Howard R. Garis

Howard Roger Garis ((1873-04-25)April 25, 1873 – November 6, 1962(1962-11-06)) was an American author, best known for a series of books, published under his own name, that featured the character of Uncle Wiggily Longears, an engaging elderly rabbit. Garis and his wife were possibly the most prolific children's authors of the early 20th century. Many of his books were illustrated by Lansing Campbell.

Garis was born in Binghamton, New York. He and his spouse Lilian Garis both worked as reporters for the Newark Evening News. He did some work on the side for WNJR also in Newark.

Uncle Wiggily

The first Uncle Wiggily story appeared January 10, 1910 in the Newark News. For almost four decades the newspaper published an Uncle Wiggily story by Garis every day except Sunday, and the series was eventually nationally syndicated. By the time Garis retired from the newspaper in 1947, he had written more than 15,000 Uncle Wiggily stories.

By virtue of his accessible characters and engaging plots, Garis was one of the most influential children's authors of his day. Many of his books, especially the Uncle Wiggily books, are still widely read and are readily available over the internet. Milton Bradley produced an Uncle Wiggily board game in 1967 and again in 1988. The game debuted much earlier though and remained popular until the 1970s.