Happy 80th, Janet McCaffery! (Illustrator: "The Witch of Hissing Hill," 1964, by Mary Calhoun)

[leno...@yahoo.com]

I'm taking a slight risk, but then, the following suggests she was alive in 2015:

https://books.google.com/books?id=JcQeBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT109&lpg=PT109&dq=%22janet+mccaffery%22+philadelphia&source=bl&ots=n6tQz9wv7_&sig=aB-6A8890bFWxnbqGk1ccncjupM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXu-Coj-XQAhUrs1QKHSkaDDsQ6AEIHjAB#v=onepage&q=%22janet%20mccaffery%22%20philadelphia&f=false

She was born in Philadelphia and was living in NYC in the 1980s.

In the 1950s, she worked in the art promotion department of "Mademoiselle" magazine.

She illustrated nine books for Mary Calhoun from 1964 to 1973, but none of them were Calhoun's "Katie John" books. In the 1970s, she illustrated books by Doris Lund, Jan Wahl, Lee Bennett Hopkins, James Still, Cynthia Basil, and Eleanor Coerr.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22janet+mccaffery%22+books&biw=1266&bih=842&noj=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY0KSqkuXQAhUiHGMKHbjyDU0Q_AUICSgC
(covers and illustrations)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/258077.Janet_McCaffery
(reviews and a few covers - 14 titles in all)

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1266&bih=842&noj=1&q=%22janet+mccaffery%22++kirkus&oq=%22janet+mccaffery%22++kirkus&gs_l=serp.3..33i160k1l2.3914.4626.0.4817.6.6.0.0.0.0.164.452.0j3.3.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..3.3.450...33i21k1.1NcQHdDdiyg
(five Kirkus reviews)

http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-79542/
(20 titles and synopses - you have to click at the bottom to see the whole list)

One book she did solo was "The Swamp Witch," 1970. Another(?) is "A Show of Hands: Needlepoint Designs," 1994. (I can't be completely sure it's the same person.)

About "The Swamp Witch":
"Fifinella went hunting in the swamp each morning, and all the animals trembled as she came along. Until one day when she went out, there was not an animal for miles."

About "The Witch of Hissing Hill":

"...the story of a bad witch who runs a cattery specializing in magical black cats for sale to other bad witches. One day, she is horrified to discover that one of her new kittens is yellow---a good witch cat. Frightened that her business will be ruined, she tries everything she can to get rid of the kitten; but in the end, good triumphs over bad, and 'now good witches and fairy godmothers' get their magical cats from Hissing Hill."

http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/CLRC-871.xml
(a bit more)



Lenona.

[Lenona]

She apparently now lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Her married name is Schwartz. (Not to be confused with another artist named Janet Schwartz, from Massachusetts!)

https://m.facebook.com/pineruncommunity/videos/i-just-want-people-to-know-what-a-wonderful-jewel-we-have-here-in-the-garden-at-/906204857424708/
(this 2022 video is just under 6 minutes long)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/258077.Janet_McCaffery

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/mary-illus-janet-mccaffery-calhoun/the-witch-of-hissing-hill/
(Kirkus review of "The Witch of Hissing Hill")