Marjoke Henrichs, author-illustrator of No! Said Rabbit

“The most thrilling/exciting/unexpected part of getting my first book published is the thought that my book will be read by many children around the world, and bring a smile to their faces.”

No! Said Rabbit comes out March 1st!

Sandra Salsbury, author-illustrator of Best Friend in the Whole World

“The greatest joy of getting my first book published has been seeing comments and reviews from readers. For so many years, my book had only been seen by a handful of people close to me, so it’s amazing to see it being enjoyed by people I’ve never even met.”

Best Friend in the Whole World comes out March 1st!

Richard Jones, author-illustrator of Perdu

New Board Books

Pre-order Curious About Mammals today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

PEEP! A duckling breaks through its shell and immediately attaches itself to a warmhearted young boy, and soon the two are inseparable. But the duckling is growing up, and the boy realizes that one day his friend will have to return to live among its own kind. Coming in board book August 1st, Kevin Luthardt’s deceptively simple story poignantly demonstrates the importance of learning to let go of something you love.

Pre-order Peep! today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

New Picture Books

Pre-order About Seabirds today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Arlo is a very tired lion, and he’s tried everything to get to sleep. But the grass is too prickly, the trees are too noisy, and his family wriggles awfully too much. Goodness! How is an exhausted lion ever to get a wink of shut-eye? Luckily, owl has a few tricks up her sleeve. Author-illustrator Catherine Rayner’s breathtakingly beautiful bedtime story has a calming, meditative message of mindfulness and centeredness for reluctant or troubled sleepers.

Pre-order Arlo the Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or on Amazon.

This story begins quietly as Mouse selects a flower for someone very dear to him. Then the fun begins! To complete his journey, Mouse must make his way through the alphabet—letter by letter and sound by noisy sound. Author Julie Larios and illustrator Julie Paschkis have created an entertaining combination of clever onomatopoeic text and lively, colorful art that will delight young fans and inspire them to create imaginary alphabet adventures of their own.

Pre-order Eek! today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Stanley’s fire engine needs to be ready for anything. It has a tall ladder, a big water tank, and a long hose. Uh-oh. The fire station has a phone call: Charlie’s barbecue is out of control. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Out of the way! Stanley’s on the job! With bright illustrations, adorable characters, and a padded-cover format, William Bee’s Stanley series is perfect for readers transitioning from board books to picture books.

Pre-order Stanley’s Fire Engine today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Duck and Penguin do NOT like sleepovers, despite what their owners, Betty and Maud, might have you think. But when Betty and Maud leave the teeny weeny tent, Duck and Penguin have no choice but to stick together. The dark outside is full of strange noises, and they have the oddest feeling that…something…is watching them. This companion to Duck & Penguin are NOT Friends from author-illustrator Julia Woolf is a laugh-out-loud bedtime romp about the secret world of toys and the thrills and anxieties of sleeping over.

Pre-order Duck and Penguin Do NOT Like Sleepovers today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

When Gnu says that there’s a cave filled with diamonds across the river, Shrew is intrigued. But as Gnu dreams his days away, tossing out ideas about how to cross the river, Shrew tries to make those dreams a reality. Can Gnu’s big ideas and Shrew’s hard work make something remarkable happen? In this entertaining spin on “The Ant and the Grasshopper” that values the roles of both dreamers and doers, author Danny Schnitzlein’s deadpan storytelling is perfectly complemented by illustrator Anca Sandu’s humorous artwork.

Pre-order Gnu and Shrew today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or on Amazon.

Madeline Finn and Star are off to Walker Oaks, a retirement community where Star will take his tests to become a therapy dog. They make their way through a variety of challenges and meet several new friends, but Madeline Finn can’t stop thinking about an elderly man in a wheelchair who never smiles. Is there something she and Star can do to help? This heartwarming companion to Lisa Papp’s Madeline Finn and the Library Dog and Madeline Finn and the Shelter Dog explores the therapy dog training process and provides a realistic example of a young person making a difference in her community.

