Horn Book Magazine
articles in the Virtual History Exhibit

Hazel Rochman on multicultural children’s literature, Jon Scieska on hard to pronounce names, Lois Lenski on Christmas, and Eleanor Cameron on why Roald Dahl is bad for civilization — the range of Horn Book articles has always been impressively broad. Discover more for yourself in this sampling, arranged in reverse chronological order of publication.

1990s

Barbara Bader examines six milestones in the Horn Book's first seventy-five years:
    • Treasure Island by the Roadside (January/February 1999)
          Selling children's books off the back of a truck.
    • Peter Says Please (March/April 1999)
          Beatrix Potter befriends the Horn Book.
    • Politi for Christmas (May/June 1999)
          An up-and-coming artist's holiday keepsake.
    • Preach and Practice by Barbara Bader (July/August 1999)
          Editor Ethel Heins ascends her bully pulpit.
    • Realms of Gold and Granite (September/October 1999)
          Miss Mahony opens her Bookshop for Boys and Girls in 1916.
    • One Childhood, One World (November/December 1999)
          The Horn Book's global vision was always clear.

Writing Backward: Modern Models in Historical Fiction by Anne Scott MacLeod (January/February 1998)
Historical revisionism in some of today’s most popular novels.

Have Book Bag, Will Travel: A Practical Guide to Reading Aloud by Mary M. Burns and Ann A. Flowers (March/April 1997)
Step-by-step guidelines for how to read aloud and an annotated list of what to read.

Readers Request, Or, YOU ASKED FOR IT by Jon Scieszka (November/December 1996)
A handy guide to pronoucing tough names, like the author's.

Against Borders by Hazel Rochman (March/April 1995)
A noted critic on multicultural children’s literature.

Making Stories Happen by Rachel Vail (May/June 1994)
How the author makes up things until they are true.

1980s

Arnold Lobel by James Marshall (May/June 1988)
James Marshall's tribute to Arnold Lobel.

A Second Look: Five Children and It by Lloyd Alexander (May 1985)
One master storyteller appreciates another.

1970s

Where Do All the Prizes Go?: The Case for Nonfiction by Milton Meltzer (February 1976)
A passionate plea for “information” books to be judged fairly and justly rewarded.

Virginia Hamilton, the Great by Jane Langton (December 1974)
An admiring appreciation by a fellow novelist.

Short Talk with a Prospective Children's Writer by Astrid Lindgren (June 1973)
Tart advice from the creator of Pippi Longstocking.

Eleanor Cameron vs. Roald Dahl (October 1972–October 1973)
Two heavyweights clash in a classic battle.

1960s

Who’s Lloyd Alexander? by Ann Durell (June 1969)
Profile of the 1969 Newbery Medalist.

A Letter from C. S. Lewis by James E. Higgins (October 1966)
C. S. Lewis answers questions on writing for children

Walt Disney Accused: an interview with Frances Clarke Sayers (December 1965)
Was Walt Disney a great educator? Frances Clarke Sayers says, “No!”

News from Narnia by Lillian H. Smith (October 1963)
Narnia, real or imagined

1950s

The Three Owls’ Notebook (December 1952)
Why Anne Carroll Moore is squeamish about Charlotte’s Web.

1940s

Christmas at Huckleberry Mountain Library by Lois Lenski (November/December 1946)
A Christmas memory from the 1946 Newbery Medal winner.

Americans with the Wrong Ancestors by Clara Breed (July/August 1943)
The forced internment of Japanese-American young readers.
Also available in PDF. (18 MB file not suitable for slow connections)