James Marshall (author)

James Marshall (October 10, 1942 - October 13, 1992) is a children's author and illustrator and was born in San Antonio, Texas where he grew up on his family's farm. His father worked on the rail road, was a band member in the 1930's, and his mother sang in the local church choir. He played viola and entered the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, but injured his hand thereby ending his music career. He returned to Texas, where he attended San Antonio College, and later transferred to Southern Connecticut State University where he received degrees in French and history. He lived between an apartment in the Chelsea district of New York and a home in Mansfield Hollow Connecticut.

Career

It is said that he discovered his vocation on a 1971 summer afternoon, lying on a hammock drawing. His mother was watching "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", and the main characters, George and Martha, ultimately became characters in one of his children's books. Marshall continued as a children's author until his untimely death in 1992 of brain tumor. In 1998, George and Martha became the basis of an eponymous animated children's television show.

Marshall was a friend of Maurice Sendak, who mentions him as the "last in the line" of children's writers, when children's books were a cottage industry. Sendak mentioned that Marshall was "uncommercial to a fault," and as a consequence was not greatly recognized by the awards committee. Marshall won a University of Mississippi Silver Medallion in 1992, and received the Caldecott Honor in 1989 for "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". As a friend, Sendak mentioned that you got "the whole man", who "scolded, gossiped, bitterly reproached, but always loved and forgave" and "made me laugh until I cried." In 2007, the American Library Association posthumously honored Marshall with the Laura Ingalls Wilder medal for his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

In addition to George and Martha, the lovable hippopotami, James Marshall created dozens of other uniquely appealing characters. He is well-known for his "Fox" Series, as well as "The Miss Nelson" books, the Stupids, the Cut-ups, and many more. James Marshall had the uncanny ability to elicit wild delight from readers with relatively little text and simple drawings. With only two minute dots for eyes, his illustrated characters are able to express a wide range of emotion, and never ever fail to produce howls of laughter from children and adults.

Bibliography

* A DAY WITH WHISKER WICKLES by Cynthia Jameson, illustrated by James Marshall; (New York: Coward McCann, 1975).
* CHOOSING BOOKS FOR CHILDREN: A COMMONSENSE GUIDE by Betsy Hearne, rev. ed. (New York: Delacorte, 1990).
* EUGENE by James Marshall;
* FOUR LITTLE TROUBLES (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975).
* FOUR ON THE SHORE by Edward Marshall, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1985).
* FOX AT SCHOOL by Edward Marshall, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1983).
* FOX BE NIMBLE by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1990).
* FOX ON WHEELS by Edward Marshall, illustrated by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1983).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA written and illustrated by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA ENCORE by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA BACK IN TOWN by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA ONE FINE DAY by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA RISE AND SHINE by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA ROUND AND ROUND by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988).
* GEORGE AND MARTHA TONS OF FUN by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980).
* HAUNTED HOUSE JOKES by Louis Phillips, pictures by James Marshall (USA: Puffin, 1999).
* HEY DIDDLE DADDLE story and pictures by James Marshall
* HOW BEASTLY! A MENAGERIE OF NONSENSE POEMS by Jane Yolen, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Collins, 1980).
* I WILL NOT GO TO MARKET TODAY by Harry Allard, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1979).
* JAMES MARSHALL'S MOTHER GOOSE by James Marshall (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1979).
* MACGOOSE'S GROCERY by Frank Asch, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1978).
* MERRY CHRISTMAS, SPACE CASE by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1986).
* MISS NELSON HAS A FIELD DAY by Harry Allard and James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985).
* MISS NELSON IS MISSING! by Harry Allard and James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977).
* PORTLY MCSWINE by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979).
* RAPSCALLION JONES by James Marshall (New York: Viking, 1983).
* ROGER'S UMBRELLA by Daniel Pinkwater, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dutton, 1982).
* SPACE CASE by Edward Marshall, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1980).
* SPEEDBOAT by James Marshall (Middletown, Conn.: Xerox Education Publications, 1967); (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,1967).
* SING OUT, IRENE by James Marshall;
* SNAKE, HIS STORY by James Marshall;
* SOMEONE IS TALKING ABOUT HORTENSE story by Laurette Murdock, pictures by James Marshall;
* SWINE LAKE by James Marshall, pictures by Maurice Sendak (New York: Harper Collins, 1999).
* THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by James Marshall (New York: Scholastic, 1985).
* THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT by Edward Lear with pictures by James Marshall (1991?)
* THE ADVENTURES OF ISABEL: A VERSE by Ogden Nash, with pictures by James Marshall (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991).
* THE BIG JUMP / EL SALTO by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981).
* THE CUT-UPS by James Marshall (New York: Viking Kestrel, 1984).
* THE CUT-UPS CUT LOOSE by James Marshall (New York: Viking Kestrel, 1987).
* THE EXPLODING FROG AND OTHER FABLES FROM AESOP retold by John McFarland, illustrated by James Marshall (Boston: Little Brown, 1981).
* THE STUPIDS DIE story by Harry Allard, pictures by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981).
* THE STUPIDS HAVE A BALL by Harry Allard and James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978).
* THE STUPIDS STEP OUT by Harry Allard, pictures by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974).
* THE THREE LITTLE PIGS retold and illustrated by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1989).
* THERE'S A PARTY AT MONA'S TONIGHT by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall (Garden City: Doubleday, 1981).
* THREE UP A TREE by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1986).
* TROLL COUNTRY by Edward Marshall, pictures by James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1980).
* WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH CARRUTHERS? a bedtime story written and illustrated by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
* WILLIS by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974).
* WINGS: A TALE OF TWO CHICKENS by James Marshall (New York: Viking, 1986).
* YUMMERS! by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972).
* YUMMERS TOO: THE SECOND COURSE by James Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986).

External links

* [http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv72517 Guide to the James Marshall papers at the University of Oregon]