Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis: a Horse Book Dream Team

A friend texted me a few weeks ago and posed this question: “Do you think Marguerite Henry’s books would have been as good if she had had a different illustrator than Wesley Dennis? Those two went hand in hand.” I told her that was a great question and I was going to use it for back material in Marguerite, Misty and Me—for a book club question. (It’s in there now. Thanks, Colleen!)

Please enjoy this original art from King of the Wind.

My Answer …

I replied, “She had a way of storytelling that made characters leap from the page. She won several literary awards—Justin Morgan Had a Horse earned a Newbery Honor as did Misty of Chincoteague. Then, King of the Wind won the Newbery Medal. So all three stories had the highest literary honors.”

Peep Marguerite’s Newbery Medal in this blog post.

It’s true, the Newbery awards are based on story merit—not pictures. I don’t know percentages, but I’ve read several Newbery Medal winners like A Wrinkle in Time and Maniac Magee that don’t have any illustrations. My guess is most them do not have illustrations.

I said, “But maybe the stories live on in our imaginations because we can picture Misty and Sham thanks to Wesley.” My friend texted back how she saw a sketch of Misty and how cute it was and she remembered all of Wesley’s drawings from when she was a kid.

How Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis Met

The story of how Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis became acquainted is fun. Marguerite wanted to have THE best illustrator of horses do the drawings for her first horse book, Justin Morgan. She jaunted off to her library and looked through all the horse books. She landed on her top two picks: Will James (author and illustrator of the Newbery Medal-winning Smoky the Cowhorse) and Wesley Dennis. Wesley’s children’s picture book, Flip, starred a tiny foal with big dreams. It captured Marguerite’s attention.

Marguerite found out James was deceased and Wesley lived hundreds of miles away from her Illinois home. Sidney, Marguerite’s husband, told her to go meet the artist anyway. When the author and artist first met in a hotel lobby in New York City, they instantly became friends. You can read more details in my book Marguerite, Misty and Me, but I’ll leave you with a couple of glimpses into their relationship.

Click here to uncover my Marguerite Henry and Misty backstory.

I connected with a Wesley Dennis art collector, and she talked about how Marguerite and Wesley would do chalk talks when visiting schools or libraries. Marguerite would speak about the book and Wesley, on stage next to her, would sketch either on a chalkboard or sometimes on a large piece of paper. Some of the sketches from those chalk talks still exist!

There was a radio interview from the early 1950s I listened to in which both Marguerite and Wesley were promoting a book signing in Chicago. Marguerite had a high-pitched, very sweet sounding voice and Wesley had a fabulous Boston accent. Wesley teased Marguerite about the pony getting too fat because Marguerite and her fans gave Misty too many treats. Marguerite responded that she wasn’t fat: Misty simply had a very fluffy coat. She insisted that when bathed, she looked very sleek. From that interaction, I could sense the warmth and teasing that seemed to permeate their relationship.

A highlight from my research for Marguerite, Misty and Me was getting to see—and actually touch—some of the Wesley Dennis art in the Kerlan Collection, which is where many works of Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis are archived at the University of Minnesota.

Seeing the drawing from King of the Wind stopped me in my tracks. The colors are still so vibrant (I never saw color—as the illustrations in my copy of King of the Wind were black, white and shades of gray). I held in my hand art that had literally been in the hands of Wesley Dennis! It was a very cool moment.

If you loved the stories of Wesley and Marguerite, I hope you’ll read my equestrian memoir Marguerite, Misty and Me: a Horse Lover’s Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony. It’s a Marguerite-centric book, but Wesley gets some coverage too. Without him, perhaps the stories would be more of a memory and less a tale or tales that live on in our hearts and minds.

Your turn: What do you think: Would Marguerite Henry’s books would have been as good if she had had a different illustrator than Wesley Dennis?

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