Bill Martin Jr.

[2] Enthusiastic about helping other children learn to read by "[having] language inside of themselves," he went on to earn a doctorate in early childhood education from Northwestern University in 1961.

[2] After graduating with his bachelor's degree, Martin taught journalism, drama, and English at high schools in Newton and St. John, Kansas.

[2][3] Eleanor Roosevelt praised the book in her syndicated newspaper column, "My Day," and it eventually sold 1 million copies.

[2] Martin then worked as principal of Crow Island Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois,[3] and later moved to New York City and joined the publishing company Holt, Rinehart and Winston, where he was editor in chief of the school division during the 1960s and developed innovative reading programs.

and Knots on a Counting Rope, both Reading Rainbow featured selections, illustrated by Ted Rand.

Their first joint work, "The Ghost-Eye Tree" won an IRA Children's Choice award and has remained in print for almost 30 years.

During the last 15 years of his life, he co-wrote many books with Michael Sampson, whom he met at a reading conference in Tucson, Arizona in 1978.

In 1992, Martin moved from New York to Texas to build a house beside Sampson on 26 acres (110,000 m2) on the banks of the South Sulphur River.