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Dear Readers and Riders
The untold story of the favorite children’s book author, featuring original artwork by Wesley Dennis
from some of Henry’s best-known books, as well as over 100 personal photographs, letters, and artifacts.
In certain circles, her name inspires immediate recognition and pronouncements of a committed admiration that has likely spanned decades. As an author, Marguerite Henry was indeed remarkably prolific, with 59 books published, millions of copies sold, and nearly 80 years of her life spent writing them—or responding personally to the stacks of fan mail she received—at her typewriter. Her books, most meticulously researched historical fiction about influential horses and the hosts of fascinating characters who surrounded them—to name just a few, her Newbery Award winner King of the Wind, the book that changed an island Misty of Chincoteague, and the glowingly reviewed Justin Morgan Had a Horse—have had an outsized influence on those who grew up reading them, ultimately leading to writing careers, lives dedicated to riding and caring for horses and other animals, and even fan memoirs describing Henry’s impact.
But despite a professional existence that became profoundly public, particularly after Misty of Chincoteague, published in 1947, became a bestseller and eventually a popular feature film in 1961, Henry’s own life was mostly shielded from view.
With particular purpose to uncover what is little known about the author, as well as superb instincts for illustrating fascinating details that help readers construct the settings in which Henry’s creative mind, intensive historical and scholarly research, and storytelling ability matured and evolved, accomplished journalist and author Lettie Teague has provided a unique biography that is as much a pleasure to read as her subject’s own books. Highlighting over a dozen titles that represent, to Teague, not only the best of Marguerite Henry’s work but help tell the story of Marguerite Henry herself, and following the trail of some of her remarkable collaborators—most importantly, the charismatic and talented artist Wesley Dennis—Teague gives Henry fans what they always strived for through their thousands of personal connection.
Perhaps what Henry would deem less important, but becomes more and more valid as time passes, is Teague’s desire for the author’s legacy to live on. Many of Marguerite Henry’s books are still very much in print, but as time passes, fewer will remember once writing her fan letters, or perhaps think of the author at all. In these pages, Teague ensures that Marguerite Henry the writer will always be considered as every bit as remarkable as the books that she wrote. Featuring original artwork by Wesley Dennis from some of Henry’s best-known books, as well as over 100 personal photographs, letters, and artifacts few have seen, this is a warm and wonderful biography for bibliophiles, horse lovers, aspiring writers, and Marguerite Henry fans, young and old.
from some of Henry’s best-known books, as well as over 100 personal photographs, letters, and artifacts.
In certain circles, her name inspires immediate recognition and pronouncements of a committed admiration that has likely spanned decades. As an author, Marguerite Henry was indeed remarkably prolific, with 59 books published, millions of copies sold, and nearly 80 years of her life spent writing them—or responding personally to the stacks of fan mail she received—at her typewriter. Her books, most meticulously researched historical fiction about influential horses and the hosts of fascinating characters who surrounded them—to name just a few, her Newbery Award winner King of the Wind, the book that changed an island Misty of Chincoteague, and the glowingly reviewed Justin Morgan Had a Horse—have had an outsized influence on those who grew up reading them, ultimately leading to writing careers, lives dedicated to riding and caring for horses and other animals, and even fan memoirs describing Henry’s impact.
But despite a professional existence that became profoundly public, particularly after Misty of Chincoteague, published in 1947, became a bestseller and eventually a popular feature film in 1961, Henry’s own life was mostly shielded from view.
With particular purpose to uncover what is little known about the author, as well as superb instincts for illustrating fascinating details that help readers construct the settings in which Henry’s creative mind, intensive historical and scholarly research, and storytelling ability matured and evolved, accomplished journalist and author Lettie Teague has provided a unique biography that is as much a pleasure to read as her subject’s own books. Highlighting over a dozen titles that represent, to Teague, not only the best of Marguerite Henry’s work but help tell the story of Marguerite Henry herself, and following the trail of some of her remarkable collaborators—most importantly, the charismatic and talented artist Wesley Dennis—Teague gives Henry fans what they always strived for through their thousands of personal connection.
