Department |CHILDREN’S BOOKS
The launch of LGB, originally published by Artists and
Writers Guild, a joint interest of Simon & Schuster Publishing
and Western Printing, was announced in a full-color, four-page
advertisement in PW’s Sept. 19, 1942, issue. One of the titles
on LGB’s inaugural list, The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring
Lowrey, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren, is the line’s top-selling
book of all time, and its beloved protagonist serves as the Little
Golden Books mascot. Numerous
characters followed whose stories
also became, and still are, staples
of home and library bookshelves,
among them The Saggy Baggy
Elephant, Tawny Scrawny Lion,
Scuffy the Tugboat, and The Shy
Little Kitten.
Children’s literature historian Leonard S. Marcus has
chronicled the beginnings and
evolution of LGB, and spotlighted its creators and characters, in Golden Legacy: The Story
of Golden Books, originally
released in 2007, which Golden
Books reissued this month
with new jacket art.
“Little Golden Books are a real
example of the democratization of publishing,” Marcus says of
the line’s impact on the children’s book industry. “For starters,
they were much more widely available than any other children’s
books when they ;rst came on the market in the 1940s,” he
observes. “Not only could people afford them, but they had easy
access to them. I grew up in a town that didn’t have a bookstore,
and my mother would buy me Little Golden Books at
Woolworth. And in 1947, a major new channel for sales opened
when the books became available at supermarkets.”
Another distinctive feature of LGB was the premium that its
publisher put on consumer familiarity. “The Poky Little Puppy
was the only original story among the 12 debut books,” Marcus
says. “The publisher focused on topics people would
Random House Children’s Books, whose parent company has
owned Golden Books since 2001, has extensive plans to cele-
brate the line’s milestone throughout 2017, including through
the release of a handful of books published in concert with the
anniversary, a Little Golden Books–themed bus tour, an author
tour, seasonal promotions, and a wide array of point-of-purchase
materials.
Commemorating 75 Years
Of Little Golden Books
By Sally Lodge
Of the dozen titles on
LGB’s debut list in
1942, only Janette
Sebring Lowrey’s The
Poky Little Puppy
was an original story;
the rest were classic
tales and rhymes easily
recognizable to parents.
A poky puppy, a shy kitten, and an ugly duckling
help a publishing prototype strike gold