Author bio
Margaret Wise Brown
Born: May 23, 1910
Brooklyn, NY
Died: November 13, 1952
Nice, France
Buried: Cremated, ashes spread in Maine
Margaret Wise Brown has become a beloved children’s book author, her most famous works being Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Her books are known for their poetic and lyrical descriptions and storylines, usually featuring animal protagonists. Though her life was cut short by a blood clot, Brown was incredibly prolific during her years as an author; beginning in the late 1930s until her death, she wrote over one hundred books. However, her life is still enigmatic; she never married or had children, although there is the theory that she had a relationship with a woman named Michael Strange. According to Leonard S. Marcus' biography Awakened by the Moon, Strange and Brown often traveled together, were mutual muses to each other and had an intense friendship. A graduate of Hollins College in Virginia, Brown then became a member of the Bureau of Educational Experiments, nicknamed “Bank Street,” which was a collaboration of writers and educators promoting progressive ideas in children’s literature and education. During her time there in the 1940s, Brown was encouraged by the Bank Street concept of “literature grounded in a young child’s sensory impressions and everyday experiences” (Estes, 163). Though she worked with several publishers, she was very successful in writing books for Simon and Schuster’s “Golden Book” series. Brown collaborated with several illustrators, helping them launch their own careers, including Leonard Weisgard, Clement Hurd, Edith Thatcher Hurd, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jean Charlot and Garth Williams.
Born: May 23, 1910
Brooklyn, NY
Died: November 13, 1952
Nice, France
Buried: Cremated, ashes spread in Maine
Margaret Wise Brown has become a beloved children’s book author, her most famous works being Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Her books are known for their poetic and lyrical descriptions and storylines, usually featuring animal protagonists. Though her life was cut short by a blood clot, Brown was incredibly prolific during her years as an author; beginning in the late 1930s until her death, she wrote over one hundred books. However, her life is still enigmatic; she never married or had children, although there is the theory that she had a relationship with a woman named Michael Strange. According to Leonard S. Marcus' biography Awakened by the Moon, Strange and Brown often traveled together, were mutual muses to each other and had an intense friendship. A graduate of Hollins College in Virginia, Brown then became a member of the Bureau of Educational Experiments, nicknamed “Bank Street,” which was a collaboration of writers and educators promoting progressive ideas in children’s literature and education. During her time there in the 1940s, Brown was encouraged by the Bank Street concept of “literature grounded in a young child’s sensory impressions and everyday experiences” (Estes, 163). Though she worked with several publishers, she was very successful in writing books for Simon and Schuster’s “Golden Book” series. Brown collaborated with several illustrators, helping them launch their own careers, including Leonard Weisgard, Clement Hurd, Edith Thatcher Hurd, Esphyr Slobodkina, Jean Charlot and Garth Williams.
Illustrator bio
Garth Williams
Birth: April 16, 1912
New York, NY
Died: May 8, 1996
Guanajuato, Mexico
Buried: Aspen Grove Cemetery, CO
Garth Williams came from a family of artists and he originally began as an architect and sculptor in England. He received formal training at the Royal Academy of Art and after graduating became headmaster at the Luton Art School near London for a short while. After WWII, in which he was an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in London, he returned to the States and drew small illustrations for The New Yorker but was rejected as a full-fledged cartoonist for the magazine. His first major success in children’s illustrating was E.B. White’s classic Stuart Little, by getting the recommendation of Ursula Nordstrom, the influential editor for Harper and Row's children's division (who also edited many of Margaret Wise Brown's books). Williams also illustrated White’s Charlotte’s Web. He found more popularity by illustrating Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie and its sequels. He began the project by meeting with Wilder at her home in Missouri and travelling to visit the places which were featured in the novel. Along with Little Fur Family, Williams collaborated with Margaret Wise Brown on several of her other books including: Home for a Bunny, Mister Dog, Wait Till the Moon is Full, Fox Eyes, and The Friendly Book. Although Williams did write several children’s books, he is most known for his illustrations. His book The Rabbits’ Wedding was published during segregation in 1958 and was controversial because it featured a black and a white rabbit getting married.
