The best known incarnation of the story
The Little Engine That Could was written
by "Watty Piper", a pen name of Arnold Munk,
who was the owner of the publishing firm Platt & Munk.
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Arnold Munk was born in Hungary, and as a child,
moved with his family to the United States,
settling in Chicago. Later he moved to New York.
Platt & Munk offices were at 200 Fifth Avenue
till 1957 when Arnold Munk died.
Arnold Munk, used the name Watty Piper as
both an author of children's books and as the
editor of many of the books that
Platt & Munk published.
He personally hired Lois Lenski to illustrate
the book. This retelling of the tale The Pony Engine
appeared in 1930.
The first edition attributes Mabel C. Bragg as
the originating author. However, Mabel C. Bragg,
a school teacher in Boston, Massachusetts,
never claimed to have originated the story.
.
In 1954, Platt & Munk published another version
of The Little Engine That Could, with slightly
revised language and new, more colorful illustrations
by George and Doris Hauman
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