William E. Brittain (December 16, 1930 – December 16, 2011) was an American writer. He is best known for work set in the fictional

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

village of Coven Tree, including ''

The Wish Giver ''The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree'' is a 1983 in literature, 1983 young adult fiction, young adult or children's book by Bill Brittain. The "wish giver" in the title refers to the enigmatic man who gives three children a wish to make th ...

'', a

Newbery Honor Book The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

. Brittain was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. He decided he wanted to be a 5th-grade teacher, and in addition to teaching, used to read stories in mystery magazines. After some time, he decided he could do as good a job at writing as some of the authors he read; he got coaching on writing from Frederic Dannay of ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

'' (in which, along with ''

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine'' (AHMM) is a bi-monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime and detective fiction. ''AHMM'' is named for Alfred Hitchcock, the famed director of suspense films and television. History ''AHMM'' ...

'', most of his mystery stories were published). He wrote two serials from 1964 to 1983, as well as other stories, before moving on to the children's books for which he is better known. Brittain is also the author of the popular book ''All the Money in the World'', which was

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

as a 1983 movie.

Books

Coven Tree series

* ''Devil's Donkey'' (1981) * ''

: three tales of Coven Tree'' (1983) * ''Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders'' (1987) * ''Professor Popkin's Prodigious Polish: a tale of Coven Tree'' (1990)

The Man who Read short stories

* ''The Man Who Read

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and is ...

'' (1965) * ''The Man Who Read

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

'' (1965) * ''The Woman Who Read

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

'' (1966) * ''The Boy Who Read

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

'' (1966) * ''The Man Who Read Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

'' (1969) * ''The Man Who Read

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

'' (1973) * ''The Man Who Read

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

'' (1974) * ''The Man Who Read

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

'' (1975) * ''The Girl Who Read

John Creasey John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime writer, also writing science fiction, romance and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms. He created several charac ...

'' (1975) * ''The Men Who Read

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

'' (1978)

Mr. Strang short stories

* ''Mr Strang Takes a Field Trip'' (1968) * ''Mr. Strang Checks a Record'' (1972) * ''Mr. Strang and the Cat Lady'' (1975) * ''Mr. Strang performs an experiment'' (1975) * ''Mr. Strang Accepts a Challenge'' (1976) * ''Mr. Strang Unlocks a Door'' (1981) * ''Mr. Strang Grasps at Straws'' (1981) * ''Mr. Strang Interprets a Picture'' (1981) * ''Mr. Strang and the Lost Ship'' (1982) * ''Mr. Strang Takes a Partner'' (1982) * ''Mr. Strang Studies Exhibit A'' (1982) * ''Mr. Strang and the Purloined Memo'' (1983) * ''Mr. Strang Takes a Tour'' (1983) * ''Mr. Strang Picks Up The Pieces'' (1988) * ''Mr. Strang Examines a Legend'' (1973) * ''Mr. Strang Invents a Strange Device'' (1973) * ''Mr. Strang Discovers a Bug'' (1973)

Other

* ''The Zaretski Chain'' (1968) * ''The Ferret Man'' (1977) * ''All The Money In The World'' (1979) * ''Sherlock Holmes, Master Detective'' (1982) * ''Who Knew There'd Be Ghosts?'' (1985) * ''The Fantastic Freshman'' (1988) * ''My Buddy, The King'' (1989) * ''Wings'' (1991) * ''The Ghost From Beneath The Sea'' (1992) * ''The Mystery Of The Several Sevens'' (1994) * ''Shape-Changer'' (1994) * ''The Wizards And The Monster'' (1994)

References

External links

Biographical sketch from Golden Duck Awards
* * 1930 births 2011 deaths American children's writers American mystery writers Newbery Honor winners American male novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers {{US-child-writer-stub