James Marchall's Birthday (1942): Miss Nelson & George and Martha Author

Who is James Marshall?

James Marshall was born in San Antonio, Texas where his father worked for the railroad and had a dance band. James Marshall studied to play the viola and intended to have a musical career. Then his hand was injured during an airplane flight and his musical career was finished. He met Harry Allard, with whom he later wrote many picture books, when he was a student at Trinity College. James Marshall taught Spanish in a Catholic school near Boston upon graduation from college.

His first book, George and Martha, was inspired by a famous play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" in which the main characters were named George and Martha.

James Marshall died in October 13, 1992.

 He has several books in series: Miss Nelson, George & Martha, The Cut-Ups, The Stupids and The Rats, for instance. In those books, his characters change very little.

Things You Might Like to Do with His Work in General: Watch for the fat cats which he puts in almost every book. Also notice the stacks of items, often about to fall over which are reminiscent of Dr. Seuss's books about the Cat in the Hat.

Notice the things about Texas that he puts in the Miss Nelson series.
James Marshall's work can be categorized as fairy tale renditions, series such as The Cut-ups, Miss Nelson, and George & Martha. Look at many books in one series and then try to decide what Marshall is trying to tell us.

1.  Make paper sack puppets of George and Martha
2.  Write your own George and Martha story with your child.
3.  Illustrate a typical scene from the stupids.
4.  Here is a great little website with more ideas.