Pre-order Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Over millions of years, organisms in Antarctica—one of the most extreme environments on Earth—have evolved in amazing ways that enable them to thrive on the ice, in the ice, and under the ice. How is climate change affecting the creatures that live in this frozen world? Antarctica’s creatures depend on the ice. And in the long run, so do we. This amazing nonfiction picture book provides valuable information about one of the most hostile environments on the planet. Experienced nature writer Mary Batten’s informative text and stunning artwork by New York Times bestselling illustrator Thomas Gonzalez are sure to spark a passion for conservation of this incredible habitat.

Pre-order Life in a Frozen World today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

After witnessing the 1911 Triangle Waist Factory fire, Frances Perkins decided to work to bring about new laws that would make workplaces safer. As Secretary of Labor in President Roosevelt’s administration—the first woman cabinet member—Frances had the opportunity to achieve her bold vision of Social Security. Deborah Hopkinson’s energetic text and Kristy Caldwell’s appealing illustrations introduce readers to a fascinating woman who has changed many American lives. Back matter features more information about Frances Perkins and Social Security and resources for economic education.

Pre-order Thanks to Frances Perkins today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or on Amazon.

As a young man, William went to work for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he helped freedom seekers who had traveled north. One day, a strangely familiar man came into William’s office, searching for information about his long-lost family. Motivated by his own family’s experience, William began collecting the stories of thousands of other freedom seekers and was able to reunite other families and build a remarkable source of information. Award-winning author Don Tate brings to life William Still’s incredible true story and work as a record keeper of enslaved people who had fled to freedom in this first-ever picture book biography of the Father of the Underground Railroad.

Pre-order William Still and His Freedom Stories today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

New Middle Grade

Pre-order The Candy Mafia today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Mr. Penguin and his Adventuring gang board a luxury cruise ship for some much-needed rest and a little entertainment. With fish finger sandwiches available twenty-four hours a day, Mr. Penguin isn’t even bothered that he can’t swim and is deeply afraid of water. But when a series of odd events infiltrates a façade of glamorous parties, Mr. Penguin can’t help but feel that something shifty is happening on board, and he soon finds that Adventures are lying in wait after all. This third installment in the humorous, page-turning series from Alex T. Smith is sure to thrill young readers looking for a good adventure.

Pre-order Mr. Penguin and the Catastrophic Cruise today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

New YA

Haylah Swinton is an ace best friend, a loving daughter, and an incredibly patient sister. Best of all, Haylah’s learning to embrace all of her curvy parts, and one day, she’ll be a stand-up comedian star. So when impossibly thirstalicious Leo reveals he’s also into comedy, Haylah jumps at the chance to ghostwrite his sets. But if Haylah’s ever going to step into the spotlight, first she’ll need to find the confidence to put herself out there and strut like the boss she really is. Rebecca Elliott’s hilarious and authentic narrative voice is sure to capture readers’ hearts as her plus-sized, teenage heroine embarks on a candid and laugh-out-loud journey of family, friends, and fierce mistakes.

Pre-order Pretty Funny for a Girl today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Nettie Delaney has just been accepted into a prestigious performing arts school—the very same school her superstar mother attended. But Nettie hasn’t been able to sing a single note since her mother died. Whenever she tries, she just clams up. All may not be lost, however, when Nettie stumbles upon a mysterious piano player in an empty studio after class. Masked behind a curtain, can Nettie summon the courage to find her voice? Or will the pressure and anxiety of performing come crashing down? All about claiming your voice and not throwing away your shot, Vanessa Jones’s moving story of grief and healing is sure to be a pure joy for musical theater aficionados.

Pre-order Sing Like No One’s Listening today through your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, or on Amazon.

Up until 2018 I’d spent nearly 5 years playing with traditional fairytales, creating my own twisted versions of Little Red, Rapunzel and Hansel & Gretel. But like all creatives I’m always looking to challenge myself. With this in mind, I agreed with my publishers to develop my own original tale.

