M. E. Atkinson

Mary Evelyn Atkinson (1899–1974), writing as M. E. Atkinson, was a prolific English children’s writer born in London. She was best known for her series on the Lockett family^[1] - children's adventure stories typical of the 1940s and 1950s, and written from a middle class viewpoint. Her Fricka series was mostly about ponies, and was generally viewed as only middling quality for the genre. Although never in the first rank of children's writers, she was especially good at creating un-stereotyped and interesting characters.^[2]

Atkinson's earlier works were better received critically than her later works.^[3]

Bibliography

Lockett Series

• August Adventure 1936
• The Compass Points North 1938
• Smugglers' Gap 1939
• Mystery Manor 1940
• Going Gangster 1940
• Crusoe Island 1941
• Challenge to Adventure 1942
• The Monster of Widgeon Weir 1943
• The Nest of the Scarecrow 1944
• Problem Party 1945
• Chimney Cottage 1947
• The House on the Moor 1948
• The Thirteenth Adventure 1949
• Steeple Folly 1950

Fricka Series

• Castaway Camp 1951
• Hunter's Moon 1952
• The Barnstormers 1953
• Unexpected Adventure 1955
• Riders and Raids 1955

Other stories

• Horseshoes and Handlebars 1958
• Where there's a Will ... 1961

One-act plays

• Here Lies Matilda 1931
• The Day's Good Cause 1935
• Beginner's Luck 1936
• Crab-Apple Harvest 1936
• Going Rustic 1936
• Can the Leopard? 1939

References

1. Watson, Victor (2013). Reading Series Fiction: From Arthur Ransome to Gene Kemp. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 9781134588466. Retrieved 5 January 2015. Ransome ... Almost as important was the work of M. E. Atkinson's Lockett series.
2. Dudley Edwards, Owen (2007). British Children's Fiction in the Second World War. Edinburgh UP. ISBN 978-0748616510.
3. Bird, Hazel Sheeky (2014). "A very fuzzy set: defining camping and tramping fiction". Class, Leisure and National Identity in British Children's Literature, 1918-1950. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 31. ISBN 9781137407436. Retrieved 5 January 2015.