Mary Wright Sewell Mary Wright Sewell Mary Wright Sewell (; 6 April 1797 – 10 June 1884) was an English poet and children's author. Though popular for writing juvenile bestsellers in her day, she is better known today as the mother of Anna Sewell, the author of "Black Beauty". Mary was born into the Quaker faith in 1797, and she married Isaac Sewell on the 15 June 1819 at Lamas in Norfolk. Her daughter Anna was born in 1820 and her son Philip two years later. Her husband Isaac had a number of ill-advised businesses and he declared himself bankrupt after his son
Helen Sewell Helen Sewell Helen Sewell (June 27, 1896 – February 24, 1957) was an American illustrator and writer of children's books. She was a runner-up for the 1955 Caldecott Medal as illustrator of "The Thanksgiving Story" by Alice Dalgliesh and she illustrated several novels that were runners-up for the Newbery Medal. Some of her papers were donated to the University of Minnesota. Sewell was born in Mare Island, California; her father was William Elbridge Sewell, who later became Governor of Guam. She studied at the Pratt Institute, including classes with Alexander Archipenko. Her first book was published in 1923, "The Cruise