Carolyn Wells, born in Rahway, New Jersey, was an American writer and poet. After finishing school she worked as a librarian. She wrote a total of more than 170 books. During the first ten years of her career, she concentrated on poetry, humor, and children's books.
Her first book, At the Sign of the Sphinx (1896), was a collection of charades. Her next publications were The Jingle Book and The Story of Betty (1899), followed by a book of verse entitled Idle Idyls (1900). After 1900, Wells wrote numerous novels and collections of poetry. Among the most famous of her mystery novels were the Fleming Stone Detective Stories. In addition to books, Wells also wrote for newspapers. Her first known illustrated newspaper work is a two part series titled Animal Alphabet, additional series include Adventures of Lovely Lilly and Flossy Frills Helps Out.
Carolyn Wells is also known for several classic limericks, including this one:
A canner exceedingly canny
One morning remarked to his granny:
“A canner can can
Any thing that he can
But a canner can’t can a can, can he?”