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Oliver Butterworth (May 23, 1915 – September 17, 1990) was an American children's author and educator.

Biography

Butterworth was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and spent much of his life as a teacher, teaching at Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, from 1937 to 1947 and Junior School in West Hartford, Connecticut, from 1947 to 1949. Additionally, beginning in 1947, he taught English at Hartford College for Women in Hartford, Connecticut, until the late 1980s.

Butterworth was an author of four beloved children's books, the last of which published posthumously. Three of his books took place in the New England area of the United States in which he was born and raised. His most popular book was The Enormous Egg, the fanciful story of farmboy Nate Twitchell who raises a dinosaur (a triceratops named "Uncle Beazley") that hatches from a hen's egg in 1950s New England.

In 1940, he married fellow teacher and political activist Miriam Brooks and the couple had four children. Butterworth died of melanoma at his home in West Hartford, Connecticut, at the age of 75.

Children's books

• The Enormous Egg (1956)
• The Trouble with Jenny's Ear (1960)
• The Narrow Passage (1973)
• Orrie's Run (2002)

See also

• Uncle Beazley - statue named after a dinosaur in the book The Enormous Egg

References

1. "New White House puppy has Democrat connections: Cuddly pooch gets name from character in children's book". The News-Press. Fort Myers, Florida. November 12, 2004. p. 8. Retrieved June 29, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. ^ Daley, David (September 15, 2002). "A Connecticut Treasure". The Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. p. 119. Retrieved July 22, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Hamilton, Anne M. (July 21, 2019). "Extraordinary Life: During a long lifetime of exploring and speaking up, Mims Butterworth had a simple philosophy: 'always say yes'". The Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
4. "Oliver Butterworth, Children's Writer, 75". The New York Times. September 19, 1990. Retrieved June 29, 2024.

External links

• Oliver Butterworth Papers at the University of Connecticut at the Wayback Machine (archived 2006-01-29)

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• 1915 births
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• Deaths from melanoma in the United States
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• Connecticut Democrats
• American children's writer stubs