Some of you may have attended one of TSB author Lettie Teague's speaking events this past year, which happened all over the country in celebration of the publication of DEAR READERS AND RIDERS, the biography of beloved children's book author Marguerite Henry. If so, you are familiar with the book's origin story; if not, I'll share here that in 23 years of publishing books about horses by some of the industry's icons, Lettie's proposal was the first that actually made me cry.
We are not alone at TSB in feeling an emotional connection to and kinship with Marguerite Henry, the talented writer behind Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse (to name just a few of her bestsellers). The number of our authors who have noted reading her books and being inspired by her to one day write their own is well into the double-digits. Marguerite Henry, private as she was in many ways, was generous in how she connected with young people through both the wonderful books she wrote and the fan letters she devotedly answered. DEAR READERS AND RIDERS reminds us that Marguerite's reach was long and inclusive. And that her story is in all of us and belongs to all of us.
We talked to biographer Lettie Teague, known by many as the wine columnist for the Wall Street Journal, about her work on this incredible biography and what makes it so special, for bibliophiles and equine aficionados alike. (Note to self: great gift...)
TSB: Your new book DEAR READERS AND RIDERS is a departure from your “day job,” in that you are the wine columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the book is a biography of beloved children’s book author Marguerite Henry, and very much not about wine! Can you tell us why you felt compelled to research and write this biography?
LT: There is a short answer and a long answer to this question.
Short answer: Because no one else had!
Long answer: When I began researching Marguerite Henry’s life and work in February 2020 (yes, just before the world shut down) I had little idea of her as a person or even as a writer outside of my fond memories of her many books-- Misty of Chincoteague, King of the Wind, Born to Trot, Justin Morgan, etc etc. but the more I burrowed into the facts of her life and work, the more I was compelled to write about her--and the more indignant I became that she seemed to be so completely forgotten. She was a rock star in her day.
TSB: Marguerite Henry wrote 59 books in her lifetime, several of them becoming bestselling favorites that are still in print today. What do you think made her books resonate with readers during her life? What makes them still resonate with readers now?
LT: One reason is that Marguerite, as she said, never “talked down” to children-- she “talked up” to them. Her prose was as impeccable as her research. She wrote beautifully. That is the hallmark of any sort of enduring work, for children or adults. EB White is a brilliant example of that as well. Read Charlotte’s Web or Stuart Little and tell me you don’t think those books aren’t literature.
TSB: There was quite a bit of controversy surrounding a commercial for Google’s AI assistant “Gemini” that aired during the Olympics and featured a dad asking AI to write a fan letter for his daughter to her Olympic idol. Marguerite Henry was a bona fide celebrity in her day, and received thousands of fan letters from readers young and old, although mostly young. What role do you feel her fan mail played in the evolution of her career as an author and the books she wrote?
LT: Marguerite Henry was a social media genius before there was social media. She knew her fans longed for connection, and their means of connection were letters and postcards--and she likewise longed to hear from them. It was very much a mutual relationship, and a deeply-felt one on both sides. She called her correspondents her “book children.”
TSB: Over the course of researching and writing DEAR READERS AND RIDERS, you had the amazing honor of talking to and meeting a number of individuals who knew Marguerite Henry or were somehow involved in her life. Tell us about one of these remarkable people and why this person’s association with Henry and/or her books might be important for the world to know about?
LT: Oh my goodness! There are so many! If I have to choose just one it would be Mary Jon Quayle Edwards who I think is about to turn 81 years old. Mary Jon grew up next door to Marguerite and Sid Henry--there are pictures of her as a baby sitting on the real Misty shortly after the pony arrived in Wayne, Illinois. Mary Jon became a hugely accomplished equestrian, and she still rides and teaches EVERY DAY! Well, except maybe not Sunday. She may go to church on Sunday. She rides over hills and dales and jumps stone fences. She also teaches therapeutic riding. She’s just amazing. She even has a pony named Misty in her herd. She’s a wife, a mother, a valued member of her community and also very good company. Oh, and she doesn’t look a day over 61. So there’s that!
TSB: Why is it important to write biographies? Why is it important people read them?
LT: I like to read biographies of interesting/accomplished people. I find their life stories intriguing and sometimes even inspiring. As a writer I’m particularly interested in biographies of writers. How did they come to write what they did, and how did they write what they did?
TSB: What is one lesson you hope readers will take away from your book?
LT: If a wine columnist can write a biography of a bestselling children’s book author, then you can probably do just about anything you think you can’t do either--because I certainly had my doubts. Writers are full of doubts--or at least they should be. I think there are also lessons to be learned from reading about Marguerite’s life. Hers was not a clear path, and she didn’t write her first notable children’s book until she was in late middle age. It’s never too late!
TSB: If you were trapped on a desert island with a horse, a bottle of wine, and a book, what breed of horse would it be, which bottle of wine would you want, and which book would you choose?
LT: I would want the horse to be Tenderly, the Dutch Warmblood mare who was in my life all too briefly but was the most wonderful horse I’ve ever known. The wine would be Chablis and the book would be The Great Gatsby, which I re-read nearly every year. There is a gem in nearly every paragraph of that book. And to think it got mixed reviews when it was first published! File under: What do the critics know?
TSB: If you could do one thing on horseback that you haven’t yet done, what would it be?
LT: I’d like to gallop across a very long very beautiful field without worrying about the horse tripping and me falling off!
TSB: What is the quality you most like in a friend?
LT: Kindness.
TSB: What is the quality you most like in a horse?
LT: Gentleness.
TSB: What is your greatest fear?
LT: Falling off! (Which I have done a bit too often...)
TSB: What is your greatest extravagance?
LT: My husband would say buying wine, but I call that a necessity of my job.
TSB: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
LT: I would be more patient.
TSB: What’s in your refrigerator at all times?
LT: Besides wine? Seltzer. Butter. Carrots. Any kind of fruit. Hopefully much more than that, but those are the basics.
TSB: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
LT: Not worrying about anything. (I have yet to achieve that for very long...)
TSB: If you could have a conversation with one famous person, alive or dead, who would it be?
LT: EB White.
TSB: What is your motto?
LT: Oh dear, I don't have a motto. There is a line my husband says I use pretty often. "If only you'd listened to me!"
If you are looking for a great gift idea for the holidays, pair DEAR READERS AND RIDERS with a bottle of Wölffer Estate Rosé, one of the "horsey" wines Lettie bought and served at her book signings.
DEAR READERS AND RIDERS is available from the TSB online bookstore, and wherever books are sold.
Trafalgar Square Books, the industry authority in equestrian publishing, is a small business based on a farm in rural Vermont.