Margaret Brown

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1910, Margaret Wise Brown became one of the most influential writers in children's literature. She is especially remembered for Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, books that have stayed in print for generations and are still widely shared with very young readers.

Brown wrote with a fresh, child-centered style that stood out in her time. Rather than teaching lessons in a stiff way, she paid close attention to the sounds, patterns, and feelings that make language memorable for children. Over the course of her career, she wrote many books for young readers and helped shape the modern picture book.

Her life was brief—she died in 1952 at the age of 42—but her work has had a lasting reach. Gentle, musical, and full of quiet imagination, her books continue to make story time feel intimate and comforting.