Virginia Lee Burton, also known by her married name, Virginia Demetrios, was an American illustrator and children's book author. She was born on August 30, 1909, and passed away on October 15, 1968. Burton wrote and illustrated seven children's books, including the beloved Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939) and The Little House (1943), which won the prestigious Caldecott Medal. In addition to her own works, she also illustrated six books by other authors.

Beyond her literary contributions, Burton was the founder of the textile collective, Folly Cove Designers, based in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. This collective gained recognition with numerous museum exhibitions, and some of its members' works are now part of the collections at museums such as Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the Cape Ann Museum, and New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.