Margaret Joyce (Peggy) Baker

Notable Works

• Nonsense Said the Tortoise (1949)
• Castaway Christmas (1963)

About

Margaret Joyce (Peggy) Baker was born on May 21, 1918, in Reading, Berkshire. She attended King’s College London from 1936 to 1937 and began writing children’s books in 1948. Nonsense Said the Tortoise – the first in a series about a talking, intellectual tortoise named Homer – was published in 1949. From 1949 to 1987 she wrote more than 40 books, published in Britain and America and in translated versions across Europe. Most are family adventure stories, often humorous, for middle readers but she also wrote several “magic books” for younger children. Castaway Christmas (1963) was nominated for the Carnegie Medal for the best children’s book of the year. Between 1954 and 1960 three of her books, A Castle and Sixpence, Benbow and the Angels, and Fact and Fiction were adapted and serialized for television.

Margaret J. Baker passed away in 2010 at the age of 92.

Legacy

Her gift of Copyright to the RLF from her literary estate helps support future generations of writers.