Agnes Hewes  Agnes Danforth Hewes (March 30, 1874 – September 30, 1963) was an American writer of children's literature, three times a runner-up for the annual Newbery Medal. Her early childhood overseas had a huge influence on her life and writing. Hewes was born in Tripoli, Lebanon (then part of Syria), to medical missionary parents working for the American Presbytery Board of Missions, Galen Bancroft Danforth and Emily Reynolds Calhoun Danforth. Galen had graduated from Amherst College in 1867 and then studied medicine in Germany and Edinburgh, eventually following in the footsteps of his father, who was also a medical doctor, receiving his medical degree from New York University in 1871. He began his mission work in 1871 and married Emily in Abeih, on Mount Lebanon, Lebanon, on December 25, 1871. Hewes's father died of a fever and pneumonia on July 9, 1875—shortly after she was born—in Lebanon, and her mother died on January 12, 1881. Hewes was left in the care of a nurse and household servants. She stayed in the family home in Abeih with her maternal grandmother, Emily Pitkin Reynolds Calhoun, until she was 12 years old; she grew up speaking Arabic. Hewes's maternal grandfather was another missionary, Dr. (Rev.) Simeon Howard Calhoun. Calhoun died in Buffalo, New York, on December 13, 1876. Thus when Emily Pitkin Calhoun returned to Lebanon to care for her daughter and granddaughter, Hewes could not answer in English. Simeon and Emily Calhoun's other daughter, Susan Howard Calhoun (Hewes' aunt) married Rev. Charles Newton Ransom and they were also missionaries in Lebanon. These formative years in Lebanon greatly inspired Hewes's lifelong love of foreign lands and cultures:  My fairy godmother's priceless gift to me was to let me live my first twelve years in Syria. That, in a nutshell, is my feeling about Syria! That is why I wrote my first book, because I loved Syria so much—its magnificent brilliant scenery, its dear warm-hearted people, its customs come down from the Bible times, its beautiful dignified speech, its rich historical background—that I wanted American children to love it, to see it with my eyes. I felt as if no one could afford to miss knowing my Syria. I feel so still. Hewes apparently graduated from Elmira College, in Elmira, New York.