"Sea Star" Orphan of Chincoteague 1964 Hardcover by Marguerite Henry
Item specifics
Condition:Very Good : Seller Notes: “No dust cover and some soiling and rubbing of edges on Hard Cover but clean and very readable on the inside.”
Format: Hardcover
Age Level: Ages 9-12 and Young Adults
Topic: Ponies
Special Attributes: Illustrated
Subject: Classics
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Publication Year: 1964
Publisher: Rand McNally & Company
Language: English ISBN: 1127555731
1964 Hardcover Classic
SEA STAR
Orphan of Chincoteague
written by
Marguerite Henry
Illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Marguerite Henry née Breithaupt (April 13, 1902 – November 26, 1997) was an American writer of children's books. Her fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals captivated entire generations. She won the annual Newbery Medal for one of her books about horses and she was a runner-up for two others. One of the latter, Misty of Chincoteague (1947), was the basis for several sequels and for the 1961 movie Misty.
Biography
Born to Louis and Anna Breithaupt, the youngest of the five children, Henry was a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, Henry was stricken with rheumatic fever at the age of six, which kept her bedridden until the age of twelve. She was unable to go to school with other children because of her weak condition and the fear of spreading the illness to others. While she was confined indoors, she discovered the joy of reading. Henry's love of animals started during her childhood. Soon afterwards, she also discovered a love for writing when her parents presented her with a writing desk for Christmas. 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."
Henry sold her first story at the age of 11. 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". She often wrote about animals, such as dogs, cats, birds, foxes, and even mules, but chiefly her stories focused on horses.
She studied at Milwaukee State Teachers College. On May 5, 1923, she married Sidney Crocker Henry. 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. They lived in Wayne, Illinois.
In 1945, Henry began a 20-year collaboration with artist 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. So I went to the library, studied the horse books, and immediately fell in love with the work of Will James and Wesley Dennis. 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.
Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 and was an instant success. In 1961, it was adapted to film, as were Justin Morgan had a Horse (1972) and Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1967). San Domingo, the Medicine Hat Stallion was adapted to television as Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion in 1977.
Henry's last book was Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, a 93-page novel published in September 1996, when she was 94 years old. Kirkus Reviews called it "Vintage Henry ...a lighthearted version of the old girl-meets-horse story; only this time, the horse is a mule."
She died on November 26, 1997, at home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, after multiple strokes.
Legacy
Misty features the annual Pony Penning of feral horses from Assateague Island, a two-day round-up, swim, and auction that Henry had been "sent to look at" by a hopeful editor. She created several Misty sequels including two more children's novels illustrated by Dennis, Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague (1949) and Stormy, Misty's Foal (1963). The beneficiaries of "Marguerite Henry's Legacy", as a Washington Post editorial termed local tourism, were the Assateague nature preserve and Chincoteague town. Within her lifetime Pony Penning itself drew about 25,000 visitors and their number was 40 to 50,000 according to a local estimate ten years later.
Awards
Henry won the annual Newbery Medal from the American Library Association in 1949, recognizing King of the Wind: the story of the Godolphin Arabian as the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". She had been a runner-up for Justin Morgan Had a Horse in 1946 and Misty of Chincoteague in 1948. Brighty of the Grand Canyon was given the William Allen White Children's Book Award in 1956. In 1960, Black Gold won the Sequoyah Book Award. Gaudenzia: Pride of the Palio was awarded the Clara Ingram Judson Award for children's literature in 1961. Misty of Chincoteague was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1961. Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West received the 1967 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book and the 1970 Sequoyah Book Award.
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