August 20, 2015

Why Children’s Books Matter

Crictor by Tomi Ungerer

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

 

‘It’s a pattern really. So many of the progressive writers and illustrators of children’s books were Jews,” says Leonard Marcus, who does not usually concern himself with the old parlor game of counting famous Jews. Marcus is curator of the New York Public Library’s exhibit on children’s literature, “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” which will conclude its run of over a year on September 7. It has attracted more visitors than any other exhibit in the library’s history. Read on at The Forward.