In 1961, it was adapted for film, as were Justin Morgan had a Horse (1972) and Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967). Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 and was an instant success. When I found out that Will James was dead, I sent my manuscript to Wesley Dennis.' Henry and Dennis eventually collaborated on nearly 20 books. So I went to the library, studied the horse books, and immediately fell in love with the work of Will James and Wesley Dennis. 'I had just finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse,' she recalled, 'and wanted the best horse artist in the world to illustrate it.

In 1945, Henry began a 20-year collaboration with artist Wesley Dennis. During their 64 years of marriage they did not have any children, but instead had numerous pets that served as the inspiration for some of Marguerite's stories. On May 5, 1923, she married Sidney Crocker Henry. She studied at Milwaukee State Teachers College. She often wrote about animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, foxes, and mules, but chiefly her stories focused on horses. A magazine had solicited articles about the four seasons from children, and she was paid $12 (now about $250) for 'Hide-and-Seek in Autumn Leaves'. Henry sold her first story at the age of 11. Henry later said, 'At last I had a world of my very own – a writing world, and soon it would be populated by all the creatures of my imagination.' Soon afterwards, she also discovered a love for writing when her parents presented her with a writing desk for Christmas. Henry's love of animals started during her childhood. While confined indoors, she discovered the joy of reading. She was unable to attend school with other children due to her weak condition and the fear of spreading the illness to other people. Henry was stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of six, which kept her bedridden until the age of twelve.

One of the latter, Misty of Chincoteague (1947), was the basis for several sequels and for the 1961 movie Misty.īorn to Louis and Anna Breithaupt, the youngest of five children, Henry was a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She won the Newbery Medal for King of the Wind, a 1948 book about horses, and she was a runner-up for two others. Marguerite Henry ( née Breithaupt Ap– November 26, 1997) was an American writer of children's books, writing fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals.

Misty books marguerite henry