Pelagie Doane Hoffner (April 11, 1906 – December 9, 1966) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books.

Early life and education

Doane was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania or Palmyra, New Jersey (sources vary), the daughter of Warren Finney Doane and Pelagie Judith Plasschaert Doane. Her father was an editor. She went to art school in Philadelphia. "For many generations there has been a Pelagie in the family," explained one profile, about her unusual given name.

Career

Doane was a prolific illustrator of children's books from the 1930s into the 1960s, especially known for her work on books with Christian themes, and on Margaret Sutton's Judy Bolton mysteries. She also wrote books for children, again often on religious subjects. "Children are people, so I paint up to their level, not down," she explained about her work. A Small Child's Bible (1946), with seventy stories written and illustrated by Doane, was described as "a standard" in 1960. "Here is a book that both child and parent can read together with pleasure," remarked a 1952 reviewer about her A Book of Nature, a child's guide to flora and fauna common in the northeastern United States.

Publications

As illustrator

As author or editor

As Dorothy Hoffner

Personal life

Doane married Warren Earl Hoffner in the 1930s. They lived in Glendola, New Jersey after 1948. Her husband died in 1958, and she died in 1966, at the age of 60, in Belmar, New Jersey. There is a box of her illustrations from three book projects at the University of Minnesota.