This Goodly Land

Aileen Kilgore Henderson (April 10, 1921–present)

Other Names Used

• Gertrude Aileen Kilgore: birth name

Alabama Connections

• Cedar Cove, Tuscaloosa County: birthplace, childhood residence
• Brookwood, Tuscaloosa County: childhood residence, adult residence (family located there)
• Adamsville, Jefferson County: father stationed there with the Frisco Railroad
• Palos, Jefferson County: father stationed there with the Frisco Railroad; father, mother, and younger brother lived there during the latter part of World War II
• Boligee, Greene County: father stationed there with the Frisco Railroad
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education
• Northport, Tuscaloosa County: brief adult residence, taught school

Selected Works

• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. The Summer of the Bonepile Monster. Illus. Kim David Cooper. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1995. For younger readers.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. The Monkey Thief. Illus. Paul Mirocha. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1997. For younger readers.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. Treasure of Panther Peak. Illus. Mark Coyle. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1998. For younger readers.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. Stateside Soldier: Life in the Women's Army Corps, 1944-1945. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. Tenderfoot Teacher: Letters from the Big Bend, 1952-1954. Fort Worth: TCU Press, 2002.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. Hard Times for Jake Smith. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2004. For younger readers.
• Henderson, Aileen Kilgore. Eugene Allen Smith's Alabama: How a Geologist Shaped a State. Montgomery: NewSouth Books, 2011.

Literary Awards

• Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature, Milkweed Editions, 1995, for The Summer of the Bonepile Monster
• Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 1997, for The Summer of the Bonepile Monster
• Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 2006, for Hard Times for Jake Smith

Biographical Information

Aileen Kilgore Henderson was born and spent her early childhood in the coal-mining community of Cedar Creek, Ala., where her father worked in the company office. Shortly after the family bought and moved to a farm in Brookwood, Ala., the mines closed due to the Depression and her father lost his job. He obtained work as a telegrapher with the Frisco Railroad, which required him to live apart from the family at various railroad depots. After Henderson graduated from high school, she worked for several years at the S. H. Kress store. In 1944, she joined the Women’s Army Corps and was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base in Texas, working first as an airplane mechanic, then as a photo technician.

After the war, Henderson returned home and attended the University of Alabama, earning a BS in education in 1950. After teaching school in Northport for two years, she returned to Texas to teach school in Panther Junction in the Big Bend National Park, where she met the man she would soon marry, a park ranger at that site. After their marriage, Henderson moved around the country with her husband to his various National Park assignments, doing volunteer work as a photographer and a museum docent. She also taught school in Minnesota in the 1960s. In 1966, she earned an MA in education from the University of Alabama. Henderson began her writing career in the 1960s, starting with magazine articles, then moving to short stories for adults and fiction for younger readers. Her first novel, The Summer of the Bonepile Monster, was published in 1995. She has also written two nonfiction books based on her experiences in Texas, Stateside Soldier and Tenderfoot Teacher. Henderson lives in Brookwood.

Interests and Themes

Aileen Kilgore Henderson’s novels for younger readers portray adventure and mystery in a realistic manner. Her nonfiction books provide snapshot views of a young woman’s everyday life in interesting and unusual circumstances.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Web Sites

• "A Guide to Teaching The Monkey Thief by Aileen Kilgore Henderson". Milkweed Editions. 2005. http://www.milkweed.org/images/stories/monkeythief.pdf.
• Tighe, Mary Ann. "Aileen Kilgore Henderson". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2009. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2476.

Location of Papers

• University of Alabama

Photo by Bob Cleere; courtesy of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University.

Last updated on May 30, 2008.