Ann McGovern Scheiner (née Weinberger; May 25, 1930 – August 8, 2015) was an American writer of more than 55

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

, selling over 30 million copies. She may be best known for her adaptation of ''

Stone Soup Stone Soup is a European folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys, and exists as a moral regarding the value of sharing. In varyin ...

'', as well as ''Too Much Noise'', historical and travel non-fiction, and biographies of figures like

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, us ...

and

Deborah Sampson Deborah Sampson Gannett, also known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was born on December 17, 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts. She disguised herself as a man, and served in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shirtliff – sometimes ...

and

Eugenie Clark Eugenie Clark (May 4, 1922 – February 25, 2015), popularly known as The Shark Lady, was an American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behavior and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. Clark was a pioneer in the fie ...

Early life

Born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

, she enrolled in the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

but dropped out to marry her English professor. The marriage ended and she moved back, at age 22, to New York City with her 18-month old son. In attempting to support herself and become a writer, she found a job at the publisher of

Little Golden Books Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942. ''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...

stamping galley prints. She published several books at Golden Books.

Career

Artists for her books include

Ezra Jack Keats Ezra Jack Keats (né Jacob Ezra Katz; March 11, 1916 – May 6, 1983) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the 1963 Caldecott Medal for illustrating '' The Snowy Day'', which he also wrote. Keats wrote '' A Letter ...

Simms Taback Simms Taback (February 13, 1932 – December 25, 2011) was an American writer, graphic artist, and illustrator of more than 35 books. He won the 2000 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing ''Joseph Had a Little Over ...

Tomie de Paola Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola (; September 15, 1934 – March 30, 2020) was an American people, American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books, such as ''Strega Nona''. He received the Children's Literature Legacy Awar ...

and

Mort Gerberg Mort Gerberg is a multi-genre American cartoonist and author whose work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, books, online, home video, film and television. He is best known for his magazine cartoons, which have appeared in numerous and diver ...

. She eventually moved into the

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

house at 75½ Bedford Street, the narrowest house in New York, which inspired ''Mr Skinner's Skinny House'' (). She married

Martin Scheiner Martin Lane Scheiner (September 1, 1922 – January 21, 1992) was an American inventor of electronics devices for medical purposes. He founded Electronics for Medicine in 1950, and served as president and research director until selling it to Hon ...

in 1970, the inventor of the first cardiac monitor for operating rooms, and adopted his three grown children. They lived together in the

Usonia Historic District Usonia Historic District was a planned community and is now a national historic district located in Town of Mount Pleasant, adjacent to the village of Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York. In 1945, a rural tract was purchased by a coope ...

community in

Westchester, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

. She published four books of poetry in the 2000s, and began blogging about her cancer in 2014.

Death

McGovern died of cancer in New York City on August 8, 2015, aged 85.Obituary
nytimes.com; accessed August 12, 2015.
publishersweekly.com; accessed August 12, 2015.

Selected works

* ''Mr Skinner's Skinny House'' * ''Aesop's Fables'' * ''Little Whale'' * ''Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman'' * ''Black is Beautiful'' * ''

'' * ''Too Much Noise'' - 1957 * ''Eggs on Your Nose'' * ''Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest'' * ''Christopher Columbus'' * ''The Desert Beneath the Sea'' * ''Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark'' * ''The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson'' - 1975 * ''Night Dive'' - 1984 * ''If You Sailed on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620'' - 1969 * ''The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving'' - 1973 * ''Nicholas Bentley Stoningpot III'' - 1982

References

External links

Good Reads

Scholastic
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, Ann 1930 births 2015 deaths American children's writers Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Writers from New York City American women poets American science writers American women non-fiction writers American women children's writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers