While doing the research for my article Arrow to the Sun and Critical Controversies (Sept./Oct. 2013 Horn Book Magazine), I came across several references to author Gerald McDermott’s first children’s book editor at Holt, Rinehart & Winston, George Nicholson, and the role he played in McDermott’s move from films to picture books. A longtime children’s […]
Arrow to the Sun and Critical Controversies
This is the fifth of a continuing series of articles celebrating the history of the Caldecott Medal, which marks its seventy-fifth anniversary this year. Librarian and children’s literature historian Kathleen T. Horning looks at one seminal but unheralded Caldecott book of each decade — identifying trends, noting the changing nature of the picture book, wrestling […]
Horn Book reviews of Caldecott Medal winners, 1970-1979
1970 WILLIAM STEIG, Author-Illustrator Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (Windmill/Simon) Sylvester the young donkey was a pebble collector; one day he found a flaming red stone, shiny and round — and quite unaccountably able to grant wishes. Overjoyed, Sylvester was planning to share his magic with his family when “a mean, hungry lion” appeared. Startled […]
An Interview with George M. Nicholson
George M. Nicholson introduced and popularized high-quality paperback publishing for young people in the United States. He ran a number of major houses before finding a new career as an agent, remaining throughout an innovative, knowledgeable, and influential figure in the children’s book industry. LEONARD S. MARCUS: How did you come to work in children’s […]