Happy 1st Birthday to this blog!

We debuted this blog on September 14, 2016 — which Katie noted last Thursday during the Horn Book staff's annual editorial planning meeting at Roger's house. For some reason, everyone was too focused on work flow and the editorial calendar to properly mark the occasion (in my opinion). But milestones are important to acknowledge, so let's pause and take stock. We are especially grateful to all our contributors, who have written thoughtfully, humorously, and movingly about the joys and frustrations of sharing books with young people. Your insights are inspiring and encouraging. Thank you.

Rather than a smash-cake photo session (which I understand is a thing now for first birthdays), I'd like to revisit our inaugural post: On Cynthia Voigt's "Have a Carrot" (from 1997). To me, Voigt's brief recollections about reading Margaret Wise Brown's Runaway Bunny with her children nicely encapsulates the experience of being a family (defined in the broadest terms, of course) of readers. Happy Birthday to Family Reading; have a carrot (-shaped cake).