Only Margaret: A Story about Margaret Wise Brown

by Candice Ransom, Nan Lawson (Illustrator)

Overview

When Halley’s comet arrived in 1910, so did an extraordinary person: Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret had a boundless imagination and a gift for spinning stories. Most grown-ups thought children’s books were frivolous and silly, but Margaret didn’t agree. Could writing stories for children be important work—a incredible way to share truth, beauty, and wonder?  

Other people might call Margaret strange, and sometimes her own worries and doubts felt overwhelming. But only Margaret and her original ideas could lead to Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny­, and other classics beloved by children around the world. 

From smuggling rabbits onto trains, to scribbling stories about island whispers, Margaret embraced adventure in life and on the page. This whimsically illustrated biography shares how an independent, fun-loving woman became a trailblazing pioneer of the picture-book form.

Alabama Department of Education Alabama Children's Choice Camellia Award 2-3 Nonfiction Nominee (2022-2023)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802855084
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/12/2021
Series:	Incredible Lives for Young Readers (ILYR)
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.36(h) x (d)
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Candice Ransom is the author of 70 books for children and young adults. More than 45 of her books have been translated into 11 languages. Her books have been chosen as Pick of the List, ALA Notable for Reluctant Readers, and a Book of the Month Club selection. She has given many keynote addresses to reading councils and lives in Virginia.



Nan Lawson is a self-taught illustrator and freelance artist whose clients have included Netflix, Audible, Amblin Entertainment, and Warner Brothers. She is the illustrator of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Confidence Code for Girls (HarperCollins), as well as The Extraordinary Life of Rosa Parks (Kane Miller) and Sit with Me (Bala Kids). Nan lives in California. Visit her website at nanlawson.com or follow her on Instagram @nanlawson.

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2021

Margaret Wise Brown’s singular mind and flair for the extravagant are expressed in this picture book biography. When little Margaret gets the neighbor’s dogs to haul her sled, her family marvels, “Only Margaret would think of that.” When she grows up and decides that she’ll be a writer of books for children, her friends say, “Only Margaret would make up her own job.” Ransom waxes eloquent: “Stories scrolled from her typewriter. Poems flowed from her pen.” Soon, the figure produces a picture book; with the money, she buys out a flower merchant’s entire inventory: “Only Margaret!” Unlined digital spreads by Lawson have the feel of old cartoon stills; if the prose and art feel discordant with the creator’s own work, this profile may nevertheless pique young readers’ interest in it. Back matter includes an author’s note and timeline. Ages 5–9. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

11/01/2021

K-Gr 3—Only Margaret would hitch the neighbor's pups to a sled, board a train with a rabbit, buy an entire crateful of flowers, or take a 600-mile taxi ride. This picture book biography of the beloved author celebrates her life, work, and unique sensibility. After college, Brown tried her hand at writing, but was uninspired. She then attended teaching college at Bank Street, where she had the opportunity to listen to and observe the wonder and magic of a young child's mind. She began to think like one herself as "…she watched a crow's wing slice the air" or "…heard a mouse swallow." She decided to devote herself to creating children's books with accomplished illustrators such as Garth Williams and Clement Hurd. In her short life, she wrote 100 books. While many of these are appended in a selected list, the back stories of When the Wind Blew, The Important Book, Goodnight Moon, and The Little Island are highlighted within the narrative. The digitally created illustrations capture the subject's playfulness, while the palette reflects her great affinity for the natural world. An author's note, time line, and selected bibliography are included, satisfying all requirements for school reports. Mac Barnett and Sarah Jacoby's The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown is written in a more irreverent style for a more sophisticated audience. VERDICT This engaging, attractive title is an excellent resource for author studies or biography assignments.—Barbara Auerbach, Cairo P.L., NY

School Library Journal

2021-09-15
Halley’s comet brightened the skies when Margaret Wise Brown was born.

Brooklyn-born Brown went on to blaze trails, too, and demonstrated her quirky personality early on, once toting a rabbit in a basket onto a train. (This rabbit became a talisman, as Brown wrote 26 books whose titles bore the words bunny or rabbit.) After her college magazine published one of her pieces, a professor urged Brown to become a writer. In 1934, she moved to New York City and took a writing course at Columbia University; losing confidence, she switched to a teacher’s college. Ultimately, Brown decided against teaching and settled on writing children’s books—then an unusual pursuit. This was “a happy accident” for both her and children’s literature. Brown traveled around the U.S. and world, eventually purchasing a house on an island off the Maine coast; she died in Nice, France, in 1952, aged 42. This simple, straightforward biography emphasizing Brown’s strong personality in lyrical language may arouse interest among Brown fans but only vaguely skims the surface. The author broaches Brown’s bisexuality by mentioning in the narrative that Brown and the female poet Michael Strange “became very close” and in the notes that she was engaged to a man. The colorful, somewhat naïve illustrations don’t attempt verisimilitude. Brown is White, as is most of the supporting cast.

A supplement to Brown’s own charming books. (author's note, timeline, partial list of Brown's books, selected bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews