Bianco, Margery Williams

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BIANCO, Margery Williams

Born 22 July 1881, London, England; died 4 September 1944, New York, New York

Also wrote under: Margery Bianco, Margery Williams

Daughter of Robert and Florence Harper Williams; married Francesco Bianco, 1904

Margery Williams Bianco was born in London, where she early developed the interest for studying animals reflected in many of her books. Bianco's father died when she was seven and two years later the remaining members of the family sailed for New York. From there they moved to a farm in Pennsylvania, where Bianco reveled in "berry picking, corn husking, coasting in winter—all the country things one had read about in St. Nicholas."

At seventeen, Bianco began to write and occasionally publish short stories. Her first novel, The Late Returning, appeared in 1902 and was followed by two more adult novels, The Price of Youth (1904) and The Bar (1906). A. C. Moore has described these early novels as "absorbing stories" of human loyalties and conflicts in which Bianco's characteristic concern for "the mystery of nature" was already present.

In 1922 Bianco published her first novel for children, The Velveteen Rabbit. This fantasy about a toy rabbit that becomes real through the power of love has long been acknowledged as a work of rare distinction. A tale of patient love, willing sacrifice, and bittersweet reward, it is reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tales, which Bianco greatly admired. Her style, which is tender and yet humorous, is well suited to the story of the velveteen rabbit, and to the stories of toys and their people that followed it: Poor Cecco (1925), The Little Wooden Doll (1925), The Skin Horse (1927), and The Adventures of Andy (1927).

Bianco's success in these early children's books was in her ability to create secondary realities—worlds and characters parallel to but different from our own. Her charming style and use of facts made animals into individuals. But Bianco's later children's books demonstrate that she was also able to draw upon realistic settings, and create realistic human characters. In Winterbound (1936), the four Ellis children spend a hard winter alone in a drafty Connecticut farmhouse. The two older sisters use good sense, good spirits, and good character to bring the family through a series of potential disasters. Bianco's hand with characterization is so sure that not only are the Ellises all fully realized as individuals, but each member of the supporting cast is also clearly and memorably defined. Throughout Winterbound, Bianco's love for the colors and the inhabitants of the countryside brings landscape, flora, and fauna into the fabric of her story.

A frequent contributor to Horn Book magazine, Bianco brought high standards of criticism to her consideration of child-ren's books, and she was as demanding of herself as she was of others. She had a keen awareness of the role of literature in educating the imagination, and wrote that "Imagination is another word for the interpretation of life."

Other Works:

Paris (1910). The Thing in the Woods (1913). The Apple Tree (1926). All About Pets (1929). The Candlestick (1929). The House That Grew Smaller (1931). A Street of Little Shops (1932). The Hurdy-Gurdy Man (1933). The Good Friends (1934). More About Animals (1934). Green Grows the Garden (1936). Tales from a Finnish Tupa (with J. C. Bowman, 1936). Rufus the Fox (1937). Other People's Houses (1939). Franzi and Gizi (with G. Loeffler, 1941). Bright Morning (1942). The Five-and-a-Half Club (1942). Penny and the White Horse (1942). Forward Commandos! (1944). Herbert's Zoo (1949). The New Five-and-a-half Club (1951).