Hilda van Stockum

Hilda van Stockum wrote and illustrated children’s books shaped by family life, folklore, and the countries in which she lived. King Oberon’s Forest is a fairy tale about three ill-tempered dwarf brothers whose habits change after they take responsibility for an abandoned fairy child named Felix. Viking Press first issued the story in 1957, with illustrations by van Stockum’s daughter Brigid Marlin; Constable brought out a British edition the following year. The tale belongs to the imaginative side of a body of work that also includes the Bantry Bay and Mitchells family series. Van Stockum’s earlier A Day on Skates received a Newbery Honor, while later novels such as The Winged Watchman drew on Dutch history and wartime experience. Across these different settings, her books give children meaningful roles within households and communities.