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, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the southern end of Lake Winnebago and had a population of 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Fond du Lac met ...

, 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 tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1936.Jane Werner Watson Papers

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

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

Little Golden Books The Little Golden Books is an American 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 ...

series,Jane Watson Werner

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. Accessed 12 March 2020. which were published by

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

in conjunction with

Simon and Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. 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) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

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 (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. 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 Tibor Gergely (August 3, 1900 – January 13, 1978) was a Hungarian-American artist best known for his illustration of popular children's picture books. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. ...

* ''The Golden Book of Poetry'' (1947) * ''The Little Golden Book of Hymns'' (1947) illustrated by

Corinne Malvern Corinne Malvern (December 13, 1901 – November 9, 1956) was an American commercial artist, active as a fashion advertising artist and illustrator of children's books between the early 1930s and her death in 1956. She painted magazine covers an ...

* ''The Fuzzy Duckling'' (1949) illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen * ''Walt Disney's Cinderella'' (1950) * ''Frosty the Snow Man'' (1950) illustrated by

* ''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 Garth Montgomery Williams (April 16, 1912 – May 8, 1996) was an American artist who came to prominence in the American Post-war, postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of Americ ...

* ''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 * ''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 Trea ...

* ''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-

Jane Werner Watson papers
at the University of Oregon {{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