The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown

Balzer + Bray
(Harper Collins)
(pub. 5.21.2019) 
48 pages

A True Tale with

A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Mac Barnett
      and illustrator:   
         Sarah Jacoby

 
C haracter: Margaret Wise Brown

O verview from front flap: 
     "What is important about Margaret Wise Brown?
      In 42 inspired pages, this biography by award-winning writer Mac Barnett vividly depicts one of the greatest children's book creators who ever lived: Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and The Little Fur Family. Illustrated with sumptuous art by rising star Sarah Jacoby, this is essential reading for children's book lovers of every age."

T antalizing taste: 

     "Margaret Wise Brown lived for 42 years.
      This book is 42 pages long.
      You can't fit somebody's life into 42 pages,
      so I am just going to tell you some important things.

     The important thing about Margaret Wise Brown is that she wrote books ...
     Over 100 books were written by Margaret Wise Brown.

     It can be odd to imagine the lives of the people who write the books you read, like running into your teacher at the supermarket.
     But authors are people.
     They are born and they die.
     They make jokes and mistakes.
     They fall in love and they fall in love again.
     They go to the supermarket to buy tomatoes,
     which they keep in the bottom drawer of their refrigerators,
     even though tomatoes should stay out on the counter.
     But which of these things is important? And to whom?"

And something more: I was stunned to read in this book that Margaret Wise Brown's books (such as GOODNIGHT MOON) were originally not included in the NYC library (and therefore other libraries) because the head librarian, Anne Carroll Moore, thought Brown's books were the wrong kind of books or specifically "truck" meaning worthless or garbage. She even stamped these books with "NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PURCHASE BY EXPERT". 
     
     Of course, I needed to read more about this exclusion, and I learned that Mac Barnett's research was accurate. But I also liked the perspective provided in Elizabeth Bird's post on School Library Journal titled "The Quintessential Librarian Stereotype: Wrestling with the Legacy of Anne Carroll Moore". The wonderful Elizabeth Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. Her post concludes with "As we move forward, let’s tip our hat to what [Moore] did right, acknowledge what she did wrong, and work to help promote, help, and support the new generation of children’s librarians out there that are facing 21st century challenges, the like of which the world has never seen before."