Videos

Graphic novels open the possibility of accessing books to children who don’t see themselves as readers in the traditional sense.

Genres have been merging lately, in part because children are exposed at an earlier age to an awareness of culture in general.

Books that children enjoy reading—however high or low they may be on the ladder of literary excellence—can be viewed as gateways to literacy.

The Catcher in the Rye, a book about a teenager who was in real distress writing in his own voice, became a kind of starting point for a new genre in books for young people.

In the 1960s, there was fierce debate about whether or not children’s book publishers were producing enough books that represented America’s multiracial makeup.

The Snowy Day, published in the 1960s, was a landmark book because up until then so little had been published with a child of color at the center of the story.

Post-WWI and WWII and the civil rights activism of the 1960s were turning points for the emergence of books for and about children of color.

Golden Books democratized publishing for young children in America.

In the 1930s, progressive educators from Bank Street encouraged a new kind of picture book for children that focused on a child’s real life and surroundings.

After World War I, there was a push to find American illustrators who could produce picture books for American children that rivaled their English counterparts.