Marguerite Henry

Born April 13, 1902 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Died November 26, 1997 in Ranche Sante Fe, California

Dubbed "the poet laureate of horses," Marguerite Henry, née Marguerite Breithaupt, born the youngest of five children on April 13, 1902 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is one of the doyennes of equine fiction. She, Anna Sewell (the Black Beauty stories) and Walter Farley (the Black Stallion stories) set the pace for horse stories though they each have a style clearly distinct from one another.

Despite her later career writing about animals, Henry grew up in Milwaukee and never had any pets as a child. Her father was a publisher and encouraged his daughter's interest in reading and writing. His gift to her for Christmas when she was seven years old was a red writing table, fully stocked with pencils, sharpeners, and plenty of foolscap.

In her biographical entry to Junior Book of Authors, Henry relates her particular good fortune as the youngest member of her family:

A curious thing happened one spring to a small flock of ducks owned by a neighbor of ours. Driving rains washed all the duck eggs down the creek - all but one. The lone egg hatched out, and instead of the usual spring sight of several mother ducks each with a trail of little ducklings, there was one yellow duckling with a whole formation of mammas waddling along in wedge shape behind him.

The lone duckling seemed especially favored. He had so many mammas to teach him how to swim and hunt and fish.

In many ways my childhood was similar to the lucky duckling's. I was born into a family of three sisters (two full grown) and a grown brother, so instead of having only one mother to hover over me it seemed as if I had a whole flock of mammas and two papas! If I called out the window to a playmate, "Mamma says I can't go with you today," the answer usually was, "Ask one of your other mammas."

When she was eight, Henry was stricken with rheumatic fever and for a number of years, until she was twelve years old, was unable to attend school. It was during this period that she developed a deep love of reading, particularly stories of animals. She took to writing stories as well and was good enough to sell a story to a magazine for $12 (roughly $250 in today's dollars) when she was only eleven years old.

Having completed high school, Henry then attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College, graduating in 1922. Henry had met her future husband, Sidney Crocker Henry, while on a fishing expedition with her sisters in northern Wisconsin. They married the year following her graduation and remained wed for sixty-four years till his death in 1987.

Sidney Henry was a sales manager and initially his work took them to Philadelphia and then other locations before they finally settled outside of Chicago, close enough to be accessible to his travel needs while allowing Marguerite the lifelong desire to have a place where she might have animals.

From the start of their married life, Sidney Henry encouraged Marguerite to spread her literary wings, particularly recommending when they were in Philadelphia that she try and sell some of her stories to The Saturday Evening Post. Her initial work was accepted and ultimately led to a series of assignments and later, her publication in other national magazines such as Reader's Digest, Forum, and Nation's Business.

Despite earning a living as a writer for magazines, Henry longed to write books and eventually decided to focus on children's books. When they moved to the Chicago area, Henry took the opportunity to begin to concentrate on writing a book. Her first effort, Auno and Tauno, was published in 1940 and received reasonably well. Auno and Tauno is based on tales from Finland she heard exchanged between a couple of Finnish friends.

In 1941 she published eight books in a series put out by Albert Whitman. These were "travel" books introducing children to countries such Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. They were illustrated by the famous illustrator, Kurt Weise (see Featured Author essay of February 3rd, 2008).

During World War II, Henry continued writing, putting out a sequence of books, all either animal stories or travel stories. In 1945, she authored Robert Fulton: Boy Craftsman, in the immensely successful and long running Childhood of Famous Americans series (still in print today).

More critically though, in 1945, after two decades of writing, she published her first break-through success, Justin Morgan had a Horse which received a Newberry Honor Award. Justin Morgan set a recognizable pattern which Henry followed in many of her later successful books. Following her love of animals and horses in particular, Henry had come across the history of the origins of the Morgan breed of horses and turned it into a lightly fictionalized story.

Most of Henry's best books are about horses with cats, dogs, burros and even a bird thrown in to leaven the mix a bit. While most of her books are fictional, the best among them are historical fiction as was the case with Justin Morgan had a Horse. In fact, Henry was noted for the extent of research she invested in understanding the actual history of the story before she ever set pen to paper. In this habit, she was akin to her near contemporary Lois Lenski (Featured Author, July 13, 2007).

As she was completing the manuscript for Justin Morgan, Henry began casting around for an illustrator that could do justice to her text and who shared a similar love of horses. On a visit to a bookstore one day, she came across a book called Flip which was the debut story about a horse named Flip from author/illustrator, Wesley Dennis. As she later said, "This artist saw beyond hide and hair and bone. You could see that he understood and loved animals, that he was trying to capture their spirit, personality and expression."

Henry contacted Dennis and he indicated he would be delighted to illustrate Justin Morgan. Thus began one of those career relationships in which author and illustrator are inextricably linked to one another and where the text or the illustrations in isolation of each other are inconceivable. As in music where you have Roger and Hammerstien and Lerner and Lowe, in children's literature you have A.A. Milne with E.H. Shepard in the Winnie the Pooh books; Laura Ingalls Wilder with Garth Williams in the Little House on the Prairie series; and Mary Norton with Beth and Joe Krush in the Borrowers series. Virtually all of Henry's subsequent books were illustrated by Dennis until his death in 1966.