Birth: April 16, 1912
New York, NY
Died: May 8, 1996
Guanajuato, Mexico
Buried: Aspen Grove Cemetery, CO
Garth Williams came from a family of artists and he originally began as an architect and sculptor in England. He received formal training at the Royal Academy of Art and after graduating became headmaster at the Luton Art School near London for a short while. After WWII, in which he was an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in London, he returned to the States and drew small illustrations for The New Yorker but was rejected as a full-fledged cartoonist for the magazine. His first major success in children’s illustrating was E.B. White’s classic Stuart Little, by getting the recommendation of Ursula Nordstrom, the influential editor for Harper and Row's children's division (who also edited many of Margaret Wise Brown's books). Williams also illustrated White’s Charlotte’s Web. He found more popularity by illustrating Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie and its sequels. He began the project by meeting with Wilder at her home in Missouri and travelling to visit the places which were featured in the novel. Along with Little Fur Family, Williams collaborated with Margaret Wise Brown on several of her other books including: Home for a Bunny, Mister Dog, Wait Till the Moon is Full, Fox Eyes, and The Friendly Book. Although Williams did write several children’s books, he is most known for his illustrations. His book The Rabbits’ Wedding was published during segregation in 1958 and was controversial because it featured a black and a white rabbit getting married.
History of the book
When Little Fur Family was published in 1946, Margaret Wise Brown was in a strange situation of figuring out her different publishing contracts. She was going to sign with Simon and Schuster, but wanted to make sure she wouldn’t limit where else she could publish. As Brown and her works were in great demand, Ursula Nordstrom, editor at the competing publishing house of Harper and Row, harangued Brown to finish Little Fur Family and get it published. When Nordstrom found out that Brown had been feeling ill, she sent a telegram to Brown: “I must ask you to take better care of your health, at least until you have a satisfactory text for the LITTLE FUR FAMILY” (Marcus, 185). Nordstrom worked with Brown on many of her books, she became a close confidant and friend of Brown’s, although ever wary that she was an editor and needed to keep a valuable client. This explains her acquiescence to Brown’s demands regarding the publishing of Little Fur Family: her “full-size mock-up of the book was less than three inches tall” and Brown requested the book “be bound in real rabbit’s fur” (Marcus, 185). “Nordstrom was not taking the competition for her favorite author’s services lightly,” and with her “inspired editorial instincts” she chose Garth Williams to illustrate Little Fur Family (Marcus, 194).
Most of Brown’s children’s books featured animal protagonists, specifically cats, dogs, bears, rabbits and other mammals, however, as in the case Little FurFamily “do not even possess a species – only a generic furriness” (Rahn, 150). Brown’s description of the fur family’s home, out in the “wild, wild wood” is reminiscent of her home in the Maine wilderness where she would spend her vacations. Although Brown seems to have a particular reason for choosing specific animals for her books, such as rabbits in The Runaway Bunny (for rabbits can hop and bound away), Brown gives no evidence for why the little fur family is made of vague mammals. “It seems that mere furriness was enough to connect her creatively with the keen senses and deep emotions of her child-animal self” for the story and so determining a specific animal was unnecessary (Rahn, 152). Williams and Brown got along splendidly, he understood that the fur family shouldn’t have a particular species and so he painted them vaguely, the creatures “might be part bear, part puppy, part human” (Marcus, 195). By not choosing an animal, children are able to use their imaginations; “the members of the little fur family are all the more liberating as springboards to fantasy” (Marcus, 195). The influence of her training at "Bank Street" is woven through the book, as the focus on exploration of the outside world (the wild wood where the fur family lives, the animals within the wood) is very sensory and rooted in exposing children to real experience rather than the fantastic/magical.
