The Little Book Company That Could

Gustaf Tenggren

Once upon a time there was a little president of a little publishing company (called Artists and Writers Guild) that was actually a joint venture of two very big (but not very scary) publishing companies. The president, George Duplaix, thought really really hard and came up with the idea for Little Golden Books. At the time, most books for children cost $2 to $3, but nice Mr. Duplaix thought that was very bad, and he decided that books should be affordable for all kinds of children. So Little Golden Books would sell their durable books for just 25 cents.

Little Golden Books found wonderful artists from all over the world, including Mary Blair (the artist behind It's a Small World), Tibor Gergely, Gustaf Tenggren and Margaret Wise Brown. Even though the Soviet Union wouldn't sell the books (too capitalistic), many of the artists and writers that made Little Golden Books came from Eastern Europe. That's called irony, boys and girls.

Many years later, in 2008, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, in a big beautiful city called New York City, decided to have an art show celebrating 65 years of Little Golden Books. The show opened July 4th, and made everyone very happy. The end.


Mary Blair

Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books at CMOM

Link to story at Boing Boing