Margaret wasn’t just a charismatic eccentric with a quixotic cabin and endearing, if impractical, quirks. I knew I needed to write her into a novel. Art and its artist need not be intertwined to the extent to which I’ve bound them, but in learning about Margaret I unlocked something in her books, and I wanted the joy of this discovery for others. I wanted to reframe Goodnight Moon for modern parents, elevating it as more than just an old-fashioned kids’ story we remember from our own babyhoods. I wanted to amplify her ten-year tumultuous love affair with an avant-garde actress, her rabbit hunting, her modernist philosophies and experimentally-tested writing practices. I wanted everyone to meet the Margaret I’d met. I was struck by how precisely she is not Goodnight Moon’s “quiet old lady whispering hush,” how scandalous and bohemian and short a life she lived, and how the knowledge of that life changed my perception of her work for the better. I found her through her books, became obsessed through her biographies, and fell in love after reading her journals and letters. Margaret Wise Brown is also one of my all-time favorites it’s why I wrote her into The Upstairs House. And Margaret Wise Brown is one of my all-time favorites!” “The author made Margaret Wise Brown such a horrible character in this book. This particular comment isn’t meant for my eyes-the fault lies with me in seeking it out, not its author in expressing their opinion.
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