Known for works such as Animal Poems, Gypsy Gold, and the Small Poems series of books, this Pennsylvania-born Writer received the 1991 National Council of Teachers of English Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.
In 1955, she graduated summa cum laude from Swarthmore College. She published her first poetry collection, Small Poems, in 1972.
She often collaborated with Illustrator Natalie Babbit.
She grew up in Philadelphia and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, as the daughter of a biology professor. She later settled in New York with her husband, George Bahlke.
She and California-born Writer Kenn Nesbitt both became known for their poems for children.