Wanting to keep one foot in the fairytale world, I began using my love for folklore and traditional tales to inspire a new, contemporary narrative. After a lot of research, I decided to anchor my story in a sort of medieval-era. Most stories from this time period are centred on “great men” and rarely involve women, and any female characters are either poorly fleshed out love interests or evil witches. So as you can imagine, it didn’t take long for me to invent my new feisty female protagonist Bo, who refers to herself throughout the story as being “smart,” “brave” and “strong.”

Creating my own original tale took a very different process than rewriting my previous fairytales had. Firstly, there was much less structure, and this wasn’t necessarily easy or forgiving. When it came to twisting fairytales, there was a well trodden path I needed to follow, and I could change parts of the story along the way. But at times when I was writing my own tale, it felt like I was navigating a very dense forest without a compass, let alone a path to follow! Luckily I came up with the ending to my story pretty early on. This at least gave me a target, so while I was developing the plot I could make sure I was heading in the right direction.

Something that I realised quite quickly when creating my own original tale, was that my story couldn’t be quite as dark as a traditional fairytale. Tales such as Little Red Riding Hood have been told and retold for centuries, and we’ve become accepting of the creepy or absurd twists they tell. But as I was in the early stages of writing Bo the Brave, I explored many routes for my story, some darker than others, it didn’t feel as acceptable to write such a sinister plot.

As my medieval world began to unfold, I started thinking about what medieval children might do to pass the time, and the first thing that came to mind was ‘hunting’. From then on, Bo was part of a medieval-hunting family, but they weren’t after small creatures, they were monster-hunters! This allowed me to take inspiration from various folklore I’d researched involving mythical beasts. It was really difficult to pick the monsters I wanted to use in the story, but I settled on three beasts–one from the air, one from the land and one from the sea.

As I’m quite a visual person, I tend to create my stories almost entirely out of pictures to begin with, submitting most of my book proposals to my publisher as storyboards instead of manuscripts. However, with Bo the Brave, quite a lot of research went into the story, so I’d written a lot of notes and possible story angles before the illustrating even began. But once I’d created my general plot, the writing definitely took a backseat for a while until I’d finished the artwork!

Initially, I had thought of illustrating Bo the Brave in three colours–grey, black and teal–keeping my palette consistent with my previous fairytale books. But it wasn’t until I’d sat down with my publishers that I started to explore the possibility of using more colours in my palette! We talked about the idea of illustrating the ‘medieval world’ in unsuspecting colours, and we flicked through a bunch of colour swatches to find the most unlikely colours for a medieval world. We tend to associate the medieval era with dark, murky colours such as greys, browns and deeper blues and greens, but I wanted to show my medieval world in a different light. Along with black and grey, we chose three garish colours–a zingy orange, a rich teal and an eye popping magenta. There’s definitely nothing medieval about these colours!

I had a lot of fun creating an original fairy tale, and I can’t wait for everyone to start reading the Bo’s adventures. Bo the Brave is hitting bookshelves this April, so don’t forget to pick yourself up a copy!

We asked Satoshi Kitamura about his writing and illustration process for Hat Tricks. Check out the full interview!

Q: What do you enjoy most about writing and illustrating for children?

A: Making things is always a joy. I like building with timber and carpentry tools, like a book shelf or a chair.  But there’s nothing more enjoyable than inventing a story and the images around it.

Q: Do you do all your writing first and then all your illustrating, or do both progress simultaneously as you develop a story?

A: The story and images help each other and develop into a picture book.

Q: What medium did you use to create these illustrations?

A: I drew with pen and ink first, then painted with watercolor.

Q: How has your advertising background influenced your career in children’s book illustration?

A: I learned to see things from the receiving end. Basically, I do things as I like, but sometimes I try to see if my idea would make sense to six years old readers.

