>"That damned Horn Book"--the first words Milton Meltzer ever said to me, upon our mutual introduction fifteen years ago. Meltzer was ever-watchful of how the review journals were treating nonfiction books, a crusade begun by him in our pages more than thirty years ago. We commemorate the passing, on September...

by Milton MeltzerEvery year since 1922 the Newbery Medal has been awarded to an author for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." Of the fifty-three Newbery winners to date, how many have been nonfiction? Only five: Hendrik Van Loon's Story of Mankind (Liveright), the very first, in...