Perhaps what Henry would deem less important, but becomes more and more valid as time passes, is Teague’s desire for the author’s legacy to live on. Many of Marguerite Henry’s books are still very much in print, but as time passes, fewer will remember once writing her fan letters, or perhaps think of the author at all. In these pages, Teague ensures that Marguerite Henry the writer will always be considered as every bit as remarkable as the books that she wrote. Featuring original artwork by Wesley Dennis from some of Henry’s best-known books, as well as over 100 personal photographs, letters, and artifacts few have seen, this is a warm and wonderful biography for bibliophiles, horse lovers, aspiring writers, and Marguerite Henry fans, young and old.
439 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2024
14 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 1, 2024
A perfect read for fans of the Horse Book Queen, and a wonderful companion to Susan Friedland’s MARGUERITE, MISTY & ME. Henry’s early life is sketched out first, but what I think readers will truly love is the book by book chronology that sheds light on how and why Henry wrote her most famous books, including her extensive collaboration with illustrator Wesley Dennis. The book’s gallery of letters and photos is a pleasure to read through. My only worry was that someone might stumble on the letter I wrote to Henry when I was 13!
June 28, 2024
What a delightful read! Growing up, I loved Marguerite Henry’s books, & students still loved Misty of Chincoteague when I read it aloud to them a few years ago. This is a captivating look at Henry’s life thru her books. I still have some of her books, plus my Misty figurine! Now I need to re-read her books, and read the ones that I missed growing up. I’ve already ordered one I don’t have!
May 18, 2025
I grew up reading all the horse books written by Marguerite Henry. This was an interesting look behind the scenes in her personal life and how she created each horse/story. Thanks for taking me back to my childhood and my love of reading and horses.
June 6, 2024
When I was young, I always wanted to grow up to be Marguerite Henry. I wanted to write books with the soul and emotion that all of her stories embody. I read all of her books at my school library and for a school assignment, I wrote her a letter. She wrote back and I have cherished that postcard for over forty years. And yet, I did not really know who she was. Or how she came to write these masterful historical fiction horse books. This book, by the amazing Lettie Teague, is the book about Marguerite Henry that I have been waiting for my whole life!
Lettie’s research is incredibly thorough and her analysis thoughtful and enlightening. I got to know Marguerite through her life story, her writing process and her incredible connection to people. I almost feel like I’ve met her and we became friends.
I did actually meet Lettie and have the chance to chat with her about this book and she is an absolute gem. How fortunate for all us horse book lovers that Lettie chose to navigate a path that she did not think she should or could.
Lettie’s research is incredibly thorough and her analysis thoughtful and enlightening. I got to know Marguerite through her life story, her writing process and her incredible connection to people. I almost feel like I’ve met her and we became friends.
I did actually meet Lettie and have the chance to chat with her about this book and she is an absolute gem. How fortunate for all us horse book lovers that Lettie chose to navigate a path that she did not think she should or could.
April 20, 2024
I received a free digital ARC of this book from Edelweiss and Trafalgar Square Books. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
About ten years ago I spent the better part of a year collecting and reading or re-reading as many Newbery winners or honor books. At the same time, my son had to read Misty of Chincoteague in grade school. I remember him telling me how much he loved the book, which I thought odd, because his interests at the time went from five years of obsession over Thomas the Tank to Green Bay Packers football. So, I looked through the books I had collected and found Misty. Somehow, even though I loved horses, I had never read Marguerite Henry’s books growing up. I read it and could see how enthralling it could be to a child and enjoyed it as an adult but didn’t seek out more of Henry’s books at that time. Dear Readers and Riders has re-introduced me to Henry a decade later, and I have read the entire Misty series as well as a few standalones to get a better understanding of why her children’s works are still beloved.
This biography of Marguerite Henry also goes into details into some of her most popular books and how they came to be. Just like Laura Ingalls Wilder, many of Henry’s stories are based on fact, but highly romanticized and sanitized. That doesn’t make them bad writing at all; it just reinforces the idea that there are plenty of good stories based upon real-life events. Many of the people in Henry’s books were real, as are some of the favorite anecdotes in each book.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about Marguerite Henry and her children’s books and would recommend this book to anyone who has fond memories of her books, or those wanting to read a good author story.
