Kate Louise Brown (May 8, 1857Harringshaw, William T. ''Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography''. vol. 1, American Publisher's Association, 1909, catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000331356/Cite. – December 31, 1921) was a children's educator and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who wrote 17 works in a total of 41 publications,"Brown, Kate Louise 1857-." '' orldCat Identities', 1 Jan. 1964, worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n87116489/. in addition to poems, songs, and magazine articles. She is best known for the books, ''The Plant Baby and Its Friends'', ''Little People'', ''Alice and Tom'', and ''Stories in Songs''. Brown was born in

Adams, Massachusetts Adams is a town in northern Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,166 at the 2020 census. History Nathan Jones purchased the township of ...

and had her first poem published in print at age 9. She wrote many children's scientific novels, poems, and periodical articles, many of which surround

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

and

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

themes. For example, her book ''The Plant Baby and Its Friends'', published in 1898, explains botany like the plant is a child. Brown believed in presenting advanced topics to children in an interesting way as a story, not in textbook form. While she was most famous for her books, Brown also wrote poems for children ("Goddesses", "The Return", "Clappers", "The Christ Clappers") and music for kindergarten marching plays. Her poems were featured in children's textbooks for school.

Early life

Brown was born in the

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

countryside of Massachusetts and grew up spending her time outside, flourishing her love for nature as she studied birds, animals, and plants. After her first poem was published at 9, she was given an encouraging letter by the publisher to keep writing. This initial success drove her to begin writing plays and stories. She even began a weekly magazine alongside two children whose parents were authors. As a child, she drew inspiration from "Ode to Evening," by William Collins, "Daffodils," also known as "

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by a forest encounter on 15 April 1802 between he, his younger sister Dorothy and a "lon ...

", and "Cynthia" which shaped her future poetry.

Adult life

Her first novel was a story about southern life and

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

with the main protagonist dying at the end. Her later novels greatly contrast this story as she began writing about educational, religious, and science-based topics. Brown's adult life consisted of teaching and writing. During the day, she taught in association with famous children's teachers of the 19th century:

Elizabeth Peabody Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (May 16, 1804January 3, 1894) was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic de ...

and

Mary Tyler Peabody Mann Mary Tyler Mann ( Peabody; November 16, 1806 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts – February 11, 1887 in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts) was a teacher, author, and mother. She was the wife of Horace Mann, American education reformer and politician. E ...

. When she wasn't teaching, she wrote novels, poems, articles, and songs. Some of her most popular novels help children interact with science and nature. ''Alice and Tom'' is a book of lessons that follows the lives of the two children and the interaction between nature and humans. She also contributed to religious magazines and periodicals. She composed textbooks for children's writing and literature, like ''The Interstate Second Reader'', and ''A Third Reader'' In ''The Plant Baby and Its Friends'', the book is "To

Sarah Louise Arnold Sarah Louise Arnold (February 15, 1859 – February 26, 1943) was an American educator, author, and suffragist. She was better known in the schoolroom and among teachers than any other woman connected with education in her day. In 1902, she became ...

," a fellow children's writer and grammar teacher, who also was president of the Girl Scouts in 1925. Arnold has "The Little Seed""The Little Seed." ''Stepping Stones to Literature: a Third Reader'', by Sarah Louise Arnold and Charles B. Gilbert, Silver, Burdet and Company, 1902, p. 62 published in one of her textbooks for teaching

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

and literature. Brown was very active in the educational community, as she was in the Author's Club, and had many connections with famous writers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Kate Louise American children's writers Writers from Massachusetts 1857 births 1921 deaths