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Frank R. Stockton was an American writer and humorist who wrote at the end of the 19th century. His children’s fairy tales were quite popular and are often studied in schools to this day. Stockton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1834. His father was a minister of the Methodist church and discouraged Stockton from writing, but Stockton would not be put off his goal. He married and moved to New Jersey, where he began producing literary works. However, writing was not his only source of income. Stockton worked as a wood engraver for a period of time in his youth.

Stockton moved back to Philadelphia where his brother ran a newspaper. His brother helped Stockton get some of his writing published. Stockton wrote a collection of stories and published work in The Riverside Magazine. At this point in his career, he supplemented his income from writing by editing a magazine called Hearth and Home. He was also an assistant editor at St. Nicholas Magazine. A few years before his death, Stockton moved to West Virginia. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1902 at the age of 68. In the 1960s, popular children’s illustrator Maurice Sendak published two of Stockton’s stories with his own illustrations. One of those stories won a prestigious Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1963.

Next section Historical & Literary Context: Stockton and Fairy Tale Traditions

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