Margaret Wise Brown - Click to see all titles by this author.
Margaret Wise Brown was born into a wealthy family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1910. As a child, she lived near the East River, where her father’s company made rope for boats. After the family moved to Long Island, she spent hours swimming in the ocean, exploring the woods, and observing nature. As a teen, boarding school fostered independence, but also made Margaret acutely aware of children’s loneliness and insecurity.
After attaining a B.A. in English from Virginia’s Hollins College, Margaret taught special writing classes at New York City’s Bank Street School, an experimental laboratory nursery school where educators and psychologists researched the best learning environments. Margaret saw that children live in and for the moment, and she tailored her stories accordingly. (Her skill as a songwriter can also be seen in the rhythmic style of her writing.)
Sadly, Margaret died in France at age 42 after emergency surgery, but she lives on in such timeless works as Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, The Little Island, The Golden Egg Book, Good Day, Good Night, and others. In 1990, a dusty cedar trunk discovered in her sister’s barn yielded more treasures—over seventy additional unpublished manuscripts. Margaret’s Goodnight Songs series subsequently came to life, with artwork by famous illustrators and accompanying lullabies interpreted by stellar musicians.
In all, Margaret wrote over 100 books—and they’re still best-sellers, with multiple translations and more than 24 million copies sold to date. Amy Gary, publisher and editor for Margaret’s estate, says she “would be delighted to know that children might be inspired to sit under a tree and listen more intently to the buzzing of a bee.”