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Mabel Esther Allan (11 February 1915 – 14 May 1998) was a British author of about 130 children's books. Mabel Esther Allan was born at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, then in Cheshire (now Merseyside). She decided to be an author at the age of eight; her father bought her a writing desk and taught her how to type.〔Allan, ii.〕 When the family moved, Allan was given a study in which to write. Her eyesight was poor, which her parents 'took...very badly and wrongly'.〔Allan, i.〕 Indeed, it was such a taboo subject that she never discussed it with anyone until she was almost thirty, when it spontaneously improved.〔 Her eyesight was the reason she disliked school. She published a few short stories in the 1930s, and had longer submissions accepted, but her activities were interrupted by the Second World War.〔Robertson, Fidra Books website.〕 Allan served in the Women's Land Army and taught at a crowded school in Liverpool.〔 However, in 1948 she sent the manuscript of ''The Glen Castle Mystery'' to her publisher, which began a hugely prolific career. Like L.M. Montgomery's characters, she began her writing her books with a 'Flash': a sense of possessing a landscape for a story. 'It was the basis of all my writing', she commented in a 2006 foreword to ''Chiltern Adventure''.〔Allan, vi.〕 Allan's books are fascinating for a number of reasons. Although like many authors of the era she often used the school book genre, she was a proponent of A.S. Neill, founder of an educational philosophy which promotes freedom and self-discipline in childhood.〔Allan, xiii.〕 Her schools, significantly, are co-educational. Her books include adventure stories, mysteries, stories about families and local communities, school stories and ballet stories. Her ballet stories include the Drina series and the Ballet Family series written under the pen-name Jean Estoril. She also wrote under the pen-names Priscilla Hagon and Anne Pilgrim. Most of her books were standalones but she did pen a few series, such as two series about groups of modern city children: the Wood Street Gang from Liverpool and the boys and girls of Almond House flats who attend Pine Street School. ==Selected books== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mabel Esther Allan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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