She was, in the words of former Kirkus editor Barbara Bader - whose
American Picturebooks Marcus quotes - "the first to make the
writing of picturebooks an art." As founding editor of the
innovative William R. Scott children's book line, as well as the
author of about 100 picture books during her 15-year career, Brown
(1910-52) was also, as Marcus (who reviews children's books for
Parenting Magazine) sums up, as responsible as anyone for making
the field of children's picture books "a vital creative enterprise
in her time." Brown's two enduring classics, The Runaway Bunny
(inspired by a medieval Provencal love ballad) and the "hypnotic"
Goodnight Moon (still going strong after 45 years and four million
copies), were ignored by The Horn Book and the New York Public
Library but helped win her a 1947 celebrity profile in Life. Marcus
recounts how Brown found her calling while an intern at the
experimental Bank Street School for child-development study and
teacher training - and how, by Bank Street policy, the books she
wrote and edited were approved or revised according to the
responses of "the threes" or "the fives" (or other appropriate age
groups) enrolled at the school. From published reports, Brown's
considerable correspondence, and interviews with those who knew
her, Marcus pieces together a picture of his subject's doubts and
achievements and ambition to write for grown-ups; her offbeat homes
and quirky persona; and her friend-filled but lonely life
punctuated by a few short affairs and engagements, then an unhappy
relationship with a difficult woman who called herself Michael
Strange, and, finally, love and imminent marriage to a younger man,
Pebbles Rockefeller - only to die after surgery at age 42. If
Marcus doesn't bring Brown to scintillating life, he does give an
honest and informative account, including intriguing sketches of
Bank Street and of developments and personages in the children's
book world of the time. And he does it without the sanctimonious
reverence so endemic in his field. (Kirkus Reviews)
Margaret Wise Brown, the author of
Goodnight Moon and dozens of other children's classics, all but invented the picture book as we know it today. Combining poetic instinct with a profound empathy for small children, she knew of a child's need for security, love, and a sense of being at home in the worldand she brought that unique tenderness to the page.
Yet these were comforts that eluded her. Brown's youthful presence and professional successas an editor, bestselling author, and self-styled impresariomasked an insecurity that left her restless and vulnerable. In this moving biography, Marcus portrays Brown's complex character and her tragic, seesaw life. Her literary achievement and groundbreaking discoveries about small children's emotional needs were offset by tormented romances including a passionate relationship with Michael Strange, the celebrity socialite once married to John Barrymore.
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