She was most commonly associated with her Little Bear series of children's books, which were adapted for television.
[2][3] Born in Fredericia, Denmark, Minarik immigrated to the United States at the age of four with her family.
As a young child in Denmark, she was introduced to the stories of Hans Christian Andersen.
She subsequently lived on Long Island, where she was employed as a first-grade teacher for the Commack School District.
Minarik married her second husband, Pulitzer-winning journalist Homer Bigart, in 1970;[1] after his death in 1991, she moved to Sunset Beach[3] in Brunswick County, North Carolina, where she continued writing longhand, as she always had.