| Margaret Carver Leighton | |
| Birth Date: | 20 December 1896 |
| Birth Place: | Oberlin, Ohio, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Author |
| Nationality: | American |
| Education: | Radcliffe College (BA) |
| Genre: | Children's literature |
| Children: | 4 |
Margaret Carver Leighton (December 20, 1896 – June 19, 1987) was an American children's author.
Leighton was born in Oberlin, Ohio. She attended schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts; France; and Switzerland while her father was on sabbatical in those countries.[1] She obtained her B.A. degree from Radcliffe College in 1918.[2]
On May 5, 1921, Margaret married James Herbert Leighton. They had four children: James Herbert, Mary, Thomas Carver, and Sylvia. Leighton's husband died in 1935. The family soon moved to California, where she began to write children's books, inspired by her own children's antics.
Her most famous work is Shelley's Mary: A Life of Mary Godwin Shelley, published in 1973.
She was a member of the Westfield, New Jersey, Board of Education from 1930 to 1934, a member of the Santa Monica Public Library Board of Trustees, the Authors League of America, and P.E.N., serving as president at the Los Angeles center from 1957 to 1959.[3]
Margaret Carver Leighton died on June 19, 1987, in Santa Monica, California.