Children's Books discussion

Over the weekend, I attended a children's book conference and one of the speakers was Diane Muldrow, editor of The Little Golden Books. (For those of you who, like me, thought they were "old fashioned"--however charming!--take note that they ARE publishing NEW books as well as older stories with updated artwork.) Lots of fascinating stuff to learn, and it was just frankly a lot of fun to see the progression of the storybooks since the WWII debut (Pokey Little Puppy is the best-selling children's book of all time, which about made me fall out of my chair!!! Did you know that, during WWII, they did advertising on the back cover for War Bonds!?! Fascinating!) Anyhow, she recommended three books that I thought might be of interest to some of you. I'm eager to read them all, but alas my library only has the one on Brown!!! Saving my pennies now for yet another book! ;-p

Golden Legacy How Golden Books Won Children's Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became An American Icon Along the Way

Margaret Wise Brown Awakened by the Moon

Dear Genius The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom

Very interesting, Kathryn! Thanks for sharing that list. Unfortunately my library doesn't have any of them. :( But it does have two others by Leonard Marcus that sound interesting:

Author Talk - interviews with 15 children's book authors including Jon Scieszka, E.L. Konigsburg, Judy Blume, Laurence Yep, Gary Paulsen, James Howe, Ann M. Martin, Russell Freedman, Lois Lowry, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Karen Cushman, and Johanna Hurwitz.

The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy - interviews with Susan Cooper, Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula LeGuin, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix, Nancy Farmer, Tamora Pierce, Lloyd Alexander, Franny Billingsley, Brian Jacques, Diana Wynne Jones, and Jane Yolen.

The Pokey Little Puppy - one of my favorite books from childhood!! Very exciting news that they are publishing some updated versions and new stories - thanks for sharing.

My favorite was The Color Kittens; my older siblings were quite fond of an alphabet book they always called the Jimmy book because it started "A is an apple for Jimmy to eat."