... as Laura would have done, as a happy, flower bedecked refuge from the elements, with the music of the nearby stream. Which is how he drew it. Ursula Nordstrom's initial plan was for Williams to produce eight oil paintings for each book, sixty-four in all. This proved to be not cost-efficient. Williams illustrated the Little House books with a simple pencil, charcoal, and ink. Much of his work was accomplished in Italy. Williams later illustrated the first edition of The First Four Years (1971), which is commonly considered the last of nine books in the Little House series. The Rabbits' Wedding controversy (1958) In 1958, Garth Williams wrote and illustrated a picture book that caused a small uproar: The Rabbits' Wedding. Aimed at children aged 3 to 7, it depicted animals in a moonlit forest attending the wedding of a white rabbit to a black rabbit. In 1959, Alabama Senator E. O. Eddins and Alabama State Library Agency director Emily Wheelock Reed took the lead in a controversy over the book. Senator Eddins, with the support of the White Citizens' Council and other segregationists, demanded that it be removed from all Alabama libraries because of its perceived themes of racial integration and interracial marriage. Reed reviewed the book and, finding no objectionable content, determined it was her ethical duty to defend the book against an outright ban. A battle ensued between Reed and her supporters, and the segregationist faction in the legislature. In the end, the book was not banned outright, but rather placed on special reserve shelves in the state library agency-run facilities. Libraries that had purchased their own copies were not required to make this change. About the controversy, Williams stated, "I was completely unaware that animals with white fur, such as white polar bears and white dogs and white rabbits, were considered blood relations of white beings. I was only aware that a white horse next to a black horse looks very picturesque." Williams said his story was not written for adults, who "will not understand it, because it is only about a soft furry love and has no hidden message of hate". Personal life Williams was married four times. The first three marriages ended in divorce; he remained in his fourth marriage until his death. He had children from each marriage, totaling five daughters and one son. He met his first two wives while living