In 1947, Henry published the first of what was to become a series of books, Misty of Chincoteague, another Newberry Honor winner. As with Justin Morgan, the Misty story had its basis in real life. Henry's editor happened to attend the annual Pony Penning Day on Assateague Island (one of the Virginia barrier islands) in 1945 and learned of its interesting history. According to local legend, Spanish horses had swum ashore from a shipwreck early in the Virginia colonies' history and had bred in the wild. The adjacent island of Chincoteague was inhabited and it became the custom for the local community to conduct an annual Pony Penning Day in which wild horses were captured and sold to raise funds for local community projects.

Henry's editor suggested she might be interested in developing a story around these events and she and Dennis flew to the island and began the detailed research that led to Misty of Chincoteague which develops the local history and incorporates characters whom she met and interviewed on the island, principally the Beebe family. Over time, Misty of Chincoteague was followed by Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague, Misty, the Wonder Pony by Misty Herself, Stormy, Misty's Foal, and Misty's Twilight. After all her research, Henry purchased one of the Chincoteague foals, named it Misty and brought it home to Illinois where it resided for a number of years. Henry later returned Misty to Chincoteague for breeding. For those who do not find it too morbid, Misty passed in 1972 and was taxidermied and is on display on the island at the Beebe Ranch. While I like taking the kids to places associated with stories they have loved, I am not sure that a visit to a stuffed horse is quite the reaffirming experience one might desire. There's no accounting for tastes, though.

The following year, 1948, saw the publication of another well-received classic, King of the Wind, again a lightly fictionalized telling of the origins of one of the three founding studs of the Arabian stallion line of horses. After two Newberry honor awards, King of the Wind was the title for which Henry won the Newberry Medal.

In 1953, Henry published Brighty of the Grand Canyon which is a wonderful tale of loyal and persevering burro.

With fifty-six books published in her lifetime, Henry was a quite prolific author, however, none of her works have any sort of whiff of formula. She simply wrote wonderfully rendered stories about animals which hewed close to historical fact, informed children about animals without anthropomorphizing them, told her stories with plot, narrative tension, adventure, humor and a dose of pathos, and told every story as a unique tale.

While the Misty stories are often categorized as favorites among young girls (and it is true that they are), the writing is so good and the plot, adventures and storyline are so strong that it is unfair to pigeon-hole them into that too-narrow category. These are stories for all children who love to read. They are especially attractive to those who love animals and horses.

Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Suggested

Black Gold by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Suggested

Born to Trot by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Suggested

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Highly Recommended

Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Bonnie Shields Suggested

Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Highly Recommended

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Recommended

Marguerite Henry Treasury of Horses by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Suggested

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Highly Recommended

Misty's Twilight by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Karen Haus Grandpre Suggested

Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Robert Lougheed Suggested

San Domingo, The Medicene Hat Stallion by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Robert Lougheed Recommendation

Sea Star, Orphan of Chintoteague by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Recommended

Stormy, Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis Recommended

Marguerite Henry's Bibliography

Auno and Tauno: A Story of Finland by Marguerite Henry 1940

Dilly Dally Sally by Marguerite Henry 1940

Alaska in Story and Pictures by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Argentina . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Brazil . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Canada . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Chile . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Mexico . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Panama . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

West Indies . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1941

Birds at Home by Marguerite Henry 1942

Geraldine Belinda by Marguerite Henry 1942

Their First Igloo on Baffin Island by Marguerite Henry 1943

Boy and a Dog by Marguerite Henry 1944

Little Fellow by Marguerite Henry 1945

Robert Fulton: Boy Craftsman by Marguerite Henry 1945

Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1945

Australia . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Bahamas . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Bermuda . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

British Honduras . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Dominican Republic . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Hawaii . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

New Zealand . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Virgin Islands . . . by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Kurt Weise 1946

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1947

Benjamin West and His Cat, Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1947

Always Reddy by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1947

King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1948

Sea Star: Orphan of Chintoteague by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1949

Little-or-Nothing from Nottingham by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1949

Born to Trot by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1950

Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1951

Portfolio of Horses by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1952

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1953

Wagging Tails: An Album of Dogs by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1955

Cinnabar: The One O'Clock Fox by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1956

Black Gold by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1957

Muley-Ears, Nobody'd Dog by Marguerite Henry 1959

Gaudenzia: Pride of the Palio by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Lynd Ward 1960

Misty, the Wonder Pony by Misty Herself by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by 1961

All about Horses by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1962

Five O'Clock Charlie by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1962

Stormy, Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1963

White Stallion of Lipizza by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1964

Portfolio of Horse Paintings by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1964

Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry 1966

Dear Readers and Riders by Marguerite Henry 1969

San Domingo: The Medicine Hat Stallion by Marguerite Henry 1972

Pictorial Life Story of Misty by Marguerite Henry 1976

One Man's Horse by Marguerite Henry 1977

The Illustrated Marguerite Henry by Marguerite Henry 1980

Marguerite Henry's Misty Treasury by Marguerite Henry 1982

Our First Pony by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Rich Rudish 1984

Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Wesley Dennis 1987

Misty's Twilight by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Karen Haus Grandpre 1992

Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley by Marguerite Henry and illustrated by Bonnie Shields 1996