Scott published Edith Thacher Hurd's first book, Hurry Hurry, and Esphyr Slobodkina's classic Caps for Sale.

In addition to publishing a number of Brown's books, under her editorship W.

Brown and Hurd later teamed on the children's book classics The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon, published by Harper. Scott's Bumble Bugs and Elephants, considered 'perhaps the first modern board book for babies'. Stein's book The World is Round was illustrated by Clement Hurd, who had previously teamed with Brown on W. Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck neglected to respond, but Brown's hero Gertrude Stein accepted the offer.

As editor at Scott, one of Brown's first projects was to recruit contemporary authors to write children's books for the company. Through Scott, she published the Noisy Book series among others. Scott hired her as his first editor in 1938. Impressed by Brown's 'here and now' style, W. īrown's first published children's book was When the Wind Blew, published in 1937 by Harper & Brothers. This philosophy influenced Brown's work she was also inspired by the poet Gertrude Stein, whose literary style influenced Brown's own writing. Bank Street promoted a new approach to children's education and literature, emphasizing the real world and the 'here and now'. While working at the Bank Street Experimental School in New York City she started writing books for children. in English from Hollins in 1932, Brown worked as a teacher and also studied art. After graduation in 1928, Brown went on to Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia.īrown was an avid, lifelong beagler and was noted for her ability to keep pace, on foot, with the hounds. She began attending Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1926, where she did well in athletics. In 1925, she attended The Kew-Forest School. She was initially raised in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, and attended Chateau Brilliantmont boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1923, while her parents were living in India and Canterbury, Connecticut. She was the granddaughter of politician Benjamin Gratz Brown. Life and career īrown was born in Brooklyn, New York, the middle child of three of Maude Margaret (Johnson) and Robert Bruce Brown. She has been called 'the laureate of the nursery' for her achievements. Margaret Wise Brown (– November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, both illustrated by Clement Hurd.

Goodnight moon and the runaway bunny