I also appreciated the chapter divisions featuring letters from children to Henry.
About ten years ago I spent the better part of a year collecting and reading or re-reading as many Newbery winners or honor books. At the same time, my son had to read Misty of Chincoteague in grade school. I remember him telling me how much he loved the book, which I thought odd, because his interests at the time went from five years of obsession over Thomas the Tank to Green Bay Packers football. So, I looked through the books I had collected and found Misty. Somehow, even though I loved horses, I had never read Marguerite Henry’s books growing up. I read it and could see how enthralling it could be to a child and enjoyed it as an adult but didn’t seek out more of Henry’s books at that time. Dear Readers and Riders has re-introduced me to Henry a decade later, and I have read the entire Misty series as well as a few standalones to get a better understanding of why her children’s works are still beloved.
This biography of Marguerite Henry also goes into details into some of her most popular books and how they came to be. Just like Laura Ingalls Wilder, many of Henry’s stories are based on fact, but highly romanticized and sanitized. That doesn’t make them bad writing at all; it just reinforces the idea that there are plenty of good stories based upon real-life events. Many of the people in Henry’s books were real, as are some of the favorite anecdotes in each book.
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about Marguerite Henry and her children’s books and would recommend this book to anyone who has fond memories of her books, or those wanting to read a good author story.
I also appreciated the chapter divisions featuring letters from children to Henry.
May 25, 2024
I grew up reading Henry’s books as a kid because my mom loved them. We were both horse girls. I moved a lot and remember always looking at the latest local library for a new Marguerite Henry book with Wesley Dennis’s incredible illustrations. They were a prolific team and it felt like I was always discovering one I hadn’t read before.
These books were such a specific part of my childhood that even the photos of book covers in Teague’s book got me teared up. So I am not an unbiased reader.
It’s a serviceable biography that drags towards the end as the chapters - usually one per Henry classic - are fairly short and repetitive. Henry gets an idea, she convinces her editor, she travels and does impeccable research, and she writes a story about a kid and their horse. But the photos of Misty and Marguerite and the relationships with her illustrators and fans paint a lovely picture of an elegant and charming woman.
If you loved her books, and you still have your childhood copy of Misty on your bookshelf, you’ll enjoy it. If you haven’t spent 30 years dreaming of one day going to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna - it’s probably not worth the read.
And now I’m going to go reread some horse books.
These books were such a specific part of my childhood that even the photos of book covers in Teague’s book got me teared up. So I am not an unbiased reader.
It’s a serviceable biography that drags towards the end as the chapters - usually one per Henry classic - are fairly short and repetitive. Henry gets an idea, she convinces her editor, she travels and does impeccable research, and she writes a story about a kid and their horse. But the photos of Misty and Marguerite and the relationships with her illustrators and fans paint a lovely picture of an elegant and charming woman.
If you loved her books, and you still have your childhood copy of Misty on your bookshelf, you’ll enjoy it. If you haven’t spent 30 years dreaming of one day going to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna - it’s probably not worth the read.
And now I’m going to go reread some horse books.
June 24, 2024
I find so many places where the author and I might have crossed...esp. her first home in Milwaukee being so close to my first home in Milwaukee, her sister living in nearby Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin...I had no idea of who Marguerite Henry was before this. I only remembered her as the author of my favorite book...not favorite because of a horse (Misty) but because of the book (probably one of the very early printings) that I checked out of an Illinois town's Carnegie library children's room....it was already rebound by the time I took it out in a medium green binding...it had the dimensions more like a picture book than a regular story book...but the best part were the pencil drawings covered by a page of what seemed to be tracing paper...I had never before encountered such a book (nor have I since). I have long ago forgotten the story of Misty, but never the drawings & their special presentation within the pages of the book.
July 10, 2024
Marguerite was a legend when I was growing up. She and my own grandmother inspired me to want to become a writer and world traveler. Black Gold and Misty of Chincoteague may have been top of the list. In fact my first horse was a black OTTB, perhaps Black Gold (and definitely Walter Farley's Black Beauty) inspired that dream. I loved getting to know the woman behind the books. To see that a woman in her era was so independent and adventurous. Her life sounds exciting, busy, fun. At that point it also seems like it could have been quite lonely. It's too bad that we didn't get a chance to hear about her life before her passing, but Lettie did a phenomenal job. I really like how the book was laid out. The beginnings, the works, and thereafter.
