Susan Coolidge

What Katy Did Susan Coolidge

What Katy Did is an 1872 children's book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name Susan Coolidge. It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio town of Burnet in the 1860s. Katy is a tall untidy tomboy, forever getting into scrapes but wishing to be beautiful and beloved. When a terrible accident makes her an invalid, her illness and four-year recovery gradually teach her to be as good and kind as she has always wanted. Two sequels follow Katy as she grows up: What Katy Did at School and What Katy Did Next. Two further sequels relating the adventures of Katy's younger siblings were also published-Clover and In the High Valley. The books were frequently reprinted and all are available online. Coolidge modeled Katy on her own childhood self, and the other 'Little Carrs' on her brothers and sisters. The title is a play on the katydid, a species of cricket. Susan Coolidge was born on January 29, 1835 into the wealthy, influential New England Dwight family, in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent much of her childhood in New Haven Connecticut after her family moved there in 1852. Worked as a nurse during the American Civil War (1861-1865), after which she started to write. She never married, and resided at her family home in Newport, Rhode Island, until her death. She edited The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delaney (1879) and The Diary and Letters of Frances Burney (1880). She is best known for her classic children's novel What Katy Did (1872).