Barbara Holland facts for kids
Barbara Murray Holland (born April 5, 1933 – died September 7, 2010) was an American author. She wrote many books and articles. She often wrote about everyday life and simple pleasures. She also wrote a book about growing up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Washington, D.C..
Early Life
Barbara Holland was born in Washington, D.C., on April 5, 1933. She grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her mother, Marion Holland, was also a writer and illustrator of children's books. One of her mother's famous books was A Big Ball of String.
Barbara followed in her mother's footsteps. She won the National Scholastic poetry competition two years in a row while in high school. She was the first junior to win the award. She was also the first person to win it twice.
Career as a Writer
Barbara Holland started working at a department store in the early 1950s. She enjoyed being able to support herself. She believed that having a job was important for a woman who wanted to write.
Later, Holland moved to Philadelphia. There, she worked as a copywriter for an advertising company. She also began writing articles and short stories. These were published in popular magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall's, Redbook, and Seventeen.
Her first books were for children. In 1980, she published Mother's Day. This book was about her own experiences raising children while working full-time. In 1988, she wrote The Name of the Cat. This popular book was later updated and reissued several times as Secrets of the Cat: Its Lore, Legend and Lives.
Barbara Holland also wrote collections of essays. These included Endangered Pleasures (1995), Bingo Night at the Fire Hall (1997), and Wasn't the Grass Greener? (1999). In Endangered Pleasures, she wrote about enjoying simple things in life. She felt that people were becoming too serious. She believed it was important to enjoy harmless delights.
She also wrote historical and biographical books. Some of these were Hail to the Chiefs (1990), which was about presidents. She also wrote They Went Whistling (2001), about women travelers and adventurers. Another book was Gentlemen's Blood (2003), which explored the history of dueling.
In 2005, Holland published her memoir When All the World Was Young. This book shared her memories of growing up during and after World War II. In 2007, The Washington Post newspaper wrote about her. This was after she released her 16th book, The Joy of Drinking. In this book, she wrote about enjoying life's simple pleasures.
Later Life and Death
Barbara Holland lived in Philadelphia for most of her life. In 1990, she moved to Bluemont, Virginia. She lived in a cabin there and wrote many of her books.
Barbara Holland passed away at her home in Bluemont on September 7, 2010. She was 77 years old. She was survived by her daughter, two sons, and two grandchildren. Her three marriages had all ended in divorce.
