Marguerite Henry

Marguerite Henry
Born Marguerite Breithaupt
(1902-04-13)April 13, 1902
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Died November 26, 1997(1997-11-26) (aged 95)
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Pen name Marguerite Henry
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Period 1940–1997
Genre Children's books, animal stories, historical novels, pony books
Subject Geography picture books
Notable works
Notable awards Newbery Medal
1949
Spouse Sidney Crocker Henry

Marguerite Henry née Breithaupt (April 13, 1902 – November 26, 1997)[1][2][3] was an American writer of children's books. Her fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals captivated entire generations. She won the annual Newbery Medal for one of her books about horses and she was a runner-up for two others.[4] One of the latter, Misty of Chincoteague (1947), was the basis for several sequels and for the 1961 movie Misty.

Biography

Born to Louis and Anna Breithaupt, the youngest of the five children, Henry was a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[1][5] Unfortunately, Henry was stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of six, which kept her bedridden until the age of twelve. She was unable to attend school with other children due to her weak condition and the fear of spreading the illness to other people. While confined indoors, she discovered the joy of reading. Henry's love of animals started during her childhood. Soon afterwards, she also discovered a love for writing when her parents presented her with a writing desk for Christmas. Henry later said, "At last I had a world of my very own – a writing world, and soon it would be populated by all the creatures of my imagination."[6]

Henry sold her first story at the age of 11. A magazine had solicited articles about the four seasons from children, and she was paid $12 (now about $250) for "Hide-and-Seek in Autumn Leaves".[7] She often wrote about animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, foxes, and even mules, but chiefly her stories focused on horses.

She studied at Milwaukee State Teachers College.[8] On May 5, 1923, she married Sidney Crocker Henry.[1] During their 64 years of marriage they did not have any children, but instead had numerous pets that served as the inspiration for some of Marguerite's stories. They lived in Wayne, Illinois.

In 1945, Henry began a 20-year collaboration with artist Wesley Dennis. "I had just finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse," she recalled, "and wanted the best horse artist in the world to illustrate it. So I went to the library, studied the horse books, and immediately fell in love with the work of Will James and Wesley Dennis. When I found out that Will James was dead, I sent my manuscript to Wesley Dennis."[9] Henry and Dennis eventually collaborated on nearly 20 books.

Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 and was an instant success. In 1961, it was adapted to film, as were Justin Morgan had a Horse (1972) and Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967).[lower-alpha 1] San Domingo, the Medicine Hat Stallion was adapted to television as Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion in 1977.

Henry's last book was Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, a 93-page novel published in September 1996, when she was 94 years old. Kirkus Reviews called it "Vintage Henry ...a lighthearted version of the old girl-meets-horse story; only this time, the horse is a mule."[10]

She died on November 26, 1997,[5] at home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, after multiple strokes.[3]

Legacy

Misty features the annual Pony Penning of feral horses from Assateague Island, a two-day round-up, swim, and auction that Henry had been "sent to look at" by a hopeful editor.[11] She created several Misty sequels including two more children's novels illustrated by Dennis, Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague (1949) and Stormy, Misty's Foal (1963). The beneficiaries of "Marguerite Henry's Legacy", as a Washington Post editorial termed local tourism, were the Assateague nature preserve and Chincoteague town.[11] Within her lifetime Pony Penning itself drew about 25,000 visitors[11] and their number was 40 to 50,000 according to a local estimate ten years later.[12]

Awards

Henry won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association in 1949, recognizing King of the Wind: the story of the Godolphin Arabian as the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". She had been a runner-up for Justin Morgan Had a Horse in 1946 and Misty of Chincoteague in 1948.[4] Brighty of the Grand Canyon was given the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1956.[13] In 1960, Black Gold won the Sequoyah Book Award.[14] Gaudenzia: Pride of the Palio was awarded the Clara Ingram Judson Award for children's literature in 1961.[15] Misty of Chincoteague was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1961. Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West received the 1967 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book and the 1970 Sequoyah Book Award.[14][16]

Works

Pictured Geography

Albert Whitman and Company of Chicago published the Pictured Geography series in the 1940s. Four sets of eight 28-page children's picture books about world nations and other territories were illustrated by Kurt Wiese. Henry wrote the texts for the first and fourth sets.[18] At least one library catalog record indicates a "preschool" audience.[19] Kirkus observed in a brief contemporary positive review of the fourth series, "Third and fourth graders will find this a pleasant way to expand the confines of school geographies."[20]

