I also read Onions in the Stew. (I never got my hands on The Plague and I, about her stint in a TB sanitarium, which would have fascinating – I’ve always thought I should set a book at one, as Andrea Barrett did recently.)
But it wasn’t until I was reading today’s Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf that I realized all those books had the same author. Read more here.
McDonald was a real ground-breaker in several ways.
1. She toured and signed back in the mid-40s.
2. She also had help from a very clever publicist: “In May of 1946 when International Pictures bought MacDonald's film rights to the book after a Hollywood bidding war, master publicist James S. Moran (1908-1999) generated additional press attention by sitting on an ostrich egg labeled "The Egg And I" for 19 days, 4 hours, and 32 minutes until it hatched.”
3. And she was sued by some neighbors for defaming them, but her defense was that they were composite characters.
Read more here.