10 Facts About Betty Gilderdale

Betty Albertina Gilderdale was an English-born children's author from New Zealand.

Betty Gilderdale was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2014 for her services to children's literature.

Between 1969 and 1981 Betty Gilderdale taught at the North Shore Teachers' College, at the Auckland College of Education from 1981 to 1985 and at the University of Auckland in the Department of Continuing Education.

Betty Gilderdale died on 9 July 2021, aged 97, having been predeceased by her husband in 2013.

Betty Gilderdale created the Little Yellow Digger series, with illustrations by her husband Alan Betty Gilderdale.

Betty Gilderdale is the author of The Seven Lives of Lady Barker: Author of Station Life in New Zealand, a biography of author Mary Anne Barker.

Betty Gilderdale is the author of Sea Change: 145 Years of New Zealand Junior Fiction and Introducing Margaret Mahy.

Betty Gilderdale was a founder and served as president of the Children's Media Watch group.

Betty Gilderdale was president of and a lifetime member of the Children's Literature Association of New Zealand.

In 1994, Betty Gilderdale received the Margaret Mahy Medal and Lecture Award for her contribution to children's literature.