Marguerite Henry... What. A. Legend.
Marguerite Henry... What. A. Legend.
September 8, 2024
I can tell the writer did a butt ton of research. I grew up reading these books (horse girl, derogatory) and was really excited to run across this at the library. My only thing is that there could've been a lot better editing. There are a lot of details left out - why don't we hear about her husband dying? What did Marguerite die of? Why don't we learn more about her personal life? - that make me feel like I still don't know that much about M. Henry. There were also quite a few typos. Loved the pictures, but felt they could've been placed in better order. Organization and editing aside, the writer has a lot of research and I did really like this book.
February 2, 2025
Many thanks to Lettie Teague for bringing Marguerite Henry’s stories of writing her books and her personal relationship to her fans and horses to life. As a child, Ms. Henry’s books helped to fill my longing for a horse. As an adult, I convinced my husband to camp on Assateague Island and search with me for the wild ponies. I’ve shared her books with my daughter and been inspired to write my own horse stories as a teen and as an adult. Lettie Teague’s lovingly written and well researched biography is a gift to anyone who has ever ridden their way through the pages of Marguerite Henry’s many novels.
November 4, 2024
A great tribute to an author that wrote stories kids who loved horses treasured.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Teague’s biography of Marguerite Henry. She was an important part of my childhood as I loved both horses and reading. Reading this brought back a lot of memories of spending hours with my other horse loving childhood friend playing with our Breyer horses and reenacting scenes from Henry’s stories. I loved the side characters in the book as well. I also loved the Black Beauty series and was unaware she had used the same illustrator, Wesley Dennis.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Teague’s biography of Marguerite Henry. She was an important part of my childhood as I loved both horses and reading. Reading this brought back a lot of memories of spending hours with my other horse loving childhood friend playing with our Breyer horses and reenacting scenes from Henry’s stories. I loved the side characters in the book as well. I also loved the Black Beauty series and was unaware she had used the same illustrator, Wesley Dennis.
January 18, 2025
I really wanted to give this 5-stars. It was a wonderful walk down memory lane to learn about Marguerite Henry book-by-book and discover the back stories and more about her personally. I’m only taking away one star because the last chapter where the author inserts herself and her story into the biography of Marguerite seems totally inappropriate and out of place. It should have been an author’s note and not read as the ultimate chapter of the book.
A must read for anyone who loved her books.
A must read for anyone who loved her books.
November 27, 2025
I was super excited to read this biography of my favorite childhood author! I liked the way it included about Marguerite's life and the way each book came about, plus fan letters. It lost me on the description of the books I hadn't read and I wished I knew a little more about her personally and the part of her life I knew about in my hometown. It was a great sentimenal journey and I added to my "to read" list some of my childhood favorites that she wrote!
January 27, 2025
Very enjoyable. I appreciated how the author wrote individually about individual books and what was going on in Marguerite's life at the time. Not too many surprises for me but still a good read. If you appreciated the Misty books or grew up reading any of Henry's work, this beautifully designed and presented book is a definite must have.
January 3, 2025
Book Club Read
Not a book I would have read normally. I read some of her books as a child. Did I enjoy this book? It was okay if you were interested in reading a biography about this author. For me not so much at this moment.
Not a book I would have read normally. I read some of her books as a child. Did I enjoy this book? It was okay if you were interested in reading a biography about this author. For me not so much at this moment.
Want to read
January 23, 2024I'm really excited about this one- I loved horse books growing up and she was one of my favorite authors, along with Patsey Gray and William Corbin
June 28, 2024
Beautifully written, engaging biography!
August 25, 2024
Thank you, Lettie Teague, for this lovely tribute to the life and books of Marguerite Henry.
March 6, 2025
Loved looking back at my favorite childhood books and their back stories
August 10, 2025
3.5 stars
December 2, 2024
only ok, I didn't learn much I didn't already know.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews