Munro leaf biography definition

American author and illustrator, He taught secondary school, then worked as editor and director for Frederick A. Stokes Company, a publishing firm in New York. He penned the brief text on a yellow legal pad in less than an hour for Robert Lawson, his illustrator friend.

Munro Leaf

American writer and illustrator (–)

Wilbur Monroe Leaf (a.k.a.Munro Leaf) (December 4, – December 21, ) was an American writer of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his year career.

He is best known for The Story of Ferdinand (), a children's classic which he wrote on a yellow legal-length pad in less than an hour. Labeled as subversive, it stirred an international controversy.

Early life

Munroe Wilbur Leaf was born on December 4, , the son of Charles W Leaf () and Emma India Leaf in Hamilton, Maryland.

Leaf had an older sister, Elizabeth W Leaf. By his family lived in Washington, D.C., where his father had established his career as a machinist at the Government Printing Office.[1][2] Leaf studied at the University of Maryland where he had played lacrosse and served as class treasurer, graduating in [3] He honeymooned with his wife Margaret Pope in Europe in [4] He graduated from Harvard University with a master's degree in English literature in

Career

He taught secondary school English at the Belmont Hill Institution in Boston in and then worked as an editor with the publisher Frederick A.

Stokes Company.[5] Leaf once commented, "Early on in my writing career I realized that if one found some truths worth telling they should be told to the young in terms that were understandable to them."

Leaf wrote The Story of Ferdinand for his friend, illustrator Robert Lawson.

The story, which follows a gentle bull in rural Spain who prefers smelling flowers to bullfighting, sparked considerable controversy because Ferdinand was regarded by some as a pacifist symbol. Banned in Spain and burned as propaganda in Nazi Germany, the book had over 60 foreign translations and has never gone out of print.

The story was adapted into a Walt Disney film which won a Academy Award.

Leaf and Lawson's second collaboration, Wee Gillis, about a boy living in Scotland halfway between his father's family in the Highlands and his mother's in the Lowlands, was cited as a Caldecott Honor Book.

In the s and s Leaf wrote a regular feature for The American Magazine, titled "Streamlined Samples of the World's Best Stories," offering one-page, jocular, off-the-cuff condensations of Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, Romeo and Juliet and others.

Watchbirds

Leaf's other notable creation was the Watchbirds cartoon series, a cartoon commentary on human behavior. It ran as regular feature in the Ladies' Home Journal[when?] and was later collected into several books.

During his forty-year career in children’s literature, Munro Leaf wrote and illustrated nearly forty books. He is best known as the creator of The Story of Ferdinand (), a up-to-date juvenile classic that has charmed chil­dren worldwide for more than half a century.

During WWII

During World War II, Leaf worked for the Army Department and after the war, he volunteered his skills to the Declare Department, insisting he was "anxious to work with the [Office of Public Affairs] (without compensation and in an unofficial capacity)on international policy matters".

This collaboration resulted in a cartoon publication, published by the Committee for the Marshall Plan, titled Who Is the Man Against the Marshall Plan?, a Bibliography of Basic Official Documents.[6]

During World War II, Leaf and Ted Geisel (a.k.a.

Dr. Seuss) created the pamphlet This Is Ann, about a mosquito spreading malaria to men who failed to hold precautions.[7]

Post-war years

Leaf went on to write 25 books after his service in World War II.

Two of them, Four and Twenty Watchbirds and How to Speak Politely and Why, were published posthumously.

Personal life

Leaf died from cancer at age 71 in his home in suburban Garrett Park, Maryland, on December 21, [8]

Leaf's University of Maryland lacrosse stick was donated as the travelling trophy between Ann Arbor Pioneer and Ann Arbor Skyline high schools, to be possessed by the winner of each matchup between contests.[9]

Legacy

On April 22, , Leaf was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame.

Some of his books have been brought back into print in recent years.

The English composer Alan Ridout set The Story of Ferdinand to music.

