Little Golden Books

Little Golden Books is a very popular series of children's books begun in 1942.

The first 12 which were published on October 1, 1942, were:
(1) Three Little Kittens
(2) Bedtime Stories
(3) Mother Goose
(4) Prayers for Childeren
(5) The Little Red Hen
(6) Nursery Songs
(7) The Alphabet from A to Z
(8) The Poky Little Puppy
(9) The Golden Book of Fairy Tales
(10) Baby's Book of Objects
(11) The Animals of Farmer Jones
(12) This Little Piggy and Other Counting Rhymes

As of 2005, 15 million copies of The Poky Little Puppy have been sold including copies in various language.

The Little Golden Books, which initially sold for 25¢, were published by Simon and Schuster in cooperation with the Artist and Writers Guild, Inc. headed by Georges Duplaix . Duplaix had initially thought up the idea for the Little Golden Book series and fleshed it out in conversations with officials at Simon and Schuster. Dr. Mary Reed a professor at the Teachers College of Columbia University served as initial editor of the series.

Western Printing and Lithographing Company in Racine, Wisconsin, was Simon and Schuster's partner in the Little Golden Books venture. Western handled the actual printing. In 1958, Simon and Schuster sold its interest in Little Golden Books to Western.

Ownership and control of the series has changed several times since. In 2001, Random House acquired Golden Books for about 85 million dollars.

Although the Little Golden Books have remained the backbone of the product line, the enterprise that produced the Little Golden Books has created a variety of childrens books in various formats and other stuff including records, tapes, videos, and even toys and games. Some titles have appeared in several different formats.

Many popular authors and illustrators have worked on Little Golden Books and related products including:

Margaret Wise Brown
Tibor Gergely
Corinne Malvern
Alice Provensen and Martin Provensen
Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky
Patricia Scarry and Richard Scarry
Gustof Tenggren
Jane Werner Watson
Eloise Wilkin
Garth Williams
Herbert Zim

Although the details have changed over the years, the Little Golden Books have maintained a distinctive appearance. A copy of The Poky Little Puppy bought today is essentially the same as one printed in 1942. Both are readily recognizable as Little Golden Books. At the time of the golden anniversary, Golden Books claimed that a billion and a half Little Golden Books had been sold.

Some Little Golden Books and related products have featured popular children's icons from other media, eg. The Muppets, Disney, Barbie, Power Rangers, etc. Television and the movies tie-ins have been particularly popular. Over the years Hopalong Cassidy, Cheyenne, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Captain Kangaroo, Mister Rogers, and even Donny and Marie have appeared in Little Golden Books.

Many have dealt with nature and science, Bible stories, nursery rhyme, and fairy tales. Christmas titles are popular every year. The fact that many old titles remain in print shows the strong nostalga appeal of Little Golden Books.

The official Random House website contains an interesting [timeline] for Little Golden Books.

See Also

• Little Red Hen

See Related

• "Announcing Little Golden Books." Publishers' Weekly. September 19, 1942. Pages 991-994.

• "A Birthday Celebration for Golden Books..." Publishers' Weekly. 221(15):24. April 9, 1982.

• "Fifty Years of Books 'For the Masses.'" Publishers' Weekly. 239(28: 28-31. June 22, 1992.

• "Random House Lands Golden Book Assets." Publishers' Weekly. 248(33):13& 23. August 20, 2001.

• "Simon & Schuster Inc." International Directory of Company Histories. 4:671-672. 1991.

• Greason, Rebecca. Tomart's Price Guide to Golden Book Collectibles. Radnor, PA: Wallace-Homestead Book Company, 1991.

• Santi, Steve. Collecting Little Golden Books: a Collector's Idnetification and Price Guide, 3rd Edition. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1998.

External Link

• [The Official "Little Golden Books" Page]