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elenats's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes an author’s personal life can ruin your enjoyment of their books, but this biography only made me love Margaret Wise Brown more.
barbarianlibarian's review against another edition
3.0
totally didn't realize what a fascinating person she was! sometimes there were too many details and other times not enough, but it's worth a read
emily_baldwin's review against another edition
3.0
While it was interesting to learn more about the prolific children's author (whose name, I admit, I wasn't familiar with despite knowing her work), I felt the book was not as well executed as I would have hoped. I often felt lost on who the characters were, what context a moment was occurring in and generally it felt that we were dropped from one location and memory into another without a transition to lead us there. In many ways the narrative had a stream of consciousness feeling, which I suspect is a result of the author using Margaret's letters as the primary foundation for the content. Overall it was interesting to learn more about the author and her life but I found myself very ready for it to come to a conclusion.
pldavis's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting view of a fascinating woman. As a child of the late 1980s, I'm certain that many of the books my parents read were authored or inspired by Margaret Wise Brown. It was really fun to read about this woman who was probably, unknowingly, an integral part of my early childhood literary experience. Learning about her life, her loves, her passions and experiences was entertaining and I thought the author did an excellent job. Toward the end, the timeline of events got a little cluttered and seemed a little rushed, but overall, I thought the work was excellent. It makes me want to travel to the Northeast and visit some literary haunts.
danstem's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
liorehk's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Rich, bisexual, WASP drama.
katie_killebrew's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. Margaret Wise Brown led a colorful life, so why is this book so boring? Possibly because Margaret’s own words are quoted only once in the entire biography (on the last page). What about her letters, telegrams, diary entries, manuscripts?! What a missed opportunity. This biography fell completely flat for me.
bak8382's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fascinating look at the life of [a:Margaret Wise Brown|18479|Margaret Wise Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208465845p2/18479.jpg]. She attended the Bank Street College of Education in its early years, and was given her first chance to write there as well. She was also a teacher's aide for the school, and would read the children there her work to see what worked. She also did extensive research when she was thinking about a book. Interestingly she always wanted to write for adults, but could never find her voice. The illustrations for [b:Goodnight Moon|32929|Goodnight Moon|Margaret Wise Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439223893l/32929._SX50_.jpg|1086867] were based on her bedroom, which was modeled after the color scheme of her neighbor's room. The story comes from the nightly ritual she did with her sister saying goodnight to their things, a poem she wrote for a textbook, and a dream she had. Her love life was not as successful as her career, though she was set to marry when she died unexpectedly. Author Amy Gary wrote this based on Margaret's diaries, papers, and unpublished works that were in storage at Margaret's sister's house.
annebennett1957's review against another edition
4.0
The author of Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown, was a prolific children's author. She was also a character with song opinions. She even admitted that she just couldn't grow up. Brown never married and a good portion of this book focused on her love life, which seemed out of balance in focus in the book. I would have liked more details about the creative process and less about her affairs.
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/07/three-short-reviews-gourmet-childrens.html
My review: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/07/three-short-reviews-gourmet-childrens.html