ENG 470
History of Children's Book Publishing
The Invention and Development of Children's & Adolescent Literature
Course syllabus
Course description for History of Children's Book Publishing. Spring 2014
Readings
Two articles on children's publishing by Julie Bosman from The New York Times. "Newbery Winner to Promote her Genre" and "Booksellers Wary About Holiday Sales" reading
John Newbery's A Pretty Little Pocket Book. 1. A .pdf version for downloading. 2. From The Library of Congress, scanned images of each page of the original book, which was printed by Isaiah Thomas. The link opens to the frontispiece.
Makers of Make-Believe
A Little School-Girl by Frances Bent Dillingham, illustrated by Olive Rush. February 1899. St. Nicholas magazine.
Posters from Children's Book Week collected in Pinterest
St. Nicholas Magazine Archives at flyingdreams.com
St. Nicholas magazine covers collected on a Pinterest page
Parley's Magazine A link to exceprts from the popular 19th-century childern's magazine.
Merry's museum, Parley's magazine, Woodworth's cabinet and the Schoolfellow: the consolidated magazine for boys and girls. 1865. Complete book that's digitzed on the Internet Archives and Prelinger Library
American Children's Periodicals 1783-1872. The Youth's Companion
Peter Parley's Book of Curiosities Natural and Artificial (1832)
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott's letters and journals concerning Little Women. a reading in .pdf
Ezra Jack Keats
The Snowy Day
from Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day
"On Ezra Jack Keats and From Collage: The Memoirs of Ezra Jack Keats." a 10-page .pdf document
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. Official website.
Ezra Jacket Keats virtual exhibit, from the deGrummond collection
Art Exhibition: The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats at The Jewish Museum in New York.
- An article about the exhibit in The New York Times"Homage to a Picture Book Rebel" (12/8/11)
- Overview video of the exhibit by The Jewish Museum.YouTube 4:28 min
The Snowy Day read aloud on YouTube
Biographical video on Keats on YT (3:36)
Ezra Jacket Keats virtual exhibit, from the deGrummond collection
The Snowy Day read aloud on YouTube
People of Color in Children's Literature
"Where are the People of Color in Children's Literature?" by Walter Dean Meyers. The New York Times Book Review. March 24, 2014
"The Apartheid of Children's Literature" by Christopher Meyers. The New York Times Book Review. March 24, 2014
Ashley Strickland "Where is the African-American Harry Potter?"
"Children's Book By and About People of Color." Statistics Gathered by The Cooperative Children's Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Nancy Larrick's essay "The All White World of Children's Books." This is a pdf document that links to a copy of Larrick's essay originally published in The Saturday Review, September 11, 1965.
Here is a recent re-examining of children's books in light of Larrick's essay by Laura Atkins.
The Brownies' Book published by W.E.B. DuBois. A link to information as well as links to pdfs of original copies of this series for African-American children published during the Harlem Renaissaince
Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter and Benjamin Bunny, on a lead.
Frederick Warne, official pubblisher of Beatrix Potter Information on Potter, games, news, eating healthy.
Beatrix Potter's life in Cumbria. Lots of info about her life there, many book suggestions, photographs, and info about the film Miss Potter
"The Tale of Miss Potter" Daily Telegraph article about the film Miss Potter and her life in England. (16 Dec. 2006)
Beatrix Potter, Fabulist. Online exhibit from Cotsen Children's Library at Princeton. Click on the images on top of the screen.
A biography of Potter from University of Pittsburgh site.
The Beatrix Potter Society website.
The National Trust's homes of Beatrix Potter and links to more information about her.
Golden Books
Original artwork for a Little Golden Book
Little Golden Books current website, published by Random House
Smithsonian's American History Museum online exhibit about Little Golden Books
"A Golden Moment: First Book chats with Author Leonard Marcus!" about his book Golden Legacy: How Golden Books Won Children’s Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became An American Icon Along the Way (Random House) by Jen M. November 3, 2007. Link to podcast
History of the Little Golden Books from Mental Floss by Rob Lammie
Antique Trader's history of the Little Golden Books, with values for the original 12
Little Golden Book collector site.
E.B. White
"The Lion and the Mouse: The battle that reshaped children's literature." essay in The New Yorker by Jill Lepore (July 21, 2008). Sources Lepore used for this essay, in .pdf format.
"Onward and Upward with the Arts; The St. Nicholas League" by E.B. White. .pdf article. Originally published in The New Yorker. Reprinted in St. Nicholas and Mary Mapes Dodge: The Legacy of a Children's Magazine Editor, 1873-1905. Susan Gannon, Suzanne Rahm, and Ruth Anne Thompson, Editors. McFarland: Jefferson, North Carolina, 2004.
