Goodnight Moon
An article in The New Yorker, written by Anna Holmes and dated January 31, 2022, discussed Margaret Wise Brown, the author of a beloved children’s book Goodnight Moon. I read the article with great interest because, of course, I remember reading Goodnight Moon to my children and grandchildren. Many a child memorized the book and many a parent almost went to sleep themselves while reading it. Anna Holmes describes the way ‘the book combines the virtues of her (Brown’s) best work: inspired nonsense (‘goodnight mush’), repetitive language, and enveloping visuals.”
Two parts of the article surprised me so I thought I would share my findings.
First of all, even though Brown was certainly an author of children’s books and particularly liked to imagine her audience as five year olds, she was NOT like the little old lady whispering ‘hush.’
Brown was mercurial in her personal life, having a long time affair with a woman and being engaged (at separate times) to two men, neither of whom she married. Brown spent almost all the money she earned from her hugely popular books on voyages to Europe and Chrysler convertibles. Unfortunately, her life came to an early end. At the time, White was 42 years old and engaged to James Stillman Rockefeller, Jr. They were madly in love and planned an idyllic future together. After routine surgery, Brown suffered a blood clot and died instantly.
The other ‘hard to believe’ fact is that, while published in 1947, Goodnight Moon did not appear on the shelves of public libraries until 1972. Brown was considered radical for her time and her books were not thought of as literature. The prevaling thought in the era in which she wrote was that children’s literature must be based on fairy tales and myths and have a prevaling moral. Even though Life magazine called her the World’s Most Prolific Picture Book Writer, Brown questioned her own talent and the worthiness of her work. Another well-known product of Brown’s prolific writings is The Runaway Bunny. Clement Hurd illustrated both books.
If you need to purchase a baby gift or a birthday gift for a small child, I suggest either of these two classics, now regarded as the best of children’s literateure.
I loved reading her books to my children and grandchildren!
Who knew she was such an interesting character!
The first time I read Goodnight Moon to my older daughter I realized that somehow I knew most of the words without looking at the text. Obviously the book had been read to me numerous times as a child.
That’s interesting. All I remember are the Golden Books. But then you are a bit younger than I am!!!