First Series, 1941
  • Alaska in Story and Pictures
  • Argentina in Story and Pictures
  • Brazil in Story and Pictures
  • Canada in Story and Pictures
  • Chile in Story and Pictures
  • Mexico in Story and Pictures
  • Panama in Story and Pictures
  • West Indies in Story and Pictures
Fourth Series, 1946[21]
  • Australia in Story and Pictures[22]
  • Bahamas in Story and Pictures
  • Bermuda in Story and Pictures
  • British Honduras in Story and Pictures
  • Dominican Republic in Story and Pictures
  • Hawaii in Story and Pictures
  • New Zealand in Story and Pictures
  • Virgin Islands in Story and Pictures

Bernadine Bailey wrote the second, 1942 series; Lois Donaldson the third, 1944 series.[18] The Virgin Islands volume was reviewed briefly in the "New Biological Books" section of The Quarterly Review of Biology: "A brief account of the historical, economic, and geographical features of the Virgin Islands. The illustrations are not particularly attractive to the reviewer, but the text should serve to introduce children to this little-known possession of the United States."[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1953) may have originated with Dennis.
      The National Sporting Library hosted an exhibition of work by Wesley Dennis late in 2001. According to a contemporary biographical sketch by one NSL librarian, Dennis was in New Mexico c. 1940 "to gather material for a book idea he called Brighty of the Grand Canyon". By chance he met the children's book editor May Massee there, which proved to be a crucial breakthrough in his career.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Marguerite Henry". Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004.
  2. ↑ "Juvenile Books Author of the Month: Marguerite Henry". Greenville Public Library (Greenville, RI). Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  3. 1 2 Mooar, Brian. " Misty' Author Marguerite Henry Dies at Age 95". The Washington Post. November 27, 1997. Page C7. Quote: "died Nov. 26 at her home in Rancho Santa Fe".
      Lead paragraphs at HighBeam Research (highbeam.com); full text available by subscription.
  4. 1 2 Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922–Present. Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA).
      "The John Newbery Medal". ALSC. ALA. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  5. 1 2 "Marguerite Henry, 95, Author Of the 'Chincoteague' Series". Wolfgang Saxon. The New York Times. November 29, 1997. Page A13.
  6. ↑ Marguerite Henry, Dear Readers and Riders, Rand McNally, 1969, p. 200.
  7. ↑ "Marguerite Henry". Misty of Chincoteague Foundation (mistyofchincoteague.org). Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  8. ↑ Newbery Medal Books: 1922–1955, eds. Bertha Mahony Miller, Elinor Whitney Field, Horn Book, 1955, LOC 55-13968, p. 322.
  9. ↑ Marguerite Henry, Dear Readers and Riders, New York: Rand McNally & Company, 1969, p. 207.
  10. ↑ "Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  11. 1 2 3 "Marguerite Henry's Legacy".
  12. ↑ Chincoteague Beachcomber. "Pony Penning Wed., Thurs.", July 25, 2008, p. 2.
  13. ↑ "William Allen White Children's Book Award: Past Winners". Emporia State University (emporia.edu).
  14. 1 2 "Children's Sequoyah Winners". Oklahoma Library Association. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Award Winners from Prior Years". The Society of Midland Authors.
  16. ↑ "Western Heritage Award Winners" (database interface). National Cowboy Museum.
  17. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1974: July-December. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 1976. p. 5161.
  18. 1 2 "Search results for 'Pictured Geography Kurt Wiese' ". WorldCat. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
      Whitman, Wiese, and Bailey also produced a long series of U.S. state picture books entitled Picture book of Alabama and so on. See items 7 to 46 in this listing.
  19. ↑ "The Bahamas in story and pictures" OCLC 1666590. WorldCat. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
  20. ↑ "Pictured Geography Series". Kirkus Reviews. Undated reprint. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
  21. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. New Series: 1946. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1947. pp. 301–02. Google e-Book retrieved 2015-01-26.
  22. ↑ "Kurt Wiese and the Kangaroo: A Fortunate Internment Story". Irmtraud Petersson. Overland 126 (1992). pp. 50–53. Reprint at Academia.edu retrieved 2015-01-26.
  23. ↑ "[Review]". The Quarterly Review of Biology. The University of Chicago Press. 23 (3): 283. September 1948. doi:10.1086/396576. JSTOR 2810799. Retrieved 2015-01-30  (subscription may be required or content may be available in libraries).
  24. ↑ "Inspired Animation: The Art of Wesley Dennis". Lisa Campbell. The National Sporting Library Newsletter. Fall 2001. Middleburg, VA: National Sporting Library (nsl.org). Reprint. Archived 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2015-01-28.
      This is a substantial biography associated with a 2001 exhibition at the affiliated art museum of drawings and paintings lent by Morgan, son of Wesley Dennis. Morgan Dennis then was or had been manager of the Middleburg Tennis Club. The institution became the National Sporting Library & Museum prior to the archive date.
Citations

External links

Film adaptations
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