Ruth Sawyer (August 5, 1880 – June 3, 1970) was an American storyteller and a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults.

The product of a wealthy family, Sawyer had an Irish nanny named Joanna, who inspired her love and appreciation of storytelling.

Eventually the family returned to New York and Sawyer attended the Garland Kindergarten Training School for two years.

[5] After returning to the United States, her work in Cuba helped her obtain a scholarship to Columbia University where she studied storytelling and folk lore.

[4] Sawyer worked for the Cornell University Extension Services from 1923 to 1933, traveling through rural New York telling stories and lecturing about books.

In 1931, though Spain was already torn by factions of the upcoming Civil War, Sawyer spent the year traveling around the country collecting folk tales.

A fictional autobiography, Roller Skates tells of one year in the life of ten-year-old Lucinda Wyman, who was named for one of Sawyer's grandmothers.

Permitted almost unlimited freedom, Lucinda roller skates through the city, meeting people of all ages and nationalities.

Roller Skates is considered ahead of its time because of Lucinda's freedom and the difficult issues that she must navigate throughout the book, such as the death of two of her friends.

[12] She won the 1937 Newbery Medal from the professional librarians, recognizing it as the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American children's literature".

Based on the stories she heard from a woman in the West Virginia Federal Reformatory, it tells about a young girl growing up in Hungary during World War II.

The deprivation of war means there's very little for the family to celebrate with, but the heroine of the story is convinced an angel will provide a miracle in time for Christmas.

Set in Maine, this story of a young girl's dream for a real Christmas birthday party is illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

[15] Sawyer has been called "a story teller with consummate gifts – whose tales both oral and written should be characterized as living folk-art".

[16] Children's literature expert May Hill Arbuthnot called her " a fine storyteller with an unerring sense of words, mood, and the music of narration".

[17] Librarians Brandi Florence & Erica Jarvis write "She had an ability to take old narratives and infuse them with new life so as to make them accessible to a new generation".