Q: If you hadn’t started creating writing and illustrating children’s books, what would you be doing?

A: I would be a potter, a joiner, a stonemason. . .  some kind of craftsman.

Q: How much of your drawing inspiration comes from the comics you enjoyed as a child?

A: Copying the comic characters I liked must have influenced my style of drawing. Also 60s and 70s graphic design and illustration from US, Europe, and Japan were big influences for me when I was a teenager.

Q: Hat Tricks features an adorable rabbit magician named Hattie—what inspired you to write a story about a rabbit and her magic hat?

A: I wanted to write a book about a magician. A rabbit is a typical animal that comes out of a magician’s hat, and I thought it would be fun if the rabbit herself was a magician.

Q: What did you enjoy most about this particular picture book? Which spread is your favorite?

A: I simply enjoyed drawing the animals. The best spread for me is of the animals trying to pull the elephant out of the hat.

Q: If you were Hattie, what would you pull out of your magic hat?

A: What a difficult question! How about a pair of magical wings that can make me fly freely like a bird?

Q: What do you find “magical”?

A: Being in the world is magical. That there is a world or universe and that we are all alive somewhere in this world are terribly magical to me.

Q: What can we look forward to next from you?

A: A book about smiles is coming out in Europe in the fall.

Today is International Children’s Book Day! Since 1967, we have used Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday to celebrate children’s books and inspire a love of reading throughout the world. And because tomorrow kicks off this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some Peachtree books that are read in other countries. With strong universal themes and experiences that children can relate to, regardless of country or culture, these books can be enjoyed not only in English, but in languages from around the world.

Madeline Finn and the Library Dog
Themes: Dogs, Friendship, Libraries, Reading
Age Range: 4–8

“It’s fun to read when you’re not afraid of making mistakes. Bonnie teaches me that it’s okay to go slow, and to keep trying.”

Bonnie and Madeline Finn have reached more countries in more languages (about 19 so far) than any of the other books on our list. Not only have the adorable illustrations pulled at heartstrings around the world, we believe every reader that comes to this story who has experienced the joy books can bring wants to spread that experience, that feeling, to anyone reluctant or worried about reading. Everyone needs to be reminded to keep trying.

The Yellow Star
Themes: Courage, Responsibility, WWII
Age Range: 8–12

“What if the good and strong people of the world stood shoulder to shoulder, crowding the streets and filling the squares, saying, ‘You cannot do this injustice to our sisters and brothers, or you must do it to us as well.'”

Carmen Agra Deedy, author of The Yellow Star, asks a question in her author’s note that is, without a doubt, the driving reason that her beautiful story of unity and hope in the face of hatred has reached hearts and minds around the world. It also helps that Yellow Star won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for Children’s Non-Fiction, which honors the best graphic and editorial production in children’s literature internationally.

 

The Cheshire Cheese Cat
Themes: Charles Dickens, Friendship, Loyalty
Age Range: 8–12

“He was the best of toms. He was the worst of toms.”

Skilley, an alley cat with a terrible secret, and Pip, the resident mouse at a popular public house, have romped around the world in this Dickens of a tale. The engaging, page-turning action of this story gives it the feel of a classic novel, aside from its references to Charles Dickens’s classic works, and its strong themes of loyalty and friendship make it universally appealing to anyone looking for a good read.

Star Gazer
Themes: Hard Work, Horses, Patience
Age Range: 8–12

New in town but ready to dive headlong into the more rural culture of Southern Michigan, Jordan is a character to whom, as the theme is here, many around the world have been able to relate. Chris Platt, author of Star Gazer and multiple other middle grade novels, focuses on friendship, horses, and the impact of both on young people. These themes cross borders and languages despite the American setting.

Do You Know the Monkey Man?
Themes: Divorce, Family, Mystery, Siblings
Age Range: 10–14

When Samantha discovers a family secret, her fateful decisions set into motion a chain of events and confrontations that will change her family’s lives forever. Dori Butler’s suspenseful and sensitive story of a broken family and everything it takes for a young girl to face the truth has been translated for young readers from cultures around the world.

