Ann A. Flowers

co-founder of The Horn Book Guide, editor from 1989 to 1992

In 1989, Ann Flowers co-founded The Horn Book Guide (with Anita Silvey, editor of The Horn Book Magazine) and served as its first editor. She brought an impressive background as a librarian and a critic — as well as the deep reservoirs of humor, enthusiasm, and energy that are essential to the successful launch of a new journal. In addition to her twenty-three-year tenure as children’s librarian at the Wayland (MA) Public Library, Ms. Flowers was a long-time Horn Book Magazine reviewer and contributor, a member of many ALA committees (including Newbery and Batchelder award committees), and an instructor at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College in Boston.

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Hanna B. Zeiger

editor from 1992 to 1998

The Guide stayed in well-qualified hands when Hanna Zeiger took over its helm. A former teacher, Ms. Zeiger was school librarian at the Pierce School in Brookline, Massachusetts, for twenty-one years, a reviewer for The Horn Book Magazine, and an instructor of children’s and young adult literature at Boston University. She oversaw the publication of the Guide with gentle yet decisive authority, working closely with managing editors Kelly Ault (1991 to 1993), Anne Deifendeifer (1993 to 1994), and Jennifer M. Brabander (1995 to 1998).

Jennifer M. Brabander

executive editor from 1998 to 2001

The Guide’s first homegrown editor, Jennifer Brabander took an entry level job at The Horn Book soon after earning her MA from the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College in Boston. She worked her way up the masthead, serving as Hanna Zeiger’s second-in-command for several years before taking over the top spot in 1998. Three years later she moved over to the Magazine, where she served as senior editor.

Kitty Flynn

executive editor from 2001 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2016

Kitty Flynn began her professional career at The Horn Book soon after graduation from Smith College. After her start in Boston, she moved to New York City, where she was an editor at Morrow Junior Books. In 1996, she returned to The Horn Book, serving as associate editor at the Guide for several years before her 2001 promotion to executive editor. In 2006 Ms. Flynn scaled back her editorial duties at the Guide, becoming a senior editor, to focus more of her attention on The Horn Book’s online content. From 2012 to 2016, Kitty Flynn once again took the helm as managing editor of the guide. She has since move over to the Magazine where she is currently reviews editor.

Elissa Gershowitz

managing editor from 2006 to 2012

Formerly a freelance reviewer, Elissa Gershowitz's work with The Horn Book began when she started reviewing for the Horn Book Guide in 2001. An Oberlin College graduate with an MA from the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College, she made a seamless transition from Guide contributor to Guide managing editor in 2006 after working for several book and magazine publishers. She has since served as online content editor for the Horn Book, Inc., and in progressive roles at the Magazine as its senior editor, executive editor, and finally its current editor in chief.

Katrina Heedeen

managing editor from 2016 to 2019

Katrina Heedeen joined The Horn Book, Inc. in 2008, starting off as marketing and circulation assistant and then marketing and editorial assistant. She subsequently held progressive roles at the Guide, including editorial assistant, assistant editor, and associate editor, before serving as managing editor from 2016 to 2019 when the Guide transitioned from print to its current electronic format, The Horn Book Guide Online.