Good Books for Bad Children: The Genius of Ursula Nordstrom
by Beth Kephart; illus. by Chloe Bristol
Primary, Intermediate    Schwartz/Random    48 pp.
9/23    9780593379578    $18.99
Library ed.  9780593379592    $21.99
e-book ed.  9781774881996    $11.99

“Ursula Nordstrom was a grown-up who never forgot what it was to be a child.” Kephart’s picture-book biography of legendary Harper editor Nordstrom (1910–1988)—who published so many classics of mid-twentieth-century children’s literature—captures her passion for her work, her close relationships with writers and artists, her eagerness to discover new talent, her affinity for child readers. The book begins with Nordstrom’s rather solitary and fraught childhood (her parents often fought, then divorced) before moving on to her adult life (rising through the ranks to become head of Harper’s children’s division). Kephart hits her stride when describing Nordstrom as an editor, backing up every general statement with an example and often a quote. She liberally sprinkles the text with Nordstrom’s own words (“‘Answer that!’ she’d yell at her assistant when the phone would ring. ‘That could be the next Mark Twain’”), treating readers to her distinct voice and personality and lending the text unusual immediacy. Bristol’s illustrations nicely establish time and place and include appearances by some of the stellar creators Nordstrom nurtured, including E. B. White, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, and John Steptoe. Leaving aside the question of what Nordstrom might have thought about the child appeal of a picture-book biography about a book editor (however groundbreaking and remarkable), this is an excellent encapsulation of a seminal figure in children’s books. An author’s note and bibliography are appended.

From the September/October 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.