We at Peachtree love to learn about different ways people promote and encourage literacy among children. Having recently published  Lisa Papp’s picture book Madeline Finn and the Library Dog—the story of a reluctant reader who develops a love of reading with the help of a beautiful and patient library dog—we were inspired to learn more and help spread the word about these fantastic programs!

R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) is the foremost organization in the country that coordinates library dog programs. They started out in 1999 as the first comprehensive literacy program built around the idea of reading to dogs, and they now have more than 3,000 teams throughout the world working to help readers gain confidence in their reading with the help of a furry friend. This week, we spoke to R.E.A.D. executive director Kathy Klotz to ask her for some pointers on establishing these library dog programs in your library.

She gave 5 steps that she believes are important in making sure your program is successful:

Photo from Gloria Laube, librarydogs.com

1. Make sure to utilize only therapy animal team volunteers who have been screened, trained, licensed and insured.
Not just an employee’s dog, not a service dog, not a friendly neighborhood pet that someone knows of. You want dogs who have been carefully screened and trained for this kind of work, to assure the health and safety of your patrons.

(You can join an ITA affiliate group or another animal-assisted therapy group near you to ensure that you have qualified volunteers.)

2. Hold an initial meeting with the therapy dog volunteers to clarify the procedures and expectations for both sides of the equation—library personnel and volunteers.

This is crucial—you need to establish where in the library the animal interactions will best be located, the logistics (time, day, frequency, length of sessions), and how to handle the scheduling (sign-ups or drop-ins?). Will you be setting up a special theme and display for the days the dogs visit? It’s vitally important for everyone to know who will be responsible for what, to make sure you all understand one another.

Photo from Pete, librarydogs.com

3. Publicize your new program well in advance.

Give your patrons plenty of time to hear about the program, both to encourage kids to attend and to
forewarn those who may need to avoid coming during those times due to risk of allergy. Use fun posters, your library newsletter, PSAs, any resources you may have.

4. Make sure your personnel and your volunteers are clear on the way you want your program to work. Be ready to do some fine-tuning.

It can take awhile for everyone to find their groove. How will you handle crowd control and interruptions? Are the chosen spots—not private, but reasonably free of noise and traffic—working out? Are the chosen days and times appropriate for the traffic in your children’s library? There are endless things that may come up to surprise you all, and flexibility will help everyone keep improving your program.

Photo from Gloria Laub, librarydogs.com

5. Keep up the ongoing communication with your therapy animal volunteers.

We all want the best for the children and families who visit your library. The volunteers want to be on your team, and they will want you on theirs, as well. The library can get very busy, as you know, but it’s important for someone on the staff to be keeping one eye on the dog interactions in case they need help (freedom from interruptions, overbearing parents, too many interested kids at once, etc.) Any small misunderstandings or difficulties can easily be smoothed away when library staff maintains clear and frequent communication with the therapy teams who work with you.

If you are interested in learning more about these programs and establishing one at your library, check out the R.E.A.D. website for more information! And go to librarydogs.com for more adorable photos and great information about library dogs! 

It would be impossible to talk about the last 60 years of children’s books without considering such historical moments as the Civil Rights Movement, the rise of young adult fiction, and the digital era of the internet, video games, and e-books. So, we begin in 1950s America during a movement that continues to have an impact on our society and our children’s books today.

The Civil Rights Movement

On first considering the effect of the Civil Rights Movement on children’s books, we decided to take a look at the children’s books published during the height of the movement’s activity. Wonderful books like Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955), The Cat in the Hat (1957), Where the Wild Things Are (1963), and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1968) were all published and well received during the 1950s and 1960s; however, the expansive list of books about Civil Rights and Civil Rights heroes were actually written more recently in the last couple of decades.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz original cover art

Unlike the two centuries preceding it, the 20th century was a time of abundance and a variety for children’s books. From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900, to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone published in 1997, the 20th century witnessed an explosion of wonderful stories and characters all specifically geared to kids. Of course, the abundance of children’s books, especially illustrated children’s books, could not have been possible without the literacy and technology advances of the first decade of the 1900s.