"Children's Books" an essay by E. B. White in collection of essays One Man's Meat in pdf format
"The Death of a Pig" E.B. White essay in The Atlantic January 1948.
"Stuart, Wilbur, Charlotte: A Tale of Tales" by Ursula Nordstrom (book editor). The New York Times. May 12, 1974.
Wake Forest University Librarian blog on E.B. White as children's author, with images. Many Garth Williams illustrations.
New York Times collection of info on E.B. White. Includes links to recordings of White reading from Charlotte's Web. (requires free registration with NY Times)
Garth Williams' illustrations for Charlotte's Web analyzed on the blog BiblioOdyssey. post from Dec. 8, 2010
Quotations by E.B. White at goodreads.com. Quiz on quotations in Charlotte's Web.
Why Charlotte's Web is still a great book 50 years after publication. by Stephen Amidon in The Guardian
Interview by NPR's Melissa Block of E.B. White's relatives and author of annotated Charlotte Web about White's creation of the novel. (8-4-2008)
Ursula Nordstrom
Ursula Nordstrom in 1946
Read this article about Ursula Nordstrom editing
Roni Natov and Gerladine DeLuca's "Discovering Contemporary Classics: An Interview with Ursula Nordstrom." published in The Lion and The Unicorn.
Maria Popov's Brain Pickings articles about Ursula Nordstrom.
"The Genius of Ursula Nordstrom" by Alex Bracken on Pub(lishing) Crawl
An artistic celebration of Ursula Nordstrom
Melissa Wiley writing on Nordstrom and Katharine White
Leonard Marcus writes about discussing his book about Nordstrom on a visit to Japan in The Page Turn, The Harper Collins Children's Books School & Library Blog
Leonard Marcus discusses Dear Genius on C-Span in 1998.
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Bio of Ted Giesel on website about Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Gardens in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Dr. Seuss's "How Orlo Got his Book" and Dr. Seuss's "My Hassle with the First Grade Language."
Advertising art work of Ted Giesel in the Univ. of California-San Diego library. Many images.
Official Random House site for Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss (Ted Giesel)A.O. Scott's essay in The New York Times magazine "Sense and Nonsense" (Nov. 26, 20000) about Dr. Seuss and children's literature
10 Facts about Dr. Seuss on the BBC's website on his 100th birthday.
PBS Independent Lens documentary on the political cartoons of Dr. Seuss. Scroll down for clip on connection between Cat in the Hat and subversiveness.
NPR's very informative page on "Fifty Years of 'The Cat in the Hat'" including article by Lynn Neary as well as images and links (March 1, 2007)
NCTE/IRA's suggested lesson plans for grades 9-12 to use The Cat in the Hat to write an essay using a psychoanalysis perspective. whew! Includes chart for psychoanalysis id, ego, and superego characters in the book.
New Yorker essay "Cat People" by Louis Menard (Dec. 23, 2002) on the creation of The Cat in the Hat, Sputnik, The Lorax, and with which character children identify.
"Random House Founder Bennett Cerf, as Skillfull Humorist and Storyteller." WNYC. Aug. 17, 2012. article, photos, and podcast
Maurice Sendak Where The Wild Things Are
Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia, which has the best collection of Sendak materials.
Rosenbach Museum's DVD segment on Sendak on his work, childhood, inspiration. YouTube. 10 min. Sendak on what being an illustrator means. YouTube. 3 min. Sendak on his childhood and movies. YouTube. 1 min. Sendak on Images and Words. You Tube 2:25 min
Maurice Sendak's "Caldecott Acceptance Award: 1964."
Original Wild Things animated short. YouTube video 6:50 min.
Maurice Sendak & Art Spiegelman's "In The Dumps" a cartoon from The New Yorker
"A Conversation with Maurice Sendak" by Jennifer Ludden on NPR, June 4, 2005, with additional links
MercuryNews article about Sendak exhibit at Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco (Sept. 3, 2009)
President Obama reading Wild Things at the 2009 Easter egg roll
Horn Book interview with Sendak. Nov./Dec. 2003 by Roger Sutton
Book Jackets and Book Covers
Julie Bosman's "To Lure "Twilight" Teenagers, Classic Books Get Bold Looks."
Book Cover Archive. a thorough blog.
"Beautiful Covers: An Interview with Chip Kidd" by Spyros Zevelakis on Smashing Magazine. Feb. 20, 2012.
NCTE lesson plans on Read, Write, Think has a book cover template generator & lesson plan.
"The Decline and Fall of the Book Cover" by Tim Krieder. The New Yorker. July 16, 2013.
Birth of Adolescent Literature
"That Was Then: This is Now: S.E. Hinton in the Twitter Age" by Jon Michaud in The New Yorker 11/9/2103
YouTube videos
- S. E. Hinton on location in Tulsa (7 min)
- from The Outsiders (1983) film "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (1:17 min)
- from The Outsiders film "Stay Gold" (4:33)
- from The Outsiders film. Original ending, without soundtrack.
