Doris "Doe" Burn (born Doris Wernstedt; April 24, 1923 – March 9, 2011) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

children's book author and illustrator. She lived most of her life on Waldron Island in the

San Juan Islands The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between the U.S. state of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of Washington state, and form the core of ...

archipelago of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Life and career

Doris Wernstedt was born in

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to Lage Wernstedt, an explorer, mountaineer and

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

worker, and his wife, Adele. The family resided on Guemes Island near

Anacortes Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.June Burn June Burn (1893–1969) was an American writer and columnist. Background and Career Burn was born Inez Chandler Harris on June 19, 1893 in Anniston, Alabama. Her father was a Methodist circuit riding minister. At age sixteen, she moved to Oklah ...

for the '' Bellingham Herald'', the Wernstedt and Burn families became friends; the two families had nearby summer cabins on Waldron, a small island without ferry service. OrkilaSunset

Burn attended the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and the University of Hawaii, and graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. She married South ("Bob") Burn after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the couple made their home on Waldron Island. She had four children, whom she taught for one year on Guemes Island's one-room schoolhouse. Burn separated from her husband, but they remained lifelong friends and neighbors. Burn worked on her meticulous illustrations in the evenings, in "a small cabin where she spends the day at work after chopping enough wood to keep the fire going through the day, hauling two buckets of water from the pump for washing brushes and pens and brewing 'a perpetual pot of tea.'"Blurb from ''Andrew Henry's Meadow'', 1965 Waldron Island was without electricity, telephone service, running water or merchants. All of her goods and supplies were brought by boat from the mainland. In 1956, Burn took a portfolio of illustrations to publishers in New York and was encouraged to continue working. Her children remember her working late nights by lantern-light with the fireplace burning down to embers. Her oldest son, Mark Nathaniel Burn, was the inspiration for her first book, ''Andrew Henry's Meadow'' (1965), the story of a boy who, ignored by his family, builds a retreat for himself in a nearby

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

. He is soon joined by other children for whom he also builds houses, tailored to their interests and hobbies. ''Andrew Henry's Meadow'' won the Washington Governor's Art Award and was a '' Weekly Reader'' book club selection. It was reissued in a 40th anniversary edition by San Juan Publishing in 2005 and again by Philomel Books in 2012,. She went on to write ''The Summerfolk'' and ''The Tale of Lazy Lizard Canyon'', and illustrated eight others.

Death

Doris "Doe" Burn died at her daughter's home in Bellingham, Washington on March 9, 2011 at the age of 87.

Legacy

The Burn family donated a collection of Doris' work to Western Washington University. The collection is made available by Western Libraries Heritage Resources.

Works

Author and illustrator

* ** Fortieth Anniversary Edition. (2005) Woodinville, WA: San Juan Publishing. *, *

Illustrator

*Joseph Jacobs. ''Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Neary''. New York: Coward-McCann. 1968 *Robert Nathan. ''Tappy''. Knopf. 1968 *Liesel Moak Skorpen. ''We Were Tired of Living in a House''. New York: Coward-McCann. 1969 *

Patricia Lee Gauch Patricia Lee Gauch (born January 3, 1934) is an author who has written over 30 works of children's literature. In 1993, Gauch was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. She has been a resident of the Basking Ridge section of Bernards ...

. ''My Old Tree''. New York: Coward-McCann. 1970 *Patricia Lee Gauch. ''Christina Katerina & the Box''. New York: Putnam & Grosset. 1971 *Oscar Brand, ''When I Came First to this Land''. New York: G. B. Putnam's. 1974

Film

Actor Zach Braff has been adapting Andrew Henry's Meadow into a film for

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

since 2004.

Barry Sonnenfeld Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as ''The Addams Family'' (1991) and its sequel ''Addams Family Va ...

signed on to direct the film in early 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, Doris 1923 births 2011 deaths American children's writers Writers from Portland, Oregon People from Skagit County, Washington University of Washington alumni University of Oregon alumni University of Hawaiʻi alumni Writers from Washington (state) American women children's writers People from San Juan County, Washington 21st-century American women