Soon after his (semi)-retirement, Roger Sutton met me on the steps of Simmons University, where our offices were located, to hand off a chair. Not just any chair: Bertha’s chair, which had belonged to the Horn Book’s founder, Bertha Mahony Miller. It sat in Roger’s office, too rickety for people to sit on, but perfect for ever-growing stacks of books and papers, and had moved from office to office to office — three in my time, but there were many more, as you’ll discover in this issue. “Here’s ­Bertha’s chair,” said Roger, ceremoniously. And then: “Well, we think it’s Bertha’s chair. We’ve always said that it was. I don’t know if it actually is. But, look, her initials are on the bottom.”

What better encapsulation of “Our Centennial” special issue’s mini-theme of Nonfiction & Horn Book History? The former aspect can prove tantalizingly tricky to define (see "Nonfiction & Horn Book History" article), and the latter often inextricably, and enthrallingly, tied to our lore. While working on this issue, the editors relied faithfully on the bound volumes of back issues and the books we used to publish. But we also looked to the people who were there. “Martha, is that how you remember it?” “Kitty, what was it like when…?” And, of course, it was an absolute joy to speak with my two predecessors, Roger and Anita (see "Three Editors in Chief: A Conversation") — the first time three Horn Book editors in chief have been together since the 1980s.

A very special commemorative section, ­“Blowing the Horn,” features more contributions than we could’ve dreamed possible (and almost too many to print!). There are old friends reminiscing about their early encounters with the Horn Book. Art that totally cracks us up and pieces that touch our hearts. Profound musing on hopes for the future. We are truly blown away by how it turned out, and we hope that you, too, will find favorites to savor, contemplate, and revisit. See also the four Writer’s Page columns in this issue, three by acclaimed authors of (primarily) nonfiction and the last a historical ­snapshot — with map! — of a time and place, 1970s Boston, of importance to children’s ­literature in general and to the Horn Book in particular.

As we like to say, the Horn Book “grew up” alongside children’s publishing and children’s librarianship, and Sujei Lugo’s article, “‘With a Salute to All Children’s Librarians’: Amplifying the Work of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” adapted from her 2023 PhD thesis, spotlights “the lives and work of exemplary children’s librarians who challenged and changed the U.S. children’s librarianship landscape.” One such person is Augusta Baker, whose portrait — by April Harrison from the 2024 picture book Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller by Breanna J. McDaniel — graces this special issue’s cover. With it being “Our Centennial,” we hope you experience it as our centennial — a shared look at the past, present, and future of “fine books for young people” and the people who love them.

From the May/June 2024 special issue of The Horn Book Magazine: Our Centennial. For more Horn Book centennial coverage, click here.

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