We chose this title — THE HORNBOOK — because of its early and honorable place in the history of children’s literature, but in our use of it we are giving it a lighter meaning, as Mr. Caldecott’s three jovial huntsmen on the cover suggest. Just as they are so full of exuberant joy for the hunt that they cannot blow hard enough, so we are so full of enthusiasm for The Bookshop as a hunting-ground, and so keen on the trail of you lovers of books, that we must blow a horn — even our own horn — a little.

Beatrix Potter's letter to Bertha Mahony Miller, dated May 20, 1927

by Ludwig Bemelmans About seven years ago a typographer brought Miss Massee to my house for dinner.

by Lois Lenski Huckleberry mountain library — the only rural library in Henderson County, North Carolina — is open for two hours every other Sunday afternoon to the mountain children, and was to be open on December 23.

By Clara Breed When her Japanese-American patrons were sent to internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor, San Diego children's librarian Clara Breed wrote the following article for The Horn Book.

Editorial by Jennie D.

By Anne Carroll Moore Christmas began for me with the arrival of Puss in Boots, the gayest and loveliest of picture books in a format that is an artist’s dream of a publisher’s interest in every detail of production.

Editorial by Ruth Hill Viguers With the season of graduations upon us we will be hearing many speeches extolling wisdom and the other virtues that young people will need for their roles in the future.

In the spring of this year Max Rafferty, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, wrote an article praising Walt Disney as “the greatest educator of this century.

by James E.

By Ann Durell At the cocktail party following the National Book Award presentations in New York City last March a lady asked Meindert DeJong to autograph her copy of Journey from Peppermint Street (Harper), winner of the first National Book Award for children’s literature.

GYPSY HOUSE GREAT MISSENDEN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 6th October, 1972 Paul Heins Esq.

By Astrid Lindgren So, you’re going to write a children’s book? You’re not the only one.

by Milton Meltzer Every year since 1922 the Newbery Medal has been awarded to an author for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

In an editorial last year I wrote about some disquieting aspects of contemporary picture book publishing.

By Lloyd Alexander I was well into middle age before I met the Psammead ("Sammyadd" as the children call it).

by Anita Silvey With this editorial I do not mean to cast aspersion on this year's Caldecott choice or on any particular choice of the Caldecott Committee over the past dozen years but to talk about a trend in the selection process.

By Rachel Vail A fourth grader recently asked me: What mood are you in when you’re writing? Most people who hear I’m a writer ask if it takes a lot of discipline or if I can make a living at it, to which I respond without needing to think that no, it doesn’t take much discipline because I love doing it, and yes, I’ve been very lucky.

If anyone had told me when I was growing up in South Africa that I would be living in Chicago one day and writing about multiculturalism in children’s books, I would have thought they were crazy.

On her first visit to California in January 1947, Bertha Mahony Miller spent a productive evening with the rising illustrator Leo Politi.

On an evening in November 1930, during Children’s Book Week, Bertha Mahony arranged a festive Mexican Dinner in honor of the authors and illustrators of the season’s bumper crop of books on a Mexican theme.