Dorothy Kilner, who published under the pseudonyms M. P. and Mary Pelham, was a prolific author of children’s books. One of the first realist writers in children’s literature, she is known for combining overt didacticism with sympathetic portrayals of child characters. Dorothy was born in Essex to Frances Kilner (née Ayscough) and Thomas Kilner, a public servant and landowner. She was the youngest of five children, including her favorite brother, the younger Thomas Kilner, with whom she lived for most of her life. When Thomas married their childhood friend Mary Ann Maze, Dorothy moved in with her brother and sister-in-law and helped raise their children. In the 1780s, Dorothy and Mary Ann began publishing stories they had written for the Kilner children. Both women were innovatory in their use of anthropomorphized animals and objects as narrators or protagonists of their fiction. Dorothy’s best-known work is The Life and Perambulation of a Mouse (c.1783).