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One of the best loved and most decorated authors of children’s books, Marguerite Henry was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1902. At the age of six, she contracted rheumatic fever, which affected her severely until the age of twelve. Not only bed-ridden for long periods, she was kept out of school and isolated from other children for fear of contagion. Pouring herself into reading, she soon showed a flair for writing. The author sold her first story at age 11!

Henry valued historical authenticity, and her books were meticulously researched. Most of them were fact-based, with her imagination filling out the stories. Through the years, Henry’s work earned prestigious Newberry awards. In 1946 she received Newberry Honors for Justin Morgan Had a Horse, the story of an Eighteenth Century American horse breeder who developed the well-known Morgan breed. More Newberry Honors followed in 1948 for Misty of Chincoteague. In 1949, Henry won the Newberry Medal, the top award, for King of the Wind, about the Arabian horse who sired the line of thoroughbreds we celebrate today.

After a lifetime of charming and thrilling children with her many books and stories, Henry died at age 95 in 1997 at her home in Rancho Santa Fe. (Courtesy of the RSF Historical Society)