Misty of Chincoteague (novel)

Children's book by Marguerite Henry

Misty of Chincoteague is a children's novel written by pony book author Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis, and published by Rand McNally in 1947. Set in the island town of Chincoteague, Virginia, the book was inspired by the real life story of the Beebe family and their efforts to raise a Chincoteague Pony filly born to a wild horse, who would later become known as Misty of Chincoteague. It was one of the runners up for the annual Newbery Medal, now called Newbery Honor Books. The 1961 film Misty was based on the book.

Misty of Chincoteague begins with an account of the wreck of a Spanish galleon off the coast of Virginia. The ponies in the hold of the galleon swim to Assateague Island, and become feral as the years and, eventually, the centuries pass. Paul and Maureen work to earn money to buy a Chincoteague Pony mare named the Phantom, who has escaped the roundup men on Pony Penning Day for the past two years. Paul and Maureen save enough to buy Phantom, and Paul is able to capture her on the roundup because she is slowed down by her new foal, Misty. However, a man from the mainland buys the pair of ponies for his son before Paul and Maureen can give their money to the fire chief. Paul and Maureen are distressed, but they end up being able to buy Phantom and Misty because the original buyer's son won a colt in the yearly raffle, and then decided he did not need another pony. After being purchased by Marguerite Henry as a weanling in November 1946, and spending her early life at Henry's Wayne, Illinois home, she was moved back to the Beebe Ranch in Chincoteague in 1957. A goodbye party with over 300 children and 160 adults in attendance was held by Henry in Wayne for Misty when she left for Chincoteague. Paul Beebe died in a car accident in 1957 at the age of 21. Grandfather Clarence Beebe died two months after Paul's accident. Grandmother Ida Beebe died in 1960. Maureen Beebe died in 2019, at the age of 81, having become a familiar presence in Chincoteague. Misty died in her sleep at 9:30 AM on October 16, 1972, at the age of 26. She was taxidermied, as was her foal Stormy, who died in 1993. They can be seen at the Museum of Chincoteague Island. The Misty of Chincoteague Foundation was formed by Marguerite Henry and Rebecca Guisti in 1990, with the two fold mission of preserving Misty's legacy, and promoting reading by children. Funds were raised to commission a statue of Misty, sculpted by Brian Maughan, to be erected on Chincoteague, which was formally unveiled on July 29, 1997. An identical casting of the Maughan statue was also placed at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The third novel, Stormy, Misty's Foal, was published in 1963. It tells of the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 on Chincoteague, and the birth of Misty's last foal, Stormy. Misty and Stormy had made appearances at theaters and schools in the area to help raise funds for replenishment of the herds on Assateague in the aftermath of the 1962 storm.

For the 50th anniversary in 1997 of the original novel, only the month before Henry's death, Simon & Schuster released a diary garnished with quotations from Misty of Chincoteague and new illustrations by Bill Farnsworth (Little Simon, October 1997); .