Catherine Woolley, 100; Wrote 87 Children’s Books in 45-Year Span

Catherine Woolley, 100, who wrote 87 children’s books under her name and the pen name Jane Thayer, died Saturday in Truro, Mass.

Woolley was so prolific that her publisher advised her to use the pen name. She continued to write into her 90s but had been in failing health in recent years, said her niece, Betsy Drinkwater of Enfield, N.H.

For older children, Woolley used her real name on books such as the “Ginnie and Geneva” series about the adventures of two girls. She used her grandmother’s name as a nom de plume on the many picture books she wrote for younger readers.

Her first book, “I Like Trains,” was published in 1944; her last, “Writing for Children,” in 1989.

Woolley often drew on her own experience and world travels in her writings. She wrote on a Remington typewriter and never used a computer.

When the Truro Library opened its new building in 1996, it named its children’s room after her.