Pearl A. Harwood
Pearl A. Harwood, 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, 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 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 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, a book about children in Hawaii, illustrated by Henning Black Jensen, and Secrets of the Trees in the Village by the Sea.
Selected books by Pearl A. Harwood
Mr. Bumba's New Job Mr. Bumba's New Home Mr. Bumba and the Orange Grove The Widdles Mr. Bumba Draws a Kitten Mrs. Moon's Rescue Mrs. Moon and the Dark Stairs Mrs. Moon Goes Shopping Mrs. Moon and her Friends Mrs. Moon's Polliwogs A Special Guest for Mr. and Mrs Bumba New Year's Day with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba Climbing a Mountain with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba A Long Vacation for Mr. and Mrs. Bumba The Carnival with Mr. and Mrs. Bumba- ''Secrets of the Trees in the Village by the Sea''