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Margaret Wise Brown

Margaret Wise Brown

An item at American Writers Museum

Margaret Wise Brown authored more than 100 innovative picture books, including The Runaway Bunny (1942) and Goodnight Moon (1947). Brown had studied at the progressive Bank Street School, which believed that the most effective learning stemmed from the "here-and-now"-the everyday experiences of young children. She added subtle mystery and dreaminess to the here-and-now approach, resulting in compelling lyrical rhymes and narratives that demand to be read aloud.

Brown was also influenced by modernists like Gertrude Stein. In fact, Brown helped Stein publish her own children's book: The World Is Round (1939), Brown also championed the artists with whom she worked, including Clement Hurd, Garth Williams, Esphyr Slobodkina, and Leonard Weisgard.

AMERICAN VOICES

An exhibit at American Writers Museum

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American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.

This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.