Jane Werner Watson, born Elsa Jane Werner (July 11, 1915 – 2004) was an American children's author. She also wrote under the names Elsa Jane Werner Watson, Jane Werner, Annie North Bedford, Monica Hill, Elsa Ruth Nast, W. K. Jasner, and A. N. Bedford.
Accessed 12 March 2020.

Biography

Jane Werner was born on July 11, 1915, in

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Fond du Lac () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac United States metrop ...

, the daughter of Henry Charles Werner, a physician, and Elsa, ''née'' Nast. She earned a B.A. degree from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1936.Jane Werner Watson Papers

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Accessed 12 March 2020. She was one of the original editors of the

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 ...

series,Jane Watson Werner

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

. Accessed 12 March 2020. which were published by Western Publishing in conjunction with Simon and Schuster. She went on to write approximately 150 books in the Little Golden Books series. In 1954 she married Earnest C. Watson, a

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

physicist on sabbatical leave, at Tarbert in Scotland. Until his retirement from Caltech in 1959, the couple spent weekends and holidays in Santa Barbara. From 1960 to 1962 Earnest Watson worked as a science attaché to the United States Embassy in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. While they lived in New Delhi, the couple formed a large collection of Indian miniatures. Papers are held at the

Works

* ''Noah's Ark'' (1943) illustrated by Tibor Gergely * ''The Golden Book of Poetry'' (1947) * ''The Little Golden Book of Hymns'' (1947) illustrated by Corinne Malvern * ''The Fuzzy Duckling'' (1949) illustrated by

Alice and Martin Provensen Alice Rose Provensen (''née'' Twitchell; August 14, 1918 – April 23, 2018) and Martin Provensen (July 10, 1916 – March 27, 1987) were an American couple who illustrated more than 40 children's books together, 19 of which they also wrote and edi ...

* ''Walt Disney's Cinderella'' (1950) * ''Frosty the Snow Man'' (1950) illustrated by Corinne Malvern * ''Albert's Zoo: A Stencil Book'' (1951) * ''The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies: With Assorted Pixies, Mermaids, Brownies, Witches and Leprechauns'' (1951) * ''Mickey Mouse and His Spaceship'' (1952) * ''Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1952) * ''The Christmas Story'' (1952) illustrated by Eloise Wilkin * ''The Golden Geography: a child's introduction to the world'' (1952) illustrated by Cornelius DeWitt * ''Animal Friends'' (1953) illustrated by Garth Williams * ''Walt Disney's Cinderella and Other Stories'' (1953) with Steffi Fletcher * ''Walt Disney's Pinocchio and Other Stories'' (1953) with Steffi Fletcher * ''The Golden Book of Stories from the New Testament'' (1953) illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen * ''Walt Disney's Living Desert'' (1954) * ''The Golden Mother Goose'' (1954) illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen * ''The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies: With Assorted Pixies, Mermaids, Brownies, Witches and Leprechauns'' (1954) illustrated by Garth Williams * ''The Golden Book of Bible Stories from the Old Testament'' (1954) illustrated by

Feodor Rojanovsky Feodor Stepanovich "Rojan" Rojankovsky (russian: Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский) (December 24, 1891 – October 12, 1970), also known as Rojan, was a Russian émigré illustrator. He is well known both for children's bo ...

* ''Land Nearest the Stars: A Journey by Taxi Across Australia'' (1955) as Monica Hill * ''Walt Disney's Vanishing Prairie'' (1955) * ''The True Story of Smokey the Bear'' (1955) illustrated by Feodor Rojanovsky * ''The Iliad and the Odyssey: The Heroic Story of the Trojan War, the Fabulous Adventures of Odysseus'' (1956) illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen * ''My Little Golden Book About God'' (1956) illustrated by Eloise Wilkin * ''The World We Live In'' (1956) adapted from the original version by

Lincoln Barnett Lincoln Kinnear Barnett (1909–1979) was an editor and author, most notably at Life Magazine for many years. Lincoln Barnett wrote a number of books, including "The Universe and Doctor Einstein", " The World We Live In", and "The Treasure of Ou ...

* ''Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty'' (1957) * ''The World of Science'' (1958) * ''The Giant Golden Book of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles'' (1960) * ''Sometimes I'm Afraid'' (1971) * ''Sometimes I'm Jealous'' (1971) * ''Sometimes I Get Angry'' (1971) * ''My friend the Doctor'' (1972) * ''My friend the Dentist'' (1972) * ''The Volga'' (1972) * ''A Parade of Soviet Holidays'' (1974) * ''Whales: Friendly Dolphins and Mighty Giants of the Sea'' (1975) * ''Alternate Energy Sources'' (1979) * ''The First Americans: Tribes of North America'' (1980) * ''Deserts of the World: Future Threat or Promise?'' (1980) * ''The Case of the Vanishing Spaceship'' (1982)

References

External links

Bedford, Annie North, 1915-
{{DEFAULTSORT:Werner Watson, Jane 1915 births 2004 deaths American children's writers American women children's writers People from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Writers from Wisconsin 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers American expatriates in India