Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley

One of the most beloved of all children’s book writers tells the story of a seemingly worn-out mare, owned by Molly’s family, who is carrying a secret: a baby mule! Young Molly thinks the new creature is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. She calls him Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, and as the years go by, Molly discovers that, just like his mother, her mule is full of wonderful surprises.

When she was eleven, Marguerite Henry sold her first story to a woman's magazine for twelve dollars. It was about a collie and a birthday group of children playing hide-and-seek in autumn leaves. When she got the check, young Marguerite spent it immediately and realized that writing was a great way to earn a living. That story began an illustrious career that spanned decades and included the Newbery Medal-winning King of the Wind and two Newbery Honor Books, Justin Morgan Had a Horse and possibly the most beloved horse story of all time, Misty of Chincoteague. When people asked her why she wrote so much about animals, especially horses, Ms. Henry would reply, "It's exciting to me that no matter how much machinery replaces the horse, the work [they] can do is still measured in horsepower...even in this space age." Marguerite Henry died in 1997.