Literacy and Technology in the 20th Century

Today we are used to the children’s section of a bookstore being colorful and bursting with fun figures and images, but widespread illustrated books were not accessible to most children until the beginning of the 20th century. In “Picturing Childhood: the Evolution of the Illustrated Children’s Book” Cynthia Burlingham remarks on the development of four-color processing and photography in creating illustrated children’s books. With the advancing technology surrounding printing and publishing, these colored picture books meant for children became less expensive to produce, and therefore less expensive to purchase.

Additionally, literacy in developed countries was on the rise at the turn of the 20th century. Specifically in the U.S., literacy rates increased by 13.3% from 1870 to 1910. More children were attending schools at younger ages, so the increasing availability children’s books was matching the demand from those families and children who had the ability and context to read.

The Effect of Modernism

Technology and literacy were advancing, and more kids wanted books, but the beginning of the 20th century also introduced a change in the content of children’s books. In her lectures entitled The Modern Scholar: Children’s Literature Between the Covers (2011), Professor Kimberly Reynolds discusses both the presence and rejection of Modernism in children’s literature during the early 1900s. At its simplest, Modernism represented a cultural and societal movement to break from classical or traditional practices. It’s interesting to note that the books that are perhaps best remembered from this time period are those that were posing a rejection of Modernism.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit original cover art

The settings behind the most popular stories of this time like The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), The Wind in the Willows (1908), Swallows and Amazons (1930), and Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) are peaceful countryside scenes. Even in The Wind in the Willows when a car enters the story, it is noisy and destructive. Although Modernism was affecting art, literature, and culture in general, children’s stories remained an outlet for many authors to reminisce about older times when country gentlemen were not confined to a desk at a bank or a factory.

These children’s books were also traditionally built stories. Although some Modernistic literary techniques such as an emphasis on identity, stream of consciousness, narrative authority, and the presence of social evils can be found in Winnie-the-Pooh for example, the focus in these stories was more often what would happen next, rather than stylistic structure. With children as their main audience, the authors behind these famous books understandably put more weight on the story or plot, than the possible analysis of literary elements.

The World Wars

Of course, we cannot talk about this period without touching on the effect of the World Wars on the content and focus of children’s books. For example, books specifically for boys carried messages and viewpoints on the consequences and possibilities of wartime. From before World War I to the time after World War II, the messages behind war-focused books shifted and adjusted in step with societal feelings.

J.M. Barrie’s famous character Peter Pan was a type of boy soldier that represented a certain ideal before any real breakout of war. Peter Pan was willing to die young for a noble cause. The romanticized notion of soldiers before the wars focused on the nobility and heroism of the young men who were willing to die for their country. Additionally, G.A. Henty’s stories (The Young Carthaginian (1887), Wulf the Saxon (1894), and Won by the Sword (1899)) consistently featured young soldiers fighting bravely to the end for what often seemed like hopeless causes. Once the wars began, however, writers were more aware of and willing to address the pain and suffering of wartime in books.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s illustration of the Shire

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the Shire represented a peaceful, beautiful England. However, the threat of war is imminent, as it appeared in the reality of 1937, the year The Hobbit was published and the year before the start of World War II. War was now seen as a dreaded atrocity rather than an opportunity for heroics. During and after World War II, the purpose behind children’s books shifted yet again to help bring up a generation that could build a better world out of the destruction of the world wars. It was at this time that books began addressing current and important social issues; books became a medium for the younger generation to learn about and be aware of the world around them.

