Wendy Watson, A.B. 1964 (Latin)
Author and Illustrator of Children's Books

Biographical sketch by Meghan Preston '97 

Wendy Watson, the well-known illustrator and author of numerous children's books, graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in 1964 with a Latin degree with honors. Before her arrival at Bryn Mawr, Ms. Watson had already had her first children's book, Very Important Cat, published.

Courtesy of the Bryn Mawr College Archives

Wendy has also illustrated eleven books written by her sister, Clyde Watson, and has even illustrated The Birthday Goat, and Muncus Agruncus, written by her mother, Nancy Dingman Watson.

Wendy comes from a family of professional artists and authors that extends back several generations. She was trained at home by her parents, while being raised as the eldest of eight children on a farm in Vermont. She says of the illustrations and poetry in Father Fox's Pennyrhymes, "Its inspiration has been our childhood at home on the farm in Vermont-the seasons and the work that goes with each, the buildings, the countryside-and the atmosphere and fun of our own family. Many foxes wear garments that still hang in the closets in Putney; and special family occupations and times of year and occasions are in almost every poem and picture."

Watson has illustrated over seventy books and won numerous awards since 1966 when she became a free-lance writer and illustrator. She has written and illustrated twenty books of her own, including Frog Went A-Courting and Has Winter Come? The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books wrote of her artwork in Catch Me & Kiss Me & Say It Again, "Bright watercolor pictures of round-eyed chubby children have a cheerful zest that matches the robust and lifting swing of the rhymes." Besides books, Wendy Watson has also designed a series of greeting cards and postcards for Bryn Mawr College with delightful scenes of cats. She still visits and lectures at Bryn Mawr from time to time, and her visits are much appreciated by the college staff and student body.

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