Coombs, Patricia (1926–)

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Coombs, Patricia (1926–)

American children's writer and illustrator. Born July 23, 1926, in Los Angeles, California; dau. of Donald Gladstone (engineer) and Katherine (Goodro) Coombs; attended DePauw University, 1944, and Michigan State University, 1945–46; University of Washington, BA, 1947, MA, 1950; further study at New York University and New School for Social Research; married C. James Fox (technical writer, editor and sculptor), July 13, 1951; children: Ann and Patricia.

Author and illustrator of the popular "Dorrie and the Witch" series, about a little girl witch who always wears her hat crooked and whose socks never match (though Dorrie is occasionally placed in magical settings, for the most part the situations and emotions described are basically naturalistic); also published The Lost Playground (1963), Lisa and the Grompet (1970), Molly Mullett (1975) and The Magician and McTree (1984). Dorrie's Magic was named one of New York Times 10 best books of the year (1962); Dorrie and the Haunted House (1970), Dorrie and the Birthday Eggs (1971), Dorrie and the Goblin (1972), Dorrie and the Fortune Teller (1973), Dorrie and the Witch's Imp (1975) and Dorrie and the Halloween Plot (1976) were all selected as one of the Child Study Association of America's Children's Books of the Year; Mouse Cafe was named one of New York Times 10 best illustrated books of the year (1972).