Even within the first half of the 20th century, we can see how much the purpose behind children’s books could change and shift with society. The explosion of production in children’s book publishing during this time made the genre as diverse as adult level books had been for centuries. Children’s books became embedded as a cultural medium that we are seeing advance and grow even today.

We’ve got so many more children’s books to talk about with the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century to cover. So, stay tuned for more discussion on the purposes and perspectives of children’s books then and now.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about all the changes in children’s literature through the centuries on your own, here are some resources to explore:

• “Picturing Childhood: The Evolution of Illustrated Children’s Books” by Cynthia Burlingham

• A Critical History of Children’s Literature by Cornelia Meigs, Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbit, Ruth Hill Viguers

• The Modern Scholar: Children’s Literature Between the Covers by Kimberly Reynolds

It’s the last spotlight of the season! This past month we’ve spent some time introducing all the wonderful people who make up the Peachtree team. If you missed last week, we heard from Nicki Carmack, our Creative Director.

Today we have Matt Gray in the spotlight. He is our IT and Operations Manager as well as a consistent life saver.

Tell us about your history with Peachtree.

I started at Peachtree ten and a half years ago as a marketing intern.  About a month into my internship, one of the ladies that worked at the front desk at the time left the company to move back home to be closer to her family.  I was asked to pull double duty: at first by working part time answering phones while spending the rest of my time continuing my internship, and then after my internship ended, I was asked to spend that time helping the sales department with stuff like order entry, invoicing, and trade shows.  Before too long I was moved over to the sales department full time.  Since I had graduated from an engineering school and know my way around computers, I started to be involved in technical projects; at the same time, my work with trade shows got me more and more involved with logistics.  That led me to a bunch of different roles over the years, ranging at times from being an information specialist to a project manager, and even running the warehouse for a bit before ending up in my current role as the IT and Operations Manager.

What are your top three favorite books, any genre?

I’m so glad you asked for three.  I couldn’t pick just two, and four would have been a nightmare, but in no particular order:

If you could be a literary character for a day, who would you be?

It might be a bit of a cop out answer, but Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next.  She’s able to move in and out of any story or book ever written at will, so I could visit all of my favorite books and characters that I wanted.

Who is your hero or role model and why?

I’d have to say my parents.  I’m extremely lucky to have them in my life providing the example and guidance that they have.

What is your favorite thing about working at Peachtree?

I’ve loved reading since as far back as I can remember, and it’s an amazing feeling getting to help bring something you loved so deeply as a kid to today’s children.

In your position, what do you consider to be your secret weapon?

Does restarting a computer count?  😉

Do you have any big interests or hobbies that you focus on outside of work?

Reading is and always will be the main one, but lately I’ve been trying to improve more hands-on skills like home improvement and cooking.

If, in an alternate reality, you were to have gone a completely different career route, what would you have done?

Believe it or not, I was actually this close to majoring in physics in college.

Feel free to write any questions or comments for Matt below!

Here at Peachtree, we eat, drink, and breathe children’s books (many of you may relate to this). If we’re not talking about and working on our latest titles, we’re discussing recent award-winning children’s books, or a title that we all enjoyed in our personal reading. A particularly fun conversation started as a result of a blog post we were writing in honor of children’s book authors and illustrators; everyone was listing favorite childhood books.

With the younger staff, we recognized all the favorites. However, a discussion sprang up when our Senior Editor and Creative Director started explaining that the books they were given in childhood were vastly different than those we publish today (check out Der Struwwelpeter, pictured on the right: a book about bad consequences for bad kids). The product of that conversation inspired an exploration into the purpose and mindset behind children’s literature in former generations, compared to current generations. This is what we found:

Children: The Shift in Thinking

The emergence of children’s books began centuries ago when the notion of “childhood” started taking shape.

In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding published in 1690, enlightenment thinker and philosopher John Locke introduced the idea of humans being a “blank slate” at birth. Children were not just miniature adults, as previously understood; instead, with no ideas imprinted in them, children slowly learned and developed thoughts and ideas as they grew.

