same book.[2]

Personal life and education

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Robin McKown was born in Denver[2][3] or Boulder, Colorado.[4] During her childhood in Denver, she was known as Louise and Louisa Clason.[5][6] Her parents were Anna and George Samuel Clason,[2][5][6] author and cofounder of the Clason Map Company, who settled in Denver in 1900.[7] Her brother Clyde B. Clason was also an author.[7]

McKown earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado[3] before furthering her studies at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois.[8]

She married Dallas McKown, becoming Robin McKown.[2] She died in August 1975 in Beaver Dams, New York.[4]

Career

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She worked in both sales promotion and radio scriptwriting and was the author of a column for the Book-of-the-Month Club.[8] She was also a literary agent.[2]

McKown wrote books for young adults, traveling throughout the United States and to the Congo, South Africa, Peru, Ireland, Italy, Madagasgar, and North Africa for research.[2]

Residency in France

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During World War II, McKown volunteered with an organization that helped the widows and orphans of men who had died fighting for the French Resistance, spending six weeks in France following the Allied victory in 1945.[8] She was the chairman of the organization known at the Friends of Widows and Orphans of the French Resistance following the war.[8][9] Formally named The National Association of Families of the Shot and Massacred (Association Nationale des Familles de Fusillés et Massacrés), it was allied with the American Aid to France. The organization was headquartered in New York City, where McKown lived at the time.[10] Packages of food, clothing, toys and medicine were sent to more than 1,000 survivors.[9] Later, she returned to northeastern France and lived there for three years, an experience that inspired the settings for two of her novels, Janine and Patriot of the Underground.[8] After France, she returned to New York City.[11]

Bibliography

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McKown's published works include biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Marie Curie and more than 40 works for young adults. With Mary Elting Folsom, she co-authored A Mango Homecoming.[3] Some of her works are:[2][12]

Nonfiction

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  • Washington's America (1961)
  • Pioneers in Mental Health (1961)
  • She Lived for Science (1961)
  • Benjamin Franklin (1963)
  • Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford (1963)
  • The Ordeal of Anne Devlin (1963)
  • Seven Famous Trials in History (1963), with William Sharp
  • The Fabulous Isotopes (1964), illustrations by Isadore Steinberg
  • Mendeleyev: Father of the Periodic Table (1965)
  • The American Revolution: The French Allies (1969)
  • Lumumba: A Biography (1969)
  • The Colonial Conquest of Africa (1971)
  • Crisis in South Africa (1971)
  • The World of Mary Cassatt (1972)
  • The Image of Puerto Rico (1973)
  • Nkrumah: A Biography (1973)
  • Republic of Zaire (1973)
  • The Execution of Maximilian: A Hapsburg Emperor Meets Disaster in the New World (1973)
  • Mark Twain: Novelist, Humorist, Satirist, Grassroots Historian, and America's Unpaid Goodwill Ambassador at Large (1974)
  • The Opium War in China: 1840-1842 (1975)
  • The Resignation of Nixon: A Discredited President Gives Up the Nation's Highest Office (1975)

Fiction

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  • Author's Agent (1957)
  • Publicity Girl (1958)
  • Foreign Service Girl (1960)
  • Patriot of the Underground (1964)
  • Rakoto and the Drongo Bird (1966)
  • Janine (1967)
  • The Boy Who Woke Up in Madagascar (1967)
  • Girl of Madagascar (1968)

Legacy

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McKown's work was compared to that of Horatio Alger known for his contribution to young adult literature. She was noted for her book Giant of the Atom: Ernest Rutherford (1963) written in a "delightful humorous manner" that did not require a comprehensive background in physics to understand.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Hare, Peter. "Past Winners - 1960s". Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Commire, Anne (1974). Something about the author. [electronic resource]. Detroit: Gale Research. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-0-8103-0060-6.
  3. ^ a b c "Collection: Robin McKown papers | Rare and Distinctive Collections – University of Colorado Boulder". archives.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  4. ^ a b Schmidt, Barbara (Fall 2016). "Memorial roster of Mark Twain scholars, 2016 update". Mark Twain Journal. 54 (2): 161–164.Closed access icon
  5. ^ a b "Louise Clason", Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29., National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  6. ^ a b "Louisa Clason", Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29., National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  7. ^ a b "H.S. Clason". The Nebraska State Journal. 1938-12-25. p. 25. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  8. ^ a b c d e Helbig, Alethea K.; Perkins, Agnes Regan (1986). Dictionary of American children's fiction, 1960-1984 : recent books of recognized merit. New York: Greenwood Press. pp. 412–413. ISBN 0313252335. OCLC 898799156.
  9. ^ a b Kerr, Adelaide (1946-12-24). "U.S. Sends Yule Joy to Widows". Longview News-Journal. p. 20. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  10. ^ McCarroll, Marion Clyde (1947-03-08). "Children of Resistance". St. Albans Daily Messenger. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  11. ^ "Obituary for George S Clason (Aged 82)". The Napa Valley Register. 1957-04-06. p. 31. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  12. ^ "Robin McKown books". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  13. ^ North, Howard (1962-11-10). "Book Review For Under Twenties". The Times Recorder. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
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