James Marshall (author)


James Edward Marshall was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, probably best known for the George and Martha series of picture books. He illustrated books exclusively as James Marshall; when he created both text and illustrations he sometimes wrote as Edward Marshall. In 2007 the U.S. professional librarians posthumously awarded him the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for "substantial and lasting contribution" to American children's literature.

Life

Marshall was born in San Antonio, Texas, where he grew up on his family's 85-acre farm. His father worked on the railroad and was a band member in the 1930s. His mother sang in the local church choir. The family later moved to Beaumont, Texas. Marshall said: "Beaumont is deep south and swampy and I hated it. I knew I would die if I stayed there so I diligently studied the viola, and eventually won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory in Boston." He entered the New England Conservatory of Music but injured his hand, 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 City and a home in Mansfield Hollow, Connecticut. He died at the age of 50. His obituary states that he died of a brain tumor; however, his sister has since clarified that he died of AIDS.

Career

It is said that he discovered his vocation on a 1971 summer afternoon, lying in a hammock and 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 creating books for children until his untimely death in 1992 from AIDS-related complications. In 1999, George and Martha became the stars of an eponymous animated TV show.
Marshall was a friend of Maurice Sendak, who called him the "last in the line" of children's writers for whom children's books were a cottage industry. Sendak said that Marshall was "uncommercial to a fault" and, as a consequence, was little recognized by the awards committees. Sendak said that in Marshall you got "the whole man", who "scolded, gossiped, bitterly reproached, but always loved and forgave" and "made me laugh until I cried." In introduction to the collected George and Martha, Sendak called him the "last of a long line of masters" including Randolph Caldecott, Jean de Brunhoff, Edward Ardizzone, and Tomi Ungerer.
Beside the lovable hippopotami George and Martha, James Marshall created dozens of other uniquely appealing characters and illustrated over seventy books. 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 produce howls of laughter from both children and adults.

Works

TitleAuthorIllustratorCityPublisherYear
A Day With Whisker WicklesCynthia JamesonJames MarshallNew YorkCoward McCann1975
A Frog and Her DogJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1977
All the Way HomeLore SegalJames MarshallNew YorkFarrar, Straus, Giroux1973
Bonzini! The Tattooed ManJeffrey AllenJames MarshallBostonLittle, Brown and Co1976
Bumps in the NightHarry AllardJames MarshallNew YorkBantam Doubleday Dell1979
Carrot NoseJan WahlJames MarshallFarrar, Straus, and Giroux1978
Choosing Books For Children: A Commonsense GuideBetsy HearneJames MarshallNew YorkDelacorte1990
CinderellaBarbara KarlinJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books1989
Dinner at Alberta'sRussell HobanJames MarshallNew YorkThomas Y. Crowell1975
Dinosaur's Housewarming PartyNorma KleinJames MarshallNew YorkCrown Publishers1974
EugeneJames MarshallJames Marshall1975
Four Little TroublesJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1975
Four on the ShoreEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1985
Fox all WeekEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkPenguin1984
Fox and His FriendsEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkPenguin1982
Fox at SchoolEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1983
Fox Be NimbleJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1990
Fox in LoveEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkPenguin1982
Fox on StageJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkPenguin1993
Fox on the JobJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1988
Fox on WheelsEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1983
Fox OutfoxedJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkPenguin1992
Fox Tales James MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books For Young Readers1990
George and MarthaJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1972
George and Martha EncoreJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1973
George and Martha Back in TownJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1984
George and Martha One Fine DayJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1978
George and Martha Rise and ShineJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1976
George and Martha Round and RoundJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1988
George and Martha Tons of FunJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1980
Go, Go, GoJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1981
Goldilocks and the Three BearsJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books1988
Hansel and GretelJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books1990
Haunted House JokesLouis PhillipsJames MarshallUSAPuffin1988
Hey Diddle DiddleJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkFarrar, Straus & Giroux1979
How Beastly! A Menagerie of Nonsense PoemsJane YolenJames MarshallNew YorkCollins1980
I Will Not Go to Market TodayHarry AllardJames MarshallNew YorkDial1979
It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the HouseHarry AllardJames MarshallGarden CityDoubleday1977
James Marshall's Mother GooseJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkFarrar, Straus & Giroux1979
Lazy StoriesDiane WolksteinJames MarshallNew YorkSeabury Press1976
MacGoose's GroceryFrank AschJames MarshallNew YorkDial1978
Mary Alice Operator Number 9Jeffrey AllenJames MarshallBostonLittle Brown & Co.1975
Miss. Dog's Christmas TreatJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Miffin1973
Merry Christmas, Space CaseJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1986
Miss Nelson Has a Field DayHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1985
Miss Nelson is BackHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin Co.1982
Miss Nelson is Missing!Harry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1977
My Friends the FrogsJames MarshallJames MarshallLexington, Mass.D.C. Heath1989
Nosey Mrs. RatJeffrey AllenJames MarshallNew YorkViking Kestrel1985
Old Mother Hubbard and Her Wonderful DogJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkFarrar, Straus & Giroux1991
Plink Plink PlinkByrd BaylorJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1971
Pocket Full of NonsenseJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkGolden Books1992
Portly McSwineJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1979
Rats on the RangeJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books for Young Readers1993
Rats on the RoofJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Books for Young Readers1991
Rapscallion JonesJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking1983
Red Riding HoodJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1987
Roger's UmbrellaDaniel PinkwaterJames MarshallNew YorkDutton1982
Space CaseEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1980
SpeedboatJames MarshallJames MarshallMiddletown, ConnecticutXerox Education Publications1976
Sing Out, IreneJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1975
Snake, His StoryJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin Co.1975
Someone is Talking About HortenseLaurette MurdockJames MarshallBostonHoughton1975
Swine LakeJames MarshallMaurice SendakNew YorkHarper Collins1999
Taking Care of CarruthersJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton1981
The Night Before ChristmasClement C. MooreJames MarshallNew YorkScholastic1985
The Owl and the PussycatEdward LearJames MarshallS.l.HarperCollins1991
The Adventures of Isabel: a VerseOgden NashJames MarshallBostonLittle, Brown1991
The Big Jump / el saltoJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflen1981
The Boy Who Cried WolfFreya LittledaleJames MarshallNew YorkScholastic1975
The Cut-upsJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking Kestrel1984
The Cut-ups at Camp CusterJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking Penguin1989
The Cut-ups Carry OnJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking1990
The Cut-ups Crack UpJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking Penguin1992
The Cut-ups Cut LooseJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking Kestrel1987
The Frog PrinceEdith H. TarcovJames MarshallNew YorkScholastic1974
The Exploding Frog and Other Fables From AesopJohn McFarlandJames MarshallBostonLittle, Brown1981
The Piggy in the PuddleCharlotte PomerantzJames MarshallNew YorkSimon & Schuster1974
The Stupids DieHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1981
The Stupids Have a BallHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1978
The Stupids Step OutHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1974
The Stupids Take OffHarry AllardJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1989
The Three Little PigsJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1989
There's a Party at Mona's TonightHarry AllardJames MarshallGarden CityDoubleday1981
Three by the SeaEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial Press1981
Three Up a TreeJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1986
Troll CountryEdward MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkDial1980
What's the Matter With CarruthersJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1972
WillisJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1974
Wings: a Tale of Two ChickensJames MarshallJames MarshallNew YorkViking1986
Yummers!James MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1972
Yummers Too: the Second CourseJames MarshallJames MarshallBostonHoughton Mifflin1986