Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. Even though she died nearly 70 years ago, her books still sell very well.
Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading.
She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them.
She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper.
Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.
“Dear Father, hear and bless thy beasts and singing birds, and guard with tenderness small things that have no words.”
“Goodnight nobody, goodnight mush”
“Nights and days came and passedAnd summer and winterand the rain.And it was good to be a little Island.A part of the worldand a world of its ownAll surrounded by the bright blue sea.”
“In this modern world where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child's need for quietness is the same today as it has always been--it may even be greater--for quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”
“I don't think I'm essentially interested in children's books. I'm interested in writing, and in pictures. I'm interested in people and in children because they are people.”
“Everything that anyone would ever look for is usually where they find it.”
“In the great green room, there was a telephoneAnd a red balloonAnd a picture of a cat jumping over the moon...”
“I like dogsBig dogsLittle dogsFat dogsDoggy dogsOld dogsPuppy dogsI like dogsA dog that is barking over the hillA dog that is dreaming very stillA dog that is running wherever he willI like dogs.”
“Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, "I am running away"."If you run away", said his mother, "I will run after you. For you are my little bunny".”
“Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere.”
“When the groundhog casts his shadowAnd the small birds singAnd the pussywillows happenAnd the sun shines warmAnd when the peepers peepThen it is Spring”