Munro Leaf - Wikipedia: Wilbur Monroe Leaf (a.k.a. Munro Leaf) (December 4, – December 21, ) was an American writer of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his year career. He is best known for The Story of Ferdinand (), a children's classic which he wrote on a yellow legal-length pad in less than an hour.

A version in French, released on Analekta (AN2 –2), is Solo by Angèle Dubeau, narrated by Pierre Lebeau.

In , the Minnesota Orchestra commissioned Alice Gomez to write two works based on The Story of Ferdinand. Composed in a Spanish design, El Piquete de Abeja (the Bee Sting) and Habanera de Ferdinand make up the Ferdinand-inspired suite.

These works were recorded in by the Michigan Philharmonic.

Bibliography

  • Grammar Can Be Fun, Fresh York, Frederick A. Stokes,
  • Lo, the Poor Indian, New York, Leaf, Mahoney, Seidel & Stokes,
  • The Boy Who Would Not Go to School: Robert Francis Weatherbee, New York, Frederick A.

    Stokes Co.,

  • Manners Can Be Fun, New York, Frederick A. Stokes,
  • Leaf, Munro, Robert Lawson (illustrator). The Story of Ferdinand, New York, Viking Press,
  • Leaf, Munro, Ludwig Bemelmans (illustrator) Noodle, New York, Frederick A.

    Stokes,

  • Leaf, Munro, Robert Lawson (illustrator). Wee Gillis, New York, Viking Press,
  • Leaf, Munro, Dick Rose (illustrator) Listen Little Girl, Before You Come to New York, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.,
  • Leaf, Munro, Disney Illustrators.

    Wilbur Monroe Leaf a. Munro Leaf December 4, — December 21, was an American creator of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his year career. He is best known for The Story of Ferdinanda children's classic which he wrote on a yellow legal-length pad in less than an hour. Labeled as subversive, it stirred an international controversy.

    Walt Disney's Ferdinand the Bull, New York, Dell Publishing,

  • The Watchbirds, New York, Frederick A. Stokes,
  • Safety Can Be Fun New York, Frederick A. Stokes,
  • Fair Play, New York, Frederick A.

    Stokes,

  • More Watchbirds: A Picture Book of Behavior, New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company,
  • John Henry Davis, Fresh York, Frederick A Stokes,
  • Fly Away, Watchbird: A Picture Novel of Behavior, New York, Frederick A Stokes Company,
  • Leaf, Munro, Robert Lawson (illustrator).

    Aesop's Fables, New York, Heritage Press,

  • Munro Leaf's Fun Book, New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company,
  • Leaf, Munro, Robert Lawson. The Story of Simpson and Sampson, Fresh York, Viking Press,
  • A War-Time Handbook for Young Americans, Philadelphia, Frederick A.

    Stokes Company,

  • My Book to Help America, Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing Co,
  • Leaf, Munro, Theodor Seuss Geisel (illustrator). This Is Ann, She's Dying to Meet You., US Government War Department, Washington,
  • Health Can be Fun, New York, J.B.

    Lippincott,

  • Gordon The Goat, Philadelphia and New York, J.B. Lippincott Co.,
  • 3 and 30 Watchbirds: A Picture Book of Behavior, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Co.,
  • Let's Do Better, J.B.

    Lippincott Co.,

  • Calvert, John (Munro Leaf) Garrett Price (illustrator). Gwendolyn the Goose, Random House,
  • How to React and Why, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott,
  • Flock of Watchbirds, New York, J.B. Lippincott,
  • Who Is the Man Against the Marshall Plan, Committee for the Marshall Arrange,
  • Leaf, Munro, Frances Tipton Hunte (Illustrator).

    Boo, Who Used to Be Scared of the Dark, New York, Random House,

  • Sam and the Superdroop, New York, Viking Press,
  • Menninger, William C. (M.D.); Leaf, Munro. You and Psychiatry, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons,
  • Arithmetic Can Be Fun, Philadelphia, J.B.

