Pearl A. Harwood (December 21, 1903 – October 28, 1998), born Pearl Augusta Bragdon, was an American librarian and writer of children's books.
Early life and education
Pearl Augusta Bragdon was born in
Grafton, Massachusetts and raised in
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
,
[Mount Holyoke College, ]
Llamarada
' (1924 yearbook): 66. the daughter of Clifford Sawyer Bragdon and Helen Louise Woodside Bragdon. Her father was a school principal. Her mother died in 1909, and her father remarried in 1911. She earned a bachelor's degree from
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States.
...
in 1924,
and a master's degree in education from
Boston University.
Her older sister
Helen Dalton Bragdon was also a writer and educator.
Career
As a young woman, Bragdon was a research assistant at
Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. After marriage Harwood taught and worked as a children's librarian in Southern California.
She served on the board of the Friends of the
Escondido Public Library
The Escondido Public Library is a public library system serving the city of Escondido, which is situated in San Diego County, California.
The collection of the library contains 166,629 volumes, circulates 514,792 items per year and serves a
pop ...
in the 1970s. She was active in the Women's Club of Escondido and the Braille Club of Escondido.
Harwood wrote over thirty children's books, beginning in 1964 with the first "Mr. Bumba" books. She wrote ten "Mr. Bumba" books, ten "Mrs. Moon" books, and ten books about the two characters together, all picture books first published between 1964 and 1971, and illustrated by George Overlie or Joseph Folger. She wrote other books, including ''The Widdles'' (1966), a book about children in Hawaii, illustrated by Henning Black Jensen,
and ''Secrets of the Trees in the Village by the Sea'' (1971).
Selected books by Pearl A. Harwood
* ''Mr. Bumba's New Job'' (1964)
* ''Mr. Bumba's New Home'' (1964)
* ''Mr. Bumba and the Orange Grove'' (1965)
* ''The Widdles'' (1966)
* ''Mr. Bumba Draws a Kitten'' (1966)
* ''Mrs. Moon's Rescue'' (1967)
* ''Mrs. Moon and the Dark Stairs'' (1967)
* ''Mrs. Moon Goes Shopping'' (1967)
* ''Mrs. Moon and her Friends'' (1967)
* ''Mrs. Moon's Polliwogs'' (1967)
* ''A Special Guest for Mr. and Mrs Bumba'' (1971)
* ''New Year's Day with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba'' (1971)
* ''Climbing a Mountain with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba'' (1971)
* ''A Long Vacation for Mr. and Mrs. Bumba'' (1971)
* ''The Carnival with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba'' (1971)
* ''Secrets of the Trees in the Village by the Sea'' (1971)
Personal life
Pearl Bragdon married Lester Everett Harwood in 1933. Her husband was from Vermont and sold insurance, before her retired and founded the Pet Assistance Foundation in
Escondido. They had twin sons. She was president of the Mothers of Twins Club in Crescenta-Cañada-Glendale in the early 1960s.
She died in 1998, aged 94 years, in Florida. Her papers are in the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the
University of Southern Mississippi.
[Pearl Harwood Papers](_blank)
de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, Pearl A.
1903 births
1998 deaths
People from Grafton, Massachusetts
20th-century American women writers
American children's writers
Mount Holyoke College alumni