- West Side Story. Tony's Death. Final Scene (in English with Polish or Czech subtitles) 6:19 min
S.E. Hinton's website
The Outsiders, official website for film and book
"Outsiders Forty Years Later" by Dale Peck in The New York Times.Sept. 2007.
"S.E. Hinton reflects on The Outsiders" in Book Rag website
Blog quiz. Which "Greaser" are you most like (from The Outsiders)? with comments.
Best Young Adult Novels, an NPR survey in 2012
The first book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
- Phil Nel's "Is there a text in this advertising campaign?"
- Trailer for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone from Warner Bros. YouTube
- The Harry Potter Lexicon website. Keeps track of spells, characters, etc. Recommended by Rowling.
- Rowling's official website
- The Boy Who Lived, a U.K. fan website with lots of details
- The Scholastic website for Harry Potter.
- BBC biographical information about Rowling
- An interview and profile of Rowling from Oct. 2000
- A negative review of the first film in The New York Times by Elvis Mitchel
- A unit on the different covers for The Sorcerer's Stone book.
- from The New Republic online, a 1999 essay analyzing the Harry Potter the first books, making links to other children's texts. by "Harry Potter and the Spirt of the Age" Lee Siegel
Trends in Children's Publishing
Children's Books: A shifting market (.pdf). Article is also here from Publisher's Weekly. by Jim Milnot. Feb. 24, 2014.
Scholastic Editors Forecast Top Trends in Children's Books for 2013
New Trends in YA: The Agents' Perspective from Publisher's Weekly. Sept. 23, 2013
The Future of Children's Books: Five Trends. Slides from Kristen's McLean's Keynote speech at TOC Bologna 2013. Links to slides in SlideShare
The trend of publishing satires of children's books from The New York Daily News, Feb. 4, 2014
"Children's and Teens book markets resilient under pressure, says Nielsen report." Jan. 20, 2014
Publishing resources, focusing on children's and YA books
Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books. Located at University of Illinois, the Center is one of the nation's leading children's book review journals for school and public librarians.
Children's Book Council. Supporting and informing the children's book publishing industry.
The Children's Book Review. Numerous book reviews categorized by reading levels. Interviews with authors.
Galley Cat on Media Bistro. Focus on book publishing from inside the industry perspective.
The Guardian book review section. The leading liberal newspaper in the U.K. always has thoughtful book reviews and industry news.
The Horn Book. Premiere journal for librarians that reviews many children's books. Good source of information about authors and publishing.
Kirkus Review. According to a talk by a children's librarian, a good review in Kirkus will encourage numerous libraries to purchase that book. However, she also noted that the reviews here can be brutal and can hurt writers' careers.
The New York Times. Reviews of children's books. The NYT Best Seller Lists, including four lists on children's and YA books.
Publisher's Lunch. Subscribe to the daily emails and you will learn all the inside news about the publishing industry as soon as it is available. Tells you who signed book contracts that day & how much they were worth. Read by those in the know in publishing. Also check out its compansion site: Publisher's Marketplace
Publisher's Weekly. The publishing industry's leading news source online and in weekly magazine. Read by everyone in the book industry as well as librarians. Many reviews.
Publishing Perspectives. Focuses on the business of publishing, with an international perspective. You can subscribe to regular emails
Publishing Trendsetter Blog. News and dialogue for the next generation of publishers. Good interviews and a weekly roundup of top five stories of the week in publishing.
School Library Journal. The leading source of information for librarians who work with children's, teen and YA books. Great source for industry news, author interviews, and reviews. You can subscribe to regular emails
The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing. Leading academic organization for the study of publishing history
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. A professional organization for writers and illustrators of children's books as well as agents and editors. SCBWI has an interesting website for those studying children's literature. Features interviews of authors and illustrators with information about the book industry. Local, regional and national conferences are informative.
TOON Books.TOON Books are the first high-quality comics designed for children ages three and up.
Writer's Digest. One of the leading publications and online sources for writers with an occasional focus on children's literature.
The National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature in Texas, a museum.
Some blogs and websites related to children's & YA book publishing and media
Book Slut. Regularly updated author interviews and book reviews.
Commonsense Media. A website for families with reviews about media that children read, see and use. The book reviews are written by a professional reviewer as well as children and parents. The emphasis is often on the content.
List of many children's book publishers. from www.everywritersresource.com
The Purple Crayon. a website by a children's book publishing agent. very informative
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. A popular blog focusing on picture books by a writer does book reviews for Kirkus Review.
"Outlining for My Inner Child." an essay on thinking about who you are writing for when writing children's books. from the blog Too Much Monkey by Bill Radford. interesting essay with lots of links