Brilliant, bold, bisexual, boss: the author of 'Goodnight Moon' was before her time
Beloved children's book author, bisexual, whirlwind romancer, mistress-- did we mention beloved children's book author?
A new book about Margaret Wise Brown, most commonly known for penning Goodnight Moon, has revealed some incredibly badass things about her personal life, including her sexuality, affairs and thoughts on kids. All of it is made more iconic when you consider she was born in 1910.
In the Great Green Room by Amy Gary draws from Brown's personal diaries and letters to paint a portrait of the woman behind the moon, and a colorful painting it is indeed.
According to Gary, Brown never married, but she did manage to have some pretty scandalous relationships in her life. First, a long term affair with married author Blanche Oelrichs followed up by an engagement to a Rockefeller man 18 years her junior. As far as "before-their-time" relationships go, these are pretty up there.
If you really want to blur your childhood, you should know that she wrote 'Goodnight Moon' after her affair with Blanche ended to cope with a broken heart. Warm and fuzzy.
Even past her personal relationships, In the Great Green Room rewrites the one thing that used to seem safe to assume about Brown: that she liked kids. She did, after all, write more than 50 books specifically for them. But she herself never had children, and even condescended to her college classmates in an alumni newspaper, quipping "How many children have you? I have 50 books."
Though she wrote books of innocence and whimsy, her thoughts on how kids should behave left little room for childish behavior: "I don’t especially like children . . . At least not as a group. I won’t let anybody get away with anything just because he’s little."
Margaret died at age 42 when, while recovering from an appendectomy, she did a cancan kick so vivacious it knocked loose a blood clot in her leg, instantly killing her.
And so, the woman who disliked children never had to grow up, the woman who lived her live with vivacity died with the same and the woman who loved as she wanted has found recognition half a decade after her untimely death. That's something.
Topics Books
