R.I.P. Margaret K. McElderry

by Roger Sutton
Feb 16, 2011 | Filed in Articles & Opinion
In memory of the great and good Margaret K. McElderry, who died on Monday, we offer the two-part interview Leonard Marcus conducted with her for the November-December 1993 and January-February 1994 issues of the Horn Book Magazine.

The list of books Margaret published that I love is very, very long, but it begins with Margot Benary-Isbert's The Ark, which my mother bought for me when I was around ten, and which I read over and over for years. Every kid should be fortunate enough to find such a book to love so much, and it's thanks to the MKMs of the world that they get published. God bless her.
Roger Sutton
Roger Sutton

Editor Emeritus Roger Sutton was editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc., from 1996-2021. He was previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. He received his MA in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a BA from Pitzer College in 1978.

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Liz B

>I would love to see the Ark!

But then I'd be greedy, and want the other books where the family & friends from the Ark appear.

Posted : Feb 21, 2011 11:34

Roger Sutton

>And did I read that The Changeover is also out of print? That's a scandal.

I had lunch Friday with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publisher Betsy Groban and suggested she bring back The Ark in MKM's honor.

Posted : Feb 20, 2011 07:46

Liz B

>For some reason, my high school library had almost all of Benary-Isbert's books. Love, love, love.

But as for scandalous? I must have missed something. Unless it was just the whole drama of it (dead brother, making do as refuges) as well as the setting -- post WWII Germany with sympathy to Germans? I may have a copy somewhere, I'll have to look.

Posted : Feb 17, 2011 12:17

Charlotte

>I too love The Ark, although I came to it as an adult--I'm going to be re-reading it in the next few days, and I'll look for risque-ness, although I too remember none.

Posted : Feb 17, 2011 01:31

Anonymous

>At ALA, the year The Thief was an honor book, Susan Hirshman shoveled me into a cab between Margaret McElderry and Eloise Jarvis McGraw. It was the cab ride of a life time. I also read The Ark when I was ten, Roger. I wish I'd known I had her to thank for it. And for Patricia Wrightson's and LM Boston's books as well.

~mwt

Posted : Feb 16, 2011 07:19

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