Alexander the Great About the Author Born in November 1803, at Hallowell, Maine, Jacob Abbott was a prolific author of juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader and a few works in popular science. His first books including the Young Christian; or, a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Duty (1832), were published while he was working at Mount Vernon as its principal. in 1835, he published the Little Scholar Learning to Talk: A Picture Book for Rollo which was later reissued as Rollo Learning to Talk. it became the first in the Rollo Series which had fourteen books. This series is the best known of his writings. Jacob Abbott died in 1879 in Farmington, Maine, aged seventy-five. He authored one hundred and eighty books and edited or co-authored thirty-one. His children’s series, especially Franconia stories have been praised for their depiction of children and their storytelling approach. His works continue to be widely read and acclaimed.