This theory about humans and human understanding was one of the first stones that started the avalanche of development and change when it came to children, children’s education, and children’s books. Ideas, morals, and manners did not come innately. Children needed to be instructed, and the children’s books of the 18th and 19th centuries reflected that.

What the Grown-ups Thought

Locke’s theories about children and learning remained prevalent years later. An article entitled “On Novel Reading,” published in The Guardian or Youth’s Religious Instructor in 1820 reflects John Locke’s 150 year-old (at this point) idea: “At this period, the mind as well as the body, is forming, is progressing toward the maturity of adult age; and, in this immature state, is peculiarly susceptible of impressions; and these impressions, whether good or bad, usually last, and have great influence on the future character” (p. 46).

Similarly, in an article entitled “Books for Children” and published in 1828 in The American Annals of Education, we see Locke’s theory impressing upon adults the importance, and potential danger, of books on a child’s mind. In particular, the article shows how adults worried that a single bad idea or habit in a book could affect children for the rest of their lives, their impressionable brains never being able to recover if an immoral habit took hold.

With the fear of immoral future generations, it makes sense that books given to children were carefully monitored. In particular, the frivolity and non-reality of novels was rejected by many adults because of the possibility that their susceptible children might not to be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Once a novel or children’s book taught a child a certain behavior, it might not be unlearned!

from A Little Pretty Pocket-Book (1744)

“On Novel Reading” also spells out another danger of children’s books. The article explains that “The great profusion of children’s books protracts the imbecility of childhood. They arrest the understanding, instead of advancing it” (p. 48). Here, the issue is not that their kids would become immoral adults, but that they would not mature into adults at all if given the wrong type of literature to read.

With all the fears and dangers of “childish” or fictitious books, many of the American grown-ups (and adults throughout the world), focused the attention of children’s books to teaching morals, manners, and rules. Books were not meant solely for entertainment; they had a very practical purpose. However, this began to shift at the end of the 19th century.

Children’s Literature as a Genre

Children’s books as a genre really began in the 1700s; A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, written by British publisher John Newbery (after whom the Newbery Medal is named) in 1744, is widely considered the first children’s book. The genre was made up mainly of rhyming stories and fairy tales meant to entertain youth, but they also provided moral lessons. So, children’s books existed as a genre, but the books themselves were not necessarily for children for enjoyment’s sake; they were for children to become responsible adults. They were to fill the empty void that was a child’s blank mind and give direction to a non-existent moral compass.

Modern attitudes toward children emerged during the late 19th century when the Victorian middle and upper classes started emphasizing, protecting, and celebrating the sanctity and innocence of a child’s imagination instead of stressing morals. With this new mindset, we began to see a very distinct shift in children’s books, which led to the Golden Age of children’s literature.

In her overview of children’s literature entitled “Picturing Childhood,” Cynthia Burlingham gives us a list of genre-changing books—including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865); Little Women (1868-1869); Treasure Island (1883); Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); and Jungle Book (1894)—that began to change the themes of morality and manners that dominated children’s books. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, for example, was a very popular fantasy story with no obvious moral. Children’s books began to look more like the books for children we see today.

Children’s books continued to evolve during the century following Kipling’s Jungle Book, and the genre is now far from the didactic fear-inducing lessons that were once the staple. So our next question is about the change in the purpose of children’s books during the 20th century. If they’re not for teaching manners and morals, what do we see as their purpose today? Check out our next conversation on the evolution of children’s books in Part 2!

In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about all the changes in children’s literature through the centuries, here are some resources to explore:

• “Picturing Childhood: The Evolution of Illustrated Children’s Books” by Cynthia Burlingham
• A Critical History of Children’s Literature by Cornelia Meigs, Anne Thaxter Eaton, Elizabeth Nesbit, Ruth Hill Viguers
• The Modern Scholar: Children’s Literature Between the Covers by Kimberly Reynolds