Gladys Lister

Jane Badger Books

Gladys Lister

Gladys Henriques Lister (1887 - 1957) was the seventh of ten children, and was born in Hawthorn, Victoria. Her family emigrated to Australia from America. Her mother’s ancestry was Irish. After leaving school, Gladys Lister studied painting under Julian Ashton; married in 1913, and had two children Peter and Roberta. They featured in her first book. She began writing in 1937, encouraged by Pixie O’Harris (Pixie O’Shaugnessy), who had a 2UE radio programme for which she wanted stories suitable for broadcasting.

Lister’s stories used what happened to her; and current events. During the Second World War, some British children were evacuated to Australia, and her book Jennifer Stands By featured evacuees and their adventures.

Gladys Lister had always owned a pony, to which she ascribed her love of horses. She wrote the Starlight series, which were all published in England by Collins: I haven’t been able to find any Australian pubilcations at all. Two of the series A Star for Starlight and Quest for Starlight, Austlit describes as travel books, as they include “descriptions of post-war sea voyages made by Lister to North America, England and Europe.” The Leafy series was aimed at younger children; just one features a horse, as far as I know.

A Star for Starlight is very easy to find in its Children’s Press incarnation, and not impossible as the Collins edition. Starlight Belongs to Me and Quest for Starlight are not impossible, though slightly easier to find in Australia. Leafy and Prince Brumby tends to be a bit more expensive than the Starlight books, and you will almost certainly have to buy it from Australia.

Sources:
Austlit

Starlight Belongs to Me
Collins, London, 1951. Illus Frank Varty

Bibliography - Pony Books Only

Leafy and Prince Brumby
Dawfox Productions, Sydney, 1944, drawn by Joyce Abbott

Many thanks to Hannah Fleetwood for the picture.

The Starlight series

Starlight Belongs to Me
A Star for Starlight
Quest for Starlight

Quest for Starlight
Collins, London, 1956. Illus Frank Varty

Many thanks to Hannah Fleetwood for the picture.

A Star for Starlight
Collins, London, 1953. Illus Frank Varty
Reprinted Children’s Press, 1961

Full listing of books:

The Little Round Garden
Sydney, New South Wales and London, England : Angus and Robertson, 1938

Little Round House
Sydney, New South Wales and London, England : Angus and Robertson, 1939

The House That Beckons
Sydney, New South Wales : New Century Press, 1940.

The Song Goes On
Sydney, New South Wales : New Century Press, 1941.

Jennifer Stands By
Sydney, New South Wales and London, England : Angus and Robertson, 1941

Grandpuff and Leafy
Sydney, New South Wales : Marchant, 1942.

Dawn Mother
Sydney, New South Wales and London, England : Angus and Robertson, 1942.

Leafy and Prince Brumby
Sydney, New South Wales : Dawfox Productions, 1944.

Leafy's Seventh Wave
Sydney, New South Wales : Angus and Robertson, 1948.

Whither Jennifer? : a story of adventure
Sydney, New South Wales and London, England : Angus and Robertson, 1948.

Tubby the Little Round Bear
Sydney, New South Wales : Leafy Books, 1949.

Starlight Belongs to Me
London, England : Collins, 1951.

A Star for Starlight
London, England : Collins, 1953.

The Little Round World
London, England : Ward, Lock, 1954.

Quest for Starlight
London, England : Collins, 1956.