Walt Morey

Walter "Walt" Morey (February 3, 1907 in Hoquiam, Washington, USA – January 12, 1992 in Wilsonville, Oregon), was an award-winning author of numerous works of children's fiction, set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Alaska, the places where Morey lived for all of his life. His book Gentle Ben was the basis for the movie and television show of the same name.

He wrote a total of 17 published books, most of which involve as a central plot element the relationship between man and animals. Many of his works involve survival stories, or people going into the wild to "discover" themselves; redemption through nature is a common theme of Morey's works.

Morey began going to school in 1912, in Jasper, Oregon. He was never very keen on school. In 1934 he began working in a veneer plant, making brushes in a paintbrush factory and doing work in the woods. On July 8, 1934, he married his first wife, Rosalind Ogden, in Portland, Oregon. Rosalind died February 28, 1977. On June 26, 1978 he married Peggy Kilburn.

Early in his writing career, he also published numerous short pulp fiction stories. For much of his life, he was a boxer and diver, in addition to being an author.

Morey has won the following awards:

• Dutton Junior Animal Book Award for Gentle Ben and Kavik the Wolf Dog
• Sequoia Book Award
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award
• The Monique Alexis Hoswoot Award
• William Allen White Children's Book Award

Bibliography

• No Cheers, No Glory (1945)
• Gentle Ben (1965)
• Kävik the Wolf Dog (1968)
• Angry Waters (1969)
• Runaway Stallion (1970)
• Gloomy Gus (1970)
• Deep Trouble (1971)
• The Bear of Friday Creek (1971) - Illustrated by Derek Collard
• Scrub Dog of Alaska (1971)
• Canyon Winter (1972)
• Home is the North (1973)
• Run Far, Run Fast (1974)
• Operation Blue Bear (1975)
• Year of the Black Pony (1976)
• Sandy and the Rock Star (1979)
• Hero (1980)
• The Lemon Meringue Dog (1980)
• Death Walk (1991)

References

• Something About the Author. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1990.

External links

• The Wild and Wooly Man Who Writes Kids' Books
• Guide to the Walter Nelson Morey papers at the University of Oregon.