‘Misty’ Rides Again, Charming Children

Mention the name Marguerite Henry to middle-aged women who were once horse-crazy girls and there may be a glimmer of recognition.

Mention the horses--Misty, Phantom, Sea Star, Sham, Stormy--and there will be broad smiles.

Mention these names to schoolchildren, and they will stand patiently in long lines--as they did recently at the Flower Hill Mall in northern San Diego County--for a chance to meet the woman who wrote the stories.

At 90, Henry is captivating yet another generation.

She has just published her 56th book, reviving a career that spans half a century. And she has picked up close to where she began, with a story of a wild pony from the islands off Virginia, the subject of 1947’s “Misty of Chincoteague,” one of Henry’s earliest and most enduring books. Chincoteague Island is the site of the annual “Pony Penning Day,” on which a limited number of wild foals are captured and sold and on which Henry met the pony that inspired “Misty.”

“Misty’s Twilight,” released this summer by MacMillan, carries forward Misty’s story to her great-great-granddaughter, Misty’s Twilight--”Twi.” The book was sparked by a fan letter from a Florida dermatologist, Sandy Price, describing her trip to Chincoteague and her acquisition of Sunshine, Twi’s mother.

In the book, Twi is trained to be a cutting horse, then taught to be a jumper and finally instructed in the demanding skill of dressage. Cruel trainers and prejudice against the pony’s unconventional pedigree and bold markings deter but do not block Twi’s ultimate triumphs in the show ring.

“Misty’s Twilight” has all the Henry hallmarks: a story based on real people and horses, and a heartwarming ending. But Henry added some modern touches. Price is a single mother, she’s taking flying lessons and her children are concerned about the environment.

Price’s letter came just as Henry was ready to start writing again after a long hiatus, during which she nursed her husband, who died in 1987. The couple had moved to Rancho Santa Fe from rural Illinois, where she and Sidney Crocker Henry had lived for most of their 64-year marriage.

Henry lives within galloping distance of the Del Mar racetrack, polo grounds, tack and feed outlets, and the All Creatures Hospital. Wrought-iron horses top neighborhood mailboxes, and the real thing can be seen grazing in nearby fields and paddocks.

Her house brims with horse memorabilia. Most striking are the large paintings by her longtime illustrator, the late Wesley Dennis. Each is a familiar cover or plate from one of her books. The cupboard surfaces are papered with letters, drawings and photographs from young readers.

Henry’s life has been filled with the animals she writes about. She and her husband owned horses, a burro (the model for “Brighty of the Grand Canyon”), three fox cubs (models for “Cinnabar, the One O’Clock Fox”), cats and dogs.

Misty was their most famous boarder. After she was captured on Chincoteague, the Henrys acquired her, and the pony became a celebrity during the 12 years she lived in Illinois. Misty’s birthdays drew crowds of neighborhood children. Her return to the island after the years with the Henrys was documented by Life magazine.

Petite and agile, Henry relishes the attention that her books have brought her. She still receives almost two dozen letters from young readers a day. “Nearly all get an answer,” she says.

Henry’s books have won more than two dozen literary awards, five of her books were adapted for movies and her best-selling titles are available abroad in languages including Arabic and Urdu.

Henry’s lifelong fascination with horses began as sibling rivalry. Her brother had a horse in Milwaukee, where Henry grew up, but she couldn’t ride because rheumatic fever had left her frail.

“I’m afraid I hated my brother,” she recalls, “because he used to smell so good, he smelled like horses.” Henry was so jealous of him that, even when she grew stronger, she initially avoided horses.

But the attraction was undeniable, and she now confesses that she has “lived for horses.”

The words of Wild Horse Annie in “Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West,” might well be Henry’s best description of the bond: “God . . . coupled me with horses right from the start. It is not just my own mustang, Hobo, that is part of me. All horses call to me. We sort of belong together.”

That sense of belonging also calls to her readers--most of whom are probably girls. “There’s an affection between girls and horses I can’t deny,” Henry says.

“It’s the quality of her writing” that attracts Henry’s fans, says Sharon Hearn, owner of Children’s Book World in Los Angeles.

Henry’s books “touch home” because “they have universal truths,” says Susan Roman, executive director of the Assn. for Library Services to Children, part of the American Library Assn. And, although children want to read about themselves and their immediate problems, “they also want to read about people who are different.”

A character in point: Agba in Henry’s “King of the Wind” (1948). He is a mute horseboy in the stables of the Sultan of Morocco who cares for Sham, the ancestor of many famous thoroughbred racehorses, including Man O’ War.

One of Henry’s editors suggested that she abandon work on “King of the Wind,” fearing that the characters would be too different from the book’s readers.

He was particularly concerned, Henry recalls, that “there are no talkers in that book” since the other major characters are horses and a cat. But Henry persisted, and “King of the Wind” won the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious American award for children’s books.

Nostalgia is an undeniable part of the appeal of Henry’s books. Millions of her early fans have since introduced their own children and grandchildren to the ponies of Chincoteague, the Lipizzaners of Vienna’s Spanish Riding School and the horses of the royal Moroccan stables.

One former reader, Lisa Campbell, is a Solana Beach teacher who assigned “Misty of Chincoteague” to her third-grade class last year and “King of the Wind” this year. “I assigned them because I loved those books when I was little,” she says.

And Henry’s readers, young and old, may be heartened to know that she isn’t ready to retire yet: she plans to follow “Misty’s Twilight” with yet another horse tale.