Margaret Wise Brown was an American writer of children's books, including "Goodnight Moon” and "The Runaway Bunny.” Brown — far from a dowdy, white-haired granny rocking softly in a chair — was a vibrant spirit who died strangely before her 43rd birthday. She defied societal expectations, living in a way that was often deemed strange and with a penchant for extravagance and chasing her eccentricities. She bought a home — without plumbing or electricity — on an island in Maine that could only be reached by rowboat and had chairs with all the legs shortened to make the room feel bigger. She installed a door to nowhere on the second floor of her home and labelled it “Mind the View.” In 1952, Brown was traveling alone in Europe when she had to have an emergency appendectomy. When she was ready to be discharged, she was so excited at the prospect of getting on with her vacation that when a nurse came in to check on her, she high-kicked her legs into the air, can-can style. The flamboyant high kick dislodged a blood clot and Brown blacked out and died. Brown’s fiance attended to her final wishes, including having a headstone engraved with the epitaph she wrote for herself: "Margaret Wise Brown / Writer of Songs and Nonsense." Beneath it, her loved ones added: Dear Margaret, You gave us all so much — a chance to love, a place to rest, a window into living."