Once printed, “the advance sale was expected to run to at least fifty thousand copies” (Marcus, 194), an astonishing number at the time. In character with their friendly camaraderie, Williams and Brown played on the tension between the publishing houses vying for Brown’s books by sending a telegram to their editor (and friend) Nordstrom at Harper and Row: “Have offer from Simon and Schuster to take on immediate production of 250,000 copies of Little Fur Family if you are not able to fill imminent increased demand for copies due to Life’s six page article on book appearing November 10th” (Marcus, 199). Although Brown didn’t know it yet, Life would indeed write a lengthy profile piece about her later that fall, which would include a picture of the fur-bound copy of Little Fur Family featured in her home.
Most of Brown’s children’s books featured animal protagonists, specifically cats, dogs, bears, rabbits and other mammals, however, as in the case Little FurFamily “do not even possess a species – only a generic furriness” (Rahn, 150). Brown’s description of the fur family’s home, out in the “wild, wild wood” is reminiscent of her home in the Maine wilderness where she would spend her vacations. Although Brown seems to have a particular reason for choosing specific animals for her books, such as rabbits in The Runaway Bunny (for rabbits can hop and bound away), Brown gives no evidence for why the little fur family is made of vague mammals. “It seems that mere furriness was enough to connect her creatively with the keen senses and deep emotions of her child-animal self” for the story and so determining a specific animal was unnecessary (Rahn, 152). Williams and Brown got along splendidly, he understood that the fur family shouldn’t have a particular species and so he painted them vaguely, the creatures “might be part bear, part puppy, part human” (Marcus, 195). By not choosing an animal, children are able to use their imaginations; “the members of the little fur family are all the more liberating as springboards to fantasy” (Marcus, 195). The influence of her training at "Bank Street" is woven through the book, as the focus on exploration of the outside world (the wild wood where the fur family lives, the animals within the wood) is very sensory and rooted in exposing children to real experience rather than the fantastic/magical.
Once printed, “the advance sale was expected to run to at least fifty thousand copies” (Marcus, 194), an astonishing number at the time. In character with their friendly camaraderie, Williams and Brown played on the tension between the publishing houses vying for Brown’s books by sending a telegram to their editor (and friend) Nordstrom at Harper and Row: “Have offer from Simon and Schuster to take on immediate production of 250,000 copies of Little Fur Family if you are not able to fill imminent increased demand for copies due to Life’s six page article on book appearing November 10th” (Marcus, 199). Although Brown didn’t know it yet, Life would indeed write a lengthy profile piece about her later that fall, which would include a picture of the fur-bound copy of Little Fur Family featured in her home.
Sources
Estes, Angela. "Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by You Know Who." Children's Literature 22 (1994): 162-170. Project MUSE. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
"Garth Williams." HarperCollins Publishers. <http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12897/Garth_Williams/index.aspx>
"Garth Williams." 26 Nov 2003. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8130234>
Gussow, Mel. "Garth Williams, Book Illustrator, Dies at 84." The New York Times. 10 May 1996. <http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/10/arts/garth-williams-book-illustrator-dies-at-84.html>
Marcus, Leonard. Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. Boston: Beacon. (1992).
"Margaret Wise Brown." 5 Jun 2008. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27344786>
Rahn, Suzanne. "Cat-Quest: A Symbolic Animal in Margaret Wise Brown." Children's Literature 22 (1994): 149-161. Project MUSE. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
"Garth Williams." HarperCollins Publishers. <http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/12897/Garth_Williams/index.aspx>
"Garth Williams." 26 Nov 2003. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8130234>
Gussow, Mel. "Garth Williams, Book Illustrator, Dies at 84." The New York Times. 10 May 1996. <http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/10/arts/garth-williams-book-illustrator-dies-at-84.html>
Marcus, Leonard. Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon. Boston: Beacon. (1992).
"Margaret Wise Brown." 5 Jun 2008. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27344786>
Rahn, Suzanne. "Cat-Quest: A Symbolic Animal in Margaret Wise Brown." Children's Literature 22 (1994): 149-161. Project MUSE. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
