All About The Little Small Red Hen

Johnny (John Barton) Gruelle (1880-1938) was an artist, political cartoonist, and writer of children’s books. He is best known as the creator of Raggedy Ann. He also provided colour illustrations for a 1914 edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He was born John Barton Gruelle in Arcola, Illinois. His first well known cartooning work was Mr. Twee Deedle which Gruelle created after he beat out 1,500 other entrants in a cartooning contest sponsored in 1911 by The New York Herald. Mr. Twee Deedle was in print from 1911 to 1914. One day, Johnny gave his daughter Marcella a dusty, faceless rag doll found in the attic. Johnny drew a face on the doll and named her Raggedy Ann. Gruelle wanted other little girls to have such dolls. In 1918, the PF Volland Company published Raggedy Ann Stories. Gruelle then created a following series of popular Raggedy Ann books and dolls. Amongst his other works are: All About Little Red Riding Hood (c1895), The Travels of Timmy Toodles (1916) and My Very Own Fairy Stories (1917).