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October 1, 2021 8 mins

On this day in 1942, Simon & Schuster published the first dozen titles in the long-running Little Golden Books series.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show for those who can never know enough about history.
I'm Gay Blusier, and in this nostalgic episode, we're looking

(00:20):
at the origins of Little Golden Books, the famous series
that helped democratize reading for kids all over the world.
The day was October one, nineteen two. Simon and Schuster

(00:44):
published the first dozen titles in the long running Little
Golden Book series. This new line of books marked a
drastic change in children's reading habits and extended the ownership
of books to just about any child in America, not
just those with wealthy parents. By the time the series debuted,

(01:05):
children's books in America had become far less accessible to
actual children. Most of them still focused on European fairy
tales and nursery rhymes, which often included language and concepts
that went over the heads of young readers in the
early nineteen forties, and on a practical level, these were big,
bulky collections that were hard for children to hold comfortably.

(01:29):
But perhaps the worst barrier to entry of all was
that these large books were expensive, usually running between two
to three dollars each, or between thirty to forty dollars today.
That priced out a lot of lower income families and
raised some genuine concern that a whole generation of children

(01:49):
may be denied the chance to fall in love with reading.
One person particularly troubled by the state of children's literature
was the head of the Artists and Writers Guild, a
man named George do Play. He believed the way to
make reading more child friendly was to produce a series
of sturdy, yet affordable books that were written and illustrated

(02:13):
with children's interests in mind. To that end, he and
his colleagues partnered with Simon and Schuster, which already published
a children's line called Golden Books. Do Play and his
team decided to capitalize on that established brand by making
their new line a spinoff series called Little Golden Books.

(02:34):
As the name implied, these books would be smaller, with
fewer pages, more illustrations, and simpler storylines than other kids
books on the market. These changes would not only make
the books easier to handle and understand, it would make
them cheaper too. When the first twelve titles were released
in two they cost just twenty five cents per copy.

(02:59):
Parent and kids alike took notice of the low price,
and after only five months on store shelves, more than
one and a half million copies had been sold. Another
change that drove the line's success was where the books
were available. Because of their small size and low price,
Little Golden Books weren't restricted to bookstores. They could also

(03:23):
be sold in the places where families shopped, most grocery stores,
drug stores, and department stores. Since the books were relatively inexpensive,
they made for great impulse buys to help keep kids
occupied while the parents shopped. And if a kid happened
to tear the book to shreds or drop it in
the toilet at home, well, hey, at least it only

(03:46):
cost a quarter. The low cover price alone ensured strong
sales for the initial batch of books, but it was
the impressive quality of the stories and artwork that carried
many titles to their seventh printing and beyond. In just
the first three years of the line, do Play and
his team made sure to acquire well crafted stories from

(04:09):
emerging children's authors like Margaret Wise Brown, el Louise Wilkin,
and Richard Scary. To match these strong stories, they recruited
an array of talented artists, including a few who had
worked in animation at Walt Disney Studios, like Gustaf Tendrin
and Mary Blair. But the editors behind the books weren't

(04:31):
just relying on their own tastes when choosing which stories
and illustrations to publish. Instead, they worked with a panel
of educators and psychologists to figure out what kinds of
characters and storylines would most appeal to young readers. The
result of this collaboration was a line of books with
universal themes, such as getting a pet or attending the

(04:55):
first day of school. These generational stories were paired with
expressive artwork that was easy for kids to connect with
on an emotional level, and of course, both the text
and pictures featured animals, lots and lots of animals, speaking
of which, it probably comes as no surprise that the

(05:16):
most popular title of the initial twelve Little Golden Books
was The Pokey Little Puppy, written by Jeanette Sebring Lowry
and illustrated by Gustav Tangrin. In fact, it's still the
top selling Little Golden Book of all time, as well
as one of the best selling children's books of the
twentieth century. Period with nearly fifteen million copies sold to date,

(05:40):
but plenty of other Little Golden Book originals have become
icons of the home library and their own right, including
Scuffy the tug Boat, the Shy Little Kitten, the Saggy
Baggy Elephant, Tawny Scrawny Lion, and the Little Red Caboose.
For their first two years, Little Golden Books fell into
one of two catagor glories. New takes on classic fairy

(06:02):
tales were completely original stories. However, in the publishers signed
a licensing deal with Disney that remains in place even today.
In addition to plenty of condensed adaptations of Disney movies,
readers could also find new stories featuring Disney characters, such

(06:22):
as The Little Man of Disneyland, which features Mickey Mouse
and friends trying to convince a lepre con to let
them build their theme park around his house in the
roots of an Anaheim orange tree. He eventually agreed. Over
the years, Little Golden Books has continued to partner with
other kid friendly properties, including Looney Tunes, Super Mario, and

(06:46):
Sesame Street. Shout Out to the Monster at the end
of this book. Purists may scoff at this kind of licensing,
but it does aid the cause of getting more children
to read, which has always been the series goal. In total,
more than two billion Little Golden Books, licensed or otherwise
have been sold since nineteen forty two in just about

(07:09):
every country on earth. They no longer retail for twenty
five cents, and first editions of the original dozen titles
can sell for well over a hundred dollars, but you've
got a good chance of finding used copies close to
that original price at local flea markets and thrift stores.
But no matter what you pay for a Little Golden Book,

(07:30):
and the new ones still won't cost you much. When
a child opens it, they'll still find a special place
at the front to write their name. This simple feature
has been a standard of the series since the beginning
and is meant to help instill a sense of ownership
and the reader. It's a subtle reminder of the core
belief of the series and its creators that the joy

(07:52):
of reading should belong to everyone, even or especially to
children and need I'm Gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
If you enjoyed the show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t D I HC Show. You can

(08:14):
also rate the show or leave us a review wherever
you get your podcasts, and if you have a suggestion
for the best Little Golden book for a childless adult,
you can send it my way at this Day at
i heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for
producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see
you back here again tomorrow for another day in history class.

(08:46):
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.

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