Marguerite Henry

(1902 - 1997)

Marguerite Henry was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the youngest of five children. At the age of 7 she suffered from a serious bout of Rheumatic Fever which kept her indoors and often bedridden until the age of 12.

Unable to go to school or make many friends, she developed the most avid love of reading and later writing, when her father gave her a gift of a special writing table and paper. What an amazing career that gesture began. Her first story was published in 1913 when she was aged only 11, to a woman's magazine for the princely sum of $12... quite a sum in those days. Equally as impressive her last book, Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, published in 1997 when she was 95.

She married Sidney Crocker Henry in 1923 and although they never had any children, they made up for it with a multitude of pets, many of which were the subjects of her books. Throughout her long writing career, Marguerite won numerous awards, including commendation from the prestigious Newbery Books Awards no less than three times.

Although so many of her books are loved by children and adults alike throughout the entire world, she is probably best known for the most famous of series 'Misty of the Chincoteague' , which was later made into a movie.