    Lippincott,

  • History Can Be Fun, Philadelphia, Lippincott Co,
  • The Danger of Hiding Our Heads, Committee on the Give Danger,
  • Geography Can Be Fun!, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott,
  • Reading Can Be Fun, Philadelphia, J.B.

    Lippincott,

  • Lucky You, J.B. Lippincott,
  • How to Behave and Why, J.B. Lippincott,
  • Three Promises to You, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott,
  • Science Can Be Fun, Philadelphia, J.B.

    Lippincott,

  • The Wishing Pool, New York: J.B. Lippincott,
  • Being an American Can Be Fun, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott.

    Born on December 4, , Leaf graduated from the University of Maryland in One Sunday afternoon in , as a favor to his ally, struggling illustrator Robert Lawson, he sat down to write a children’s book. One hour later he had completed the message for The Story of Ferdinand.

  • Turnabout, Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott Firm,
  • I Hate You, Boston, Sterling Institute Press,
  • Who Cares? I Do, New York, J.B. Lippincott,
  • Metric Can Be Fun, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, J.B.

    Lippincott Business,

  • Four and Twenty Watchbirds, Hamden, Connecticut, Linnet Books,
  • How to Speak Politely and Why, Existence,

References

Notes
  1. ^"Thirteenth Census of the Merged States, ". (NARA microfilm publication T, 1, rolls).

    Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: ; Census Place: Precinct 10, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T_; Page: 16B; Enumeration District:

  2. ^"Fourteenth Census of the United States, ". (NARA microfilm publication T, rolls).

    Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group National Archives, Washington, D.C. Year: ; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T_; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: ; Image:

  3. ^" Reveille".

    University of Maryland Yearbook.

  4. ^"Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, Unused York, ". Microfilm Publication T, rolls. NAI: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.

    Year: ; Arrival: New York, Recent York; Microfilm Serial: T, ; Microfilm Roll: Roll ; Line: 25; Page Number:

  5. ^Duncan, Roger F. (). The Story of Belmont Hill School . Thomas Todd Company.
  6. ^Wala, Michael (July ).

    "Selling the Marshall Plan at Home: The Committee for the Marshall Plan to Aid European Recovery". Diplomatic History. 10 (3): – doi/jtbx. ISSN&#;

  7. ^"This Is Ann".

    Wilbur Monroe Leaf a. Munro Leaf December 4, — December 21, was an American penner of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his year career. He is best known for The Story of Ferdinanda children's classic which he wrote on a yellow legal-length pad in less than an hour. Labeled as subversive, it stirred an international controversy.

    Archived from the authentic on November 8,

  8. ^Franklin, Ben A. (December 22, ). "Munro Leaf, Author, Dead at 71; Creator of Ferdinand the Bull". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27,
  9. ^"Gil Leaf Lacrosse Trophy".
Sources
  • "Munro Leaf" in Children's Literature Review, Gerard J.

    Senick, editor.

    Wilbur Monroe Leaf a. Munro Leaf December 4, — December 21, was an American scribe of children's literature who wrote and illustrated nearly 40 books during his year career. He is best known for The Story of Ferdinanda children's classic which he wrote on a yellow legal-length pad in less than an hour. Labeled as subversive, it stirred an international controversy.

    Detroit: Gale Research, Inc.,

  • Molz, Kathleen, "Nickel Words for a Golden Mission" in Wilson Library Bulletin, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp.&#;45–7, quoted in "Munro Leaf" in Children's Literature Review, Gerard J. Senick, editor.

    Detroit: Gale Research, Inc.,

  • Nel, Philip. "Children's Literature Goes to War: Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Munro Leaf, and the Private SNAFU Films (–46)".
  • Saunders, Sheryl Lee. Children's Books and Their Creators, Anita Silvey, editor.

    Boston